Departures of note

James Copeland claimed his first great theft was a valuable pocket knife he tricked from a neighbor when he was twelve, after saying he had stolen from schoolmates earlier.

He claimed that at fourteen he and his brother Isham, nicknamed Whinn, stole fifteen hogs, sold them in Mobile for $30, was later caught and arrested for larceny, and that his mother contacted thief Gale H. Wages, who together with Copeland burned the Jackson County Courthouse to destroy the evidence.