DUNFERMLINE SATURDAY PRESS 30 DECEMBER 1865
DARING THEFT
On Saturday afternoon, a remarkably cool and daring theft took place in Cairneyhill. While the wife of John Philp, a carter, living in Cairneyhill, was out at a draw-well about fifty yards from her house, she observed a man come out of her door-way and proceed westwards along the road at a rapid rate.
Mrs Philp hastened to her house as quickly as possible. When she arrived, she found a drawer in the room had been opened, and a sum of 19s taken away. Along with a few neighbours, Mrs Philp gave chase and endeavoured to arrest the thief, but no trace of his whereabouts could be ascertained.
Information was soon lodged with the constable at Torryburn, but as yet the daring thief has evaded capture. Last week, a theft so similar that it appears to have been committed by the same person who has robbed the poor woman in Cairneyhill of 19s, took place in Dysart. There also the theft was committed while the mistress of the house absent; there also the thief was pursued by women; and there he also managed to escape.
Cairneyhill People and History 