Jayne's infamous caper on Higgins' Moon

Life, Crime

"...and the man they call Jayne turned 'round his plane. And that's when money hit sky..."

Jayne Cobb and Stitch Hessian arrive in Canton, a town on Higgins' Moon, and after standing up to Magistrate Higgins, Jayne brings Stitch in on a robbery which he has planned. Together, they steal a hovercraft from the magistrate and pull a second-storey on his estate, robbing strongboxes containing sixty thousand in untraceable currency from his safe. They get away clean, but the hovercraft is tagged by anti-aircraft fire, causing it to lose altitude and forcing them to dump the fuel reserve, the life support, and even the seats in an attempt to stay airborne. With the shuttle at thirty feet, only Jayne, Stitch, and the money are left, so Jayne pushes Stitch himself out, costing Stitch one of his eyes. After tossing Stitch, however, the shuttle continues to go down, and Jayne finally dumps the strongboxes as well, accidentally dropping them on the mudders in Canton's town square.   ["Jaynestown." The full story of Jayne and Stitch's robbery is revealed over the course of the episode, with Jayne, Stitch, and Magistrate Higgins offering different facets of it. The nature of Jayne's initial confrontation with the magistrate isn't specified, but Fess Higgins makes reference to witnessing it himself, and the people of Canton are all personally familiar with Jayne. It is also unclear what they were stealing "sixty thousand" of, as various forms of currency are referenced during the series, including "credits" and "platinum."]   Although Jayne manages to escape, Stitch is immediately captured by Magistrate Higgins, who has him locked up in a steaming hotbox.   ["Jaynestown." Stitch says that he's "spent the last four years" in that box, clarifying the specific timeframe of the original robbery.]   After discovering the fate of his money, Magistrate Higgins sends his prods into Canton to take it back from the mudders, but they resist, and there are too many to put down, so in the end, he simply calls it a bonus.   ["Jaynestown." A young mudder tells Jayne what happened after he left.]   Believing that Jayne dropped the money into Canton's town square deliberately, the mudders celebrate him as a folk hero, writing a song about his exploits called "The Hero of Canton" and erecting a statue of him in the square. Magistrate Higgins rolls into Canton, wanting to tear the statue down, but the whole town riots as a result.   ["Jaynestown." The young mudder also recounts these events to Jayne, though it is only assumed the the song was composed around the same time. Based on the statue, it appears Jayne also had a goatee during this period.]