Seized a Wooden Leg for Debt

A man’s wooden leg is stolen by another “one-legged man,” who stole the leg by promising to “enlarge the socket so as to fit [better].”

Henry Benner complained to the police today that an artificial leg, worth $107, given him by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, had been unlawfully seized and held by B.F. Sutton, another one-legged man. An investigation showed that Sutton got the leg by representing to Mrs. Benner that he was going to enlarge the socket so as to fit her husband’s stump better. After getting the leg, Sutton secured an attachment, claiming the owner of the leg owed him for repairs made upon it. Sutton advertises the leg for sale to satisfy the judgement.

“Seized a Wooden Leg for Debt,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed April 21, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1731.