The Great Store Caper. . . .

The Perpetrators in disguise.
L to R - Edna, Delores, Ina, Theresa,
Martha


The unsuspecting parents with
their children (David not pictured)


James and Lois cutting their cake
in celebration of 50 Golden Years.




Some of the innocent children
Back - Les, Matt,Felicia, Gordon, Susan,
Thea
Front - Rhonda, Shane, Lisa

Dad and Mom with the
Hostess and Host, Kathy and Leo



In 1967, the family of James Allen and Lois Stewart Wadsworth gathered in Panaca to help them celebrate their 50th Wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful, festive, and emotional celebration. The Open House was held at the old home, "The Castle", Leo and Kathy's home. Joined by his six siblings, they served as the hosts and hostesses for the event. The people of Lincoln County, other parts of Nevada, Utah and California, came to pay their respects to our parents. Letters and cards arrived from the State Capitol and from the legislative offices in Washington D. C. It made me realize what an important part of the history of Lincoln County and the State of Nevada this wonderful, stalwart couple were. Mom and Dad accepted all of the accolades and attention in their usual sweet and humble manner, but you could tell they were very touched by all that was happening in their honor.

At some point, before and after the festivities, their five daughters, Theresa, Edna, Martha, Ina, and Delores, found time to talk about the subjects close to our hearts. Under the spell that Panaca and the old home always held for us, we found ourselves talking about our love for all things Panaca and how life wasn't always fair. When our grandfather, Nephi John died, he had left no will and so his estate went into probate. He had a large family and it took a long time for it to be justly settled. The more we talked about it, the more unfair that "justly settled" seemed.

We were sad and dismayed at the condition of the wonderful little store that had been so much a part of the history of Panaca and the George Allen Wadsworth family. It had been boarded up for years and had been subjected to vandalism and other indignities. It had fallen into disrepair and neglect. Even though it had been operated as a family business by Nephi John and some of his children, eventually our father, James, became the sole proprietor and ran it for almost 20 years with the help of our mother and eldest sister, Theresa. Therefore, we reasoned, when the estate was settled, it should have gone to our father. It didn't, Dad's sister, Jennie Culverwell (older than Dad) who lived in Caliente, was deeded the store building and the lot on which it stood. It was never operated as a business again. It was boarded up with a treasure trove of wonderful antiques inside, many dating from the first days of the store's existence. It had continued to decay during those years. The sign, which had so proudly proclaimed it a part of the Wadsworth Family legacy and the history of Panaca, was hanging by a few nails on one side and part of it had fallen off and was heavily damaged. Aunt Jennie had died years ago.

You have heard the saying,, "Beware the wrath of a woman scorned!" We are talking five woman here. That is scary! And so, we plotted and planned. We were going to save some of those wonderful treasures before the thieves and vandals removed, or destroyed, what was left of them. We were going to save that wonderful sign. The first thing we needed to do was to gain entry to the store and see what was there.

We were each assigned a role to play. True to our reputations, Martha and I were appointed to be the "Cat Burglars". Our first assignment. . . .case the joint. The next day, at dinner time when we reasoned that most of the town's residents would be inside and Main Street would be virtually deserted, Martha and I donned our old clothes and sturdy shoes. We meandered aimlessly to the store, acting nonchalant and lazy. We were unable to gain entry through the door at the back of the store and were forced to go to the window on the side of the building, making us more vulnerable to being seen. This worried us a little, but we forged ahead. We were able to remove some boards and slither inside. Our first act, while there would be few people out and about, was to remove the sign and lower it to the ground. We made our way up to the attic and from the small window over the covered porch, attempted to gain access to the sign. Almost immediately, we hit our first snag. Two boys appeared in front of the store, standing in the middle of Main Street. To our horror, we saw that it was Matt and Paul. "Hey", yelled Matt, "Whatcha doin'?" "Can we come up?", hollered Paul. We shushed them and shooed them away, breathed a sigh of relief, and went about our business. We were carefully unhooking the sign and preparing to lower what was left of it to the ground, when the call came loud and clear from Paul, "We're going to come up and help with whatever you are doing!" "Or else", threatened Matt, "give us some money so we can go to the store before it closes!" We threw a few quarters down, lowered the sign to the side of the building, no easy feat for sure, did a quick look over the rest of the interior, and beat a hasty retreat before our nemesis made another appearance.

