Kindness didn’t pay for Captain John Carey, Baltimore police night commander, when he treated friends to some ice cream cones when returning from an Ocean City vacation in July 1930. In fact, The Baltimore Sun reported that it inadvertently cost him about $200.
“He was returning to Baltimore from Ocean City on vacation and when the train stopped at Easton Captain Carey left the train to get the cones at a nearby stand,” according to The Sun. “Ordering them, he took out his pocketbook. Then, remembering he had some change, laid the purse on the counter or a chair and paid for the cones. About that time, someone called that the train was pulling out and Captain Carey ran, leaving the pocketbook, he stated. It was not found, investigators said.”
Source: The Baltimore Sun, July 17, 1930
Bygone Maryland 