Trouser Thief Caught by Giant Man

This was in the Evening Standard from 1938. My father-in-law was clearing out his basement and he let me have a read. I found it fascinating to get a flavour of the news at the time. The tone of the paper related very much to the impending war and in amongst the series of articles advising the country on how to prepare for the worst was this random snippet from Reuters.

I love the benign detail of Mr Kilpatrick being over six feet tall and also the compassion he shows the thief! I also can't begin to describe how out of context this little Australian story was in relation to everything else that was going on in the newspaper.

I googled "Matthew Kilpatrick, Wagga, Trouser Thief" and no hits came back. It made me feel quite sad. I wonder if this story has been lost in the midst of time. It made me think about life, death, existence, the impact of our actions, and of being remembered.

I then did a bit more research

He lost his seat by a 'landslide' in 1941- had the electorate forgotten about the stolen trousers? How could they not vote for him?! What about his family? Did they know about it? This is a great story. If it happened to me I'd never stop talking about it!

I feel privileged to be sharing his story with you today and bringing the story of Mr Kilpatrick's stolen trousers back into existence.

Wishing you all a happy Monday :)