Newspapers / The Concord Daily Tribune … / Dec. 10, 1923, edition 1 / Page 7
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-yr . ■ - w-v Monday, December 10, 1023. - 1 1. 1 , 1 Careful Crooks and Careless Drivers Auto Thieves Steal SUHV 000,000 in Car*** 1922. ! x AVNE DARK night last yeaj: small auto truck was driven into alley behind the Philadelphia branch of the largest manufacturers ofrtautomobile Ignition locks in the country. There was a quick manipu lation of keys, bandied expertly, and a back door of the establishment was open. A large folded sheet of card board was handed from the car and taken Inside. The cardboard, when unfolded, was an exact reproduction of the safe which stood under lights in plain-view of the front window. It was but the work of seconds to set it up as e screen In front of the sare, and a safe cracker went to work on the combb nation In comparative security from Interruption. In the meantime his companions unbolted a machine weighing hundreds of pounds from Its moorings in the dark recesses at the back of the shop, and carried It out to their truck. There was an almost unno.ticeable explosion as the safe, which had proved stubborn, was blown; a hasty sorting of its contents; and tjie cracksman, disregarding apparent valuables, carried a heavy volume out to the car, which was driven rapidly away. v Thus was’perpetrated one of the most daring and disturbing robberies In the history of American crime. Missing a Rich Haul i' It was aimed at no petty loot, 3uch as two or three million doling Ip bonds or currency, it was Intended to place at the mercy of the criminal element of the country automobiles with a value of hundreds of millions of dollars. The machine stolen was one pf a half dozen in the United States used in making keys to the ignition locks on 80 per cent of the high grade au tomobiles manufactured. The book sought in the safe contained the code letters and nitmhers of each of these locks. Simply by looking at the num ber on the lock of any of these cars, and tracing down that number Imthe code book, keys duplicating the own /er’s could be manufactured. PossessAn of these keys would not only make the actual stealing of these cars more simple, but would aid the organized bands of thieves greatly In disposing of stolen cars without sus picion. t «fc. i ... n ; iiiiimiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiuiiiiiiiiiumiimiiiHi^ xj .55 1 WWh CLEAN SWEEP I I BHf FURNITURE SALE f I == 1 We came to Concord eight months ago and opened a branch furniture store. H 1 == I since that time we have enjoyed good business, in fact more than we had expect- g ed. Now we are going into our new quarters next door to Joe Gaskel, where we g will be in shape t 6 serve you better. We have bought our complete stock for the jj new store. Therefore we can’t afford to move the stock we now have on hand, jg Come early and get the furniture you need at One-third Off for Cash. SPRATT BROS. I Forest Hill Buffalo and McGill Street §j l!l!li(il!iOiL t ii!l!!ll!!!!l!UllHllllillllllllltPHI)itHlil]ll((lll , Jlipil^l(jipil!llipii!t)) The whole Ingenious plot, to which tha bant brains of the criminal pro fession bn)' evidently been dedicated, fplfed, because a; clerk in the ignition look establishment disobeyed orders. Strict instructions had been Issued 'tha!, the code book, with Its almost incalculable value, should always be locked in the safe when not In use. The-safe'had bpeu .locked for the nlgjit when this clerk, working late, went to put it bark. Fearful of a rep rimand for not having replaced It earlier, he did not telephone one of the heads of the establishment to re turn and open the safe, but thiSted to 1 uclc to get it back next day without observation, and tucked it on a high shelf. Luck was not only with pirn, but with the establishment and the country’s automobile owners. The ‘‘code book” which the thieves blew open the safe to obtain turned out to be an accessory catalogue • The key-making machine has never been recovered, but ft is useless with out the book. The thieves mailed the catalogue back with a polite' note of regret. The failure of this gigantic plot did not prevent thieves stealing $100,000,- 000 worth of automobiles in the Unit ‘ .