About the Right to Dream

For Charles Walsh, 54, it was the computer-age equivalent of the BANK ERROR IN YOUR FAVOR card in Monopoly: the Commercial Trust Co. of Jersey City mistakenly notified him that $100,000 had been credited to his account. A bachelor who eked out a living buying and selling coins, Walsh quietly withdrew the money and set out to pursue his modest version of the American dream.

He bought a new car--not a Rolls-Royce but a Ford LTD--and headed west. He stopped in Las Vegas and lost some money gambling, but just a modest amount. He drifted on to Oregon, and when he was picked up in Portland, he still had $88,000 left. Said one cop: "A guy who has lived modestly all his life doesn't suddenly become Mr. Big Spender."

Walsh has decided that if he can't beat the system, he should join it: enrolled in a program for first offenders that could lead to dismissal of the charges, he has applied for welfare and may get it.

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