Boxes filled with stolen books and other types of paper, including personal letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, postcards, and baseball cards were recently recovered from a stolen automobile in Rossville, Georgia. It does not appear that there is much in the way of high value collectibles in this horde. Perhaps the autographed photograph of Lou Brock, the great base-stealing ballplayer, carries some weight, but most are probably valuable primarily on a personal basis. Postcards, letters, and photo albums dating back as far as the 1930s are irreplaceable to the families that own them, though most of the people shown or described undoubtedly have long departed this earth.
What makes this story unusual is the way in which the material was found. A Jeep was stolen from a resident of Rossville. The following day, she saw it pull into a local bank. The owner called the police who responded quickly. They parked behind the Jeep, but as the officers approached, the driver slammed the car into reverse and crashed into the police car. The man and woman in the Jeep attempted to escape, but were captured by the officers. That was fortunate as the pair were armed. Arrested were Donald Troutwine and Hannah Faulkner. They were reported to have outstanding warrants from other counties along with lengthy criminal histories. Both were placed in jail.
The vehicle was returned to the owner, but then came the surprise. She looked at the boxes of memorabilia and informed the police they were not hers. They had been stolen somewhere else and placed in the Jeep. Police theorized that boxes like this were likely taken from a storage locker, but they did not know where or who the owners were. Considering that most of it was fairly old, the owners' names were not obvious. As a result, they photographed the material and put out pictures of it in hopes that the owner or owners will identify it. Considering how personal much of the material is, we suspect that the owners will come forward shortly, if they have not already, once they see the pictures.
