The September 23, 1922 Dickinsonian reported that Josephine Meredith, Dean of Women, was visiting family in Boston when a thief tried to snatch her purse from her while she was walking down the street. According to one Boston newspaper account:
"Short skirts won a moral victory in Stoneham yesterday when they enabled Mrs. Josephine Meredith to overtake an alleged snatch thief after a lively chase. Unhampered by trailing skirts the fleetfooted woman followed on the heels of the fleeing man and drove him direct into the waiting arms of Partolman Nelson and Chief of Police Greene of the Stoneham Police."
Another newspaper account claimed that two male bystanders assisted in aprehending the thief.
The culprit, Joseph L. Casey, was arraigned on the charge of attempted robbery and place in East Cambridge jail in lieu of $1,000 bond.