George's truck with an overhead camper, was going to serve as our get-away vehicle. We returned to the camper and called our sisters together. We told them what we had discovered in the store and related our experience in lowering what was left of the sign to the ground, where it was leaning against the side of the store by the window. We formulated our plan for the heist; Martha and I would continue our role as the cat burglars. Delores was designated as the driver of the get-away vehicle. Theresa was assigned as lookout number one and Edna as lookout number two. After dark, we would all get into the camper and Delores would drive us to the store, using a diversionary route. We would be dropped off on the street running along the side of the building. Delores would circle the block with her lights out, relying on what light was available from the street lights, and park just up Main Street on the same side as the store. Martha and I would immediately go to the side of the store where we had simplified our entry by leaving the window unbarred and open. Theresa and Edna were given flashlights, but cautioned about using them. They would be positioned in the empty field behind the store. Theresa would be at the back of the store and close to the street, midway down the field, and Edna would be close to the street at the end of the field. Their job. . . .watch for the "law" who, with all of the extra people in town, would be stepping up their patrols. In this case, the law was the notorious Sheriff Bicknell.

The teens and older preteens who would be in town in larger numbers, delighted in making mischief. They went out of their way to "outsmart" old Bicknell, as they called him, and were ingenious in their methods. Some of our own were included in that horde of mischievous juveniles. It would be embarrassing if any of them were up to no good while we were planning our own hiest. We had to be very careful that we were crossing all of our T's and dotting all of our I's.

If the coast was clear, the lookout's job was for Edna to hoot like an owl, one long drawn out hoot. Theresa, being closer to the store, would then hoot once to relay the signal to Martha and I, and loud enough for Delores to hear. If either of the lookouts detected anything suspicious, they would hoot twice and after a decent interval, two hoots would be relayed to us. If the law was spotted, the spotter would give three quick hoots. I want to say here that they had been practicing their hoots all day, and though Martha and I had not heard them, assured us they were confident their hooting was mastered to perfection.

All seemed to be progressing smoothly. Martha and I had covertly moved the sign closer to the street and were inside getting ready to set some of the antiques outside of the window. Then, Martha decided she wanted the wonderful old cash register and we lost precious time trying to move it. It was securely fastened to the counter which is undoubtedly why the previous thieves and vandals had been unable to abscond with it. (Thieves and vandals, I might add, who had no right to it??) Suddenly, we heard a hoot, and then two hoots, and then three hoots, and then four hoots. . . .four hoots?. . . .and then a virtual chorus of continuous hoots, sounding increasingly more frantic and wild. . . .What were those owls doing? We didn't have time to try and figure it out, but literally jumped out of the window, running before our feet touched the ground. We heard running and mad hooting behind us, which was accompanied by a weird sloshing sound. It seems, unbeknownst to our lookouts, that it was time for the field to be irrigated. The ditch at the end of the field where Edna was stationed, was full to overflowing, as was the ditch running along the street. The overflow was covering the field. It was dark and our lookouts were doing as they had been instructed, leaving their flashlights off. Edna stumbled into the ditch. Flaying wildly, she climbed out of it and plowed through the muddy field. Theresa started running toward Edna, then realized what she was doing, made an abrupt turn around, and sloshed through the ditch at the side of the street. They were wet and muddy almost to their waist, which explained the sloshing sound that was madly pursuing us.

At the same time that she saw a flashing light coming down Main Street, our get-away driver heard wild hooting and the pounding and sloshing of running feet. She quickly opened the passenger side door, started the truck and gunned the engine. As preplanned, the back door into the camper had been left open. Still hooting and with water and mud flying everywhere, the lookouts jumped into the cab of the truck. The burglars were racing to the back of the camper. Delores already had the truck in motion, leaving me to wonder if she had never heard that marvelous pledge, "No man Left Behind!" Martha jumped onto the bumper and with a mighty heave, Ina shoved her in, and with one foot on the bumper and Martha with a death grip on her hands, swung perilously back and forth as Delores tromped on the gas and took off. As we roared up the street, we heard Delores say, "I think you can stop with the hooting now".

Bicknell didn't catch us, if those flashing lights were even him, and two dirty, disgruntled and empty handed thieves, two tired, panicked, wet and muddy lookouts, and one frenzied, fired up and manically giggling get-away driver, were forced to abort their "Great Store Caper. It was such a perfect plan. . . .Where did we go wrong?

George wasn't too angry. It only took him two days to get all of the mud and water out of the truck and fix the door to the camper, and after he wrung a confession from us, he laughingly said, "Well, that was quite a "hoot", to say the least!" We still weren't done, though, as Martha and I had to sneak back to the store and make sure the window was closed and boarded up once again. Needless to say, we then laid low, kept our mouths shut (now, there is something to brag about) and didn't share the story of this "Caper Gone Wrong" with our families for quite some time.