Why did these farmers experience problems with their crop of watermelons? (Site 1)

Feverishly he went through the remaining dollar-sized strips of comic paper.

And there it was. There it was!

This strip had been cut from the top of the comic sheet. On the margin appeared the name of a New York newspaper and the date April 24, 1955.

—"Object Lesson,"
Ellery Queen

What inference can you make from this passage?

The thief likes to read comics in the paper.
Ellery uses the dated newspaper to solve the crime.
The strips of newspaper were not cut very well.
The comic sheet is hiding the evidence.