Young boys in court for sweet shop swindle

Four young boys were today convicted of stealing sums of money varying from one shilling and sixpence to five shillings. Their method of operation was described as being ‘particularly mean’.

As an unsuspecting child left a sweet shop, one of the boys would approach telling them that he had been sent from the shop to say that they had been given the wrong change. They would take the child’s money on the promise of return. Instead they ran away, pocketing the change.

The boys used this method often and primarily spent the money at the picture houses. The Irish Times states that this again raises the question of whether the cinematograph has a negative influence on young boys.

The paper concedes, however, that there are no known examples of this crime in any film and the cinematograph must be therefore acquitted of influence in this instance.