Eugene wonders...

..about this story (where it seems a fellow was either wearing face paint to rob a house or face paint to make fun of dark-skinned people), "[I]ts suggestion that the real explanation (burglary) is less serious than the apparent one (blackface), strikes me as out of place, unless I'm picking up a subtext that isn't really there."

Could be the burglary was going to be a college prank. The facts say that the person wearing the face paint was a new inductee in a fraternity. Maybe he was going to "rob" another frat house.