"It was an exceptionally valuable plant and could not be bought for its weight in gold."

Cactus thieves ran wild in Brooklyn back in the day, as a story filed in the May 15, 1890 Brooklyn Daily Eagle proves. An excerpt:

“John G. Reather, a retired German manufacturer, occupies, with his family, a neat frame cottage, surrounded with well kept lawns and flower beds, on Pacific Street, between Troy and Albany Avenues. Mrs. Reather is noted for her fondness for choice plants. In her garden are some of the rarest and most expensive varieties of flowers. Held up against the front of the house with a galvanized trellis was, until a few days ago, a valuable cactus. It was an exceptionally valuable plant and could not be bought for its weight in gold. Mrs. Reather had cultivated it from a slip obtained in Europe twenty-five years ago. It stood over 5 feet in height, and bore a flower over eight inches in diameter. Before removing to the Twenty-fifth Ward the family lived at the corner of Bergen Street and Carlton Avenue, and Mrs. Reather’s cactus was the subject of admiration to the residents generally thereabouts.

Last Saturday morning the cactus was found to have disappeared. It had evidently been dug up and removed during the night. A trail of dirt and particles of the plant led from the front yard of the house along the sidewalk toward Albany Avenue. The theft was reported to the police of the Twelfth Precinct and an advertisement offering a reward for information that would lead to its recovery was published in last night’s Eagle. Thus far no trace of the thief or thieves has been discovered. A possible clew is furnished the police by Mrs. Reather. She states that on Saturday morning a street vendor with a wagon load of plants drove up to her door. The peddler had two assistants who, in light of recent events, she recalls, expressed great admiration for the cactus. They asked Mrs. Reather the value of the plant and she replied that money could not buy it. She purchased one or two plants and the wagon drove off. Beside the cactus several other plants were stolen on the same night from the Pacific Street garden. Mrs. Reather stated yesterday evening that it was her firm belief that the peddler referred to came back after nightfall on Saturday and robbed her garden.”