Attribution: Photo by Feodor Chistyakov on Unsplash
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper mourning the shrinking nature of the honest press and telling Phyllis that during his long journalistic tenure he tried his best to stick to the facts which seemed satisfactory to most but not all readers.
When the bank in Bancroft—population less than 500, was robbed about 75 years ago the keeper being the only reporter on the scene truthfully reported that the lone robber used a ballpoint pen in place of a gun, explaining later that the robbery had been an impulsive act with no prior planning.
His getaway was thwarted when a Bancroft resident refused to let him hide his car behind her house and he was caught hours later when he stopped to buy gas in Wisconsin Rapids using some of the Bancroft bank’s money.
The president of the Bancroft bank took offense at the keeper’s truthful mention of the weaponized ball point pen and other robbery details. He cancelled his subscription to the Stevens Point Daily Journal after complaining vociferously to the editor, apparently about too much truth from the keeper.
