My shirt pocket is packed with tidbits cadged, copied or scribbled on restaurant napkins. It’s time for Shirt Pocket Du Jour.

Fake news? Someone in Pipestone sent a friend of mine a newspaper clipping from the old Edgerton (Minnesota) Enterprise newspaper that supposedly was a reprint of an article from the May 12, 1910, Brookings Register. 

It looked authentic, and even mentioned a supposed 1874 kidnapping of a 4-year-old named Charley Ross that my friend had checked out on Google that verified the crime. Of course, it may have found its way to Google via the reprint from the Register.

The 1910 news story told about a man working with his dog to catch rabbits in fields west of Hayti. A rabbit scurried down an opening in a rock. The man checked and accidentally hit a latch, the story reported. The rock opened up. He found a cave. He called the sheriff. 

The cave had three large rooms. It had supplies, and the sheriff also found gold and silver coins and jewelry. It was believed to be a hideout for robbers roaming the area. The supposed kidnapped youngster was believed to have been held in the cave for a time. 

The one-column story was as long as this issue’s front page. It looked by golly authentic.

I checked the May 12, 1910, Brookings Register and found this little story:

“That hoax about discovering a cave at Hayti in Hamlin County filled with thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry and valuable papers has had the effect of letting people of the state know that there is such a place as Hayti, and that it is making a fight to take the county seat away from Castlewood.”

For the record, Hamlin County’s official records were first kept at what was known as the Spaulding Ranch near Dempster. Then Castlewood businessmen in 1884 petitioned for an election to have the county seat and those records moved to Castlewood. 

That happened. Hayti folks objected. They challenged the Castlewood move. After a long fight, Hayti won an election in 1914 to move the county seat to that community. Some believe the planted fake Register news story was part of that nasty Hayti-Castlewood kerfluffle, although how the story might have helped the courthouse battle escapes me. 

Steel for Prairie AquaTech southeast of the soybean plant in Volga has sprouted, and you can now get an idea of the size of the operation. It’s big. The plant is a $45 million investment for 45,000 square feet plus equipment. It will employ 35. 

A double treat of hand corn picking contests is coming near Flandreau Saturday, Oct. 20, when a state champion will be decided, and the next day the national event takes place. Both will start at 9 a.m. at the Jim Redder farm four miles east and two miles north of Flandreau. The public is welcome.

We seem to be in the midst of an outbreak of vintage barn refurbishing, which is great. Everything from gym floors in haymows to man caves, living quarters and dance floors are being or have been installed in barns within a few miles of Brookings.

And how about the artful upgrade at 505 Main Ave. across from the Post Office?

It’s the new façade of the former College Theater. The good news to Brookings is that it still sports the iconic art deco design. I think it looks better now than it probably did in 1941, when the theater was first opened on the site of the town’s old opera house.

Kudos to building owners Dave and Rebecca Peters for retaining the art deco theme, and also for keeping the iconic “College” name on the marquee, although the place is now the home of Dave’s and Rebecca’s Gold Medal Gymnastics. Yet to come are the neon light tubes behind the College lettering.

If you’d like to comment, email the author at cfcecil@swiftel.net.