Back in Time | Aspen

“On Thursday morning last, a lady boarded the Denver and Rio Grande train here for Denver,” the Aspen Daily Times reported on Dec. 4, 1887.

“Her husband gave the porter a fee with the request that he carefully look after her comfort. When she retired, she found that there was not sufficient bed clothing in the berth and asked the porter to bring another blanket. He promised to do so but did not. She then spread her cloak on the bed. In the morning the cloak was gone. Calling the porter, she asked him about it. He replied that he had not seen it. When the conductor came along, she made inquiry of him. He told her that he had found it in the aisle and had hung it up in the end of the car. The porter was sent for it and when it was brought, the discovery was made that the pockets had been rifled of a sum of money. The loss was not very great, but the circumstance was very annoying, and those interested would like to know if the porter is the guilty party. They feel pretty well satisfied that he is.” The first train had arrived in Aspen just over a month earlier.

“Back in Time” is contributed by Aspen Historical Society and features excerpted articles and images from past Snowmass Sun/Aspen Times issues. We can’t rewrite history, but we can learn from it! Visit archiveaspen.org to view the vast Aspen Times photographic collection in the AHS Archives.

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