Jesse Frame: The Saga Continues

I swear I'm not stalking this guy! Can I help it if he keeps showing up in the paper?

In November of 1901 Jesse, the former night watchman, came to Hobart to visit his mother. The Gazette picked up a story he had to tell about his latest adventure.

He was working in Chicago for the Pennsylvania Railroads as a towerman (which, I gather from some hasty research, is the guy who works the levers to set the signals that tell approaching trains whether they can proceed through a railroad crossing, or whatever the case may be). While on duty on November 7, 1901, Jesse got mugged, and "relieved of his watch and chain and some small change."

I don't know what to think of this young man. First he's getting nailed up in a box, then he's taking down a thief at gunpoint, then he's losing his stuff to muggers. From victim to hero to victim. And so the wheel of fortune turns.

What I'd like to know is how the newspaper got ahold of the story. If I were Jesse, frankly, I think I'd like to keep it quiet. Did he tell his mother, and she go blabbing? Or maybe he didn't care about a tough-guy image, since it wasn't his job anymore.

Source: "Locals Drifts." Hobart Gazette (Hobart, Ind.) 29 Nov. 1901.