In 1938, a woman was arrested for stealing $4,300 from our local bank. Why? Just to keep her husband.

On November 26, 1938, a 28-year-old woman named Hazel Cornwall was arraigned on a charge of embezzling $4,300 from the Western Springs State Bank. In fact, auditors testified that the amount could be as much as $6,081 ($101,000 in 2014 dollars).

As background, Mrs. Cornwall had been employed by the bank as a teller for six years at a salary of just $90 a month. In 1934, she had married Francis Cornwall who was unemployed at the time. According to Mrs. Cornwall, soon after the marriage, her husband complained about their poverty. As a result, she began taking small amounts from the bank where she was employed and giving it to her husband.

Presumably, to help their financial situation, Mrs. Cornwall also befriended a woman and brought her into her home. But, she soon discovered that her husband was having an affair with her. According to Mrs. Cornwall, “This soon wore off and I thought I could keep his love. I bought him a car and things for the house”. But, when her employer began to suspect that she was stealing, her husband left for Oklahoma City.

When asked whether her husband knew she was stealing from the bank, Mrs. Cornwall said, “Yes, he probably did”. But, when asked to testify before the Grand Jury concerning her husband’s guilt, she refused. As a result, the judge sentenced her to one to ten years in the penitentiary. Upon hearing that, she fainted and fell to the floor, cutting a gash in her forehead.

In the course of the trial, the judge also had harsh words for the bank president. He asked him whether he thought $90 a month salary was adequate payment for a teller who is handling money. When he answered in the affirmative, the judge disagreed, saying he felt it was “nothing less than an inducement for her to pay herself”.

Subsequently, the Grand Jury charged her husband with embezzlement and receiving stolen goods. However, since the husband had discussed the shortage with the bank in hopes of re-paying it, he was found not guilty. So, while his wife went to prison, he walked free. Afterward, Mrs. Cornwall said that she never wanted to see her husband again and was eventually granted a divorce.