♦ ->/ v , $ f.i jr** . I taifcLi ed States last year, according to a careful computation made by the sta tistical department of the AeLna Life insurance Company,—a figure which is increasing at a rate which staggers the imagination. i§3 ’wSßfffW l . wme lisp 1 ■ |r The lower row of figures was invisible until - treated with 1 heat and acid. TT Mmm n! § j'a ft I Motor Thefts Increasing 'The police, despite splendid efforts, are unable to cope with the situation. Automobiles, and those who acquire them by other than lawful means, are increasing out of ail proportion-to the The concord daily tribune HHPn !Pr*»\ WfSmM* increase in police departments. As tha number of cars which each police man must guard grows larger, the number of stolen mounts and the per centage recovered dwindles. There has been a tenfold increase in automobiles in ten years. Tills year wilt see 3,500,000. automobiles manufactured. As compared to such growth, police departments are al most stationary. “If you leave yoijr banbarqil lean ing against the curb, somebody's go ing to pinch it,” is a summary of the situation by a thief, uow In a Ntew York State prison, who stoje- 52.003.- 000 worth- of cars during 20-years of operation. He boasts that.there is no I type of lock or safety daidcfc which gr ' I - Vi i jii ~~ij ■fe. i^Jr Sp^ he has not outwitted. He admits a preference for cars not locked—and there are plenty left that way—but made it a point to foil ail of the lock smiths during his career, just as a matter of professional pride. Lauch at Locksmiths Gasoline feed pipe 10ck.3, steering wheel locks, chained wheels, trans mission locks—they are a!! pie to the experienced man. he avers. When he took a fancy to a particular car, pro tected by half a dozen or go assorted ioqks. his crew of huskies drew a’.ong- I side with truck and trailer, like any | honest working men, and trundled the ; 'dmobied" prize away under the eyes iof the law. He did it once too often, i but it worked for £0 years. World's Biggest Horse Shoe Throwing lournamenz av Lake Florida, in Wc^lDS^AMPi— / MAV Hold 6oy'oSj^^ D %- /vL.J E.FbwJcisco,toWAM Giampion* The greatest horse shoe throw- ] ng contest in the world's history ; wjll be the 'Tational. Wid-Wint.'i j Hprse Shoe Tournament at lake I Worth, Florida (near Palm .Uric':. j in February. Horse 3hoe t,*iro*/i:r- j f om every part of the li.pt. «',.i; attend. The invitation w»> «\ i tended to the National Horst Soy<- Pitchers’ Assn, of A mere* >' E Cleveland last Sep lyotn !>> President A1 I'ichler ami ( Walters of the Lake Worth H•> 5 , . Shoe Club. : 1 ' ’Horse shoe tossers are tu; inr "• s for; the big contest, it i> ecj that horse shoe thi.v-.ui «• k become so popular that w-w. p*; cannibals in darkest Africa will m ; discussing horse shoe 3 an-’ wih learn to pitch shoe: instenn ot heads. Among the stars who will ; attend are Mrs. J. S. Francisco, Woman Champion Horse Shoe r. Pitcher of the WorldU George _ A & j,' Ml v gtt||Bg|p^ The next move is to get the stolen | goods to a friendly garage, of which there are dozens in every large city, and remove all identification marks, scraping the numbar from the body and filing the number from the en gine. New numbers are impressed over the old with steel dies, the body reiinished and tires changed, possi bly, and the car is ready for market. If of a common make it is often sold where stolen. If conspicuous, it Is shipped elsewhere. In rare cases stolen cars have been sold back to the owners. A small Investment, a quick turn over. an?l a .big profit, with mighty lit tle risk. No wonder this is a busi ness which is pressing bootlegging for importance. Last year 7,107 cars were stolen in New York City, and 3,229 recovered — the lowest rate of recovery on rec ord. In 1918 there were 8,340 cars stolen, and 2,578 recovered. In this one city an increase in cars perma nently lost from 762 to 3.857 in five years! These figures are in the pos session of the Aetna Life insurance Company. Borrowing Cars for Banditry These cars permanently iost were the grist of the profess'onal thieving organizations. They are traveling other streets, in altered guises. The cars recovered were largely "borrow ed” for banditry or joyriding/ Your up-to-date bandit seldom walks. He goes about his business in some body else’s gasoline buggy. In the fraca3 in which he engages his li cense number is frequently taken, and this clue is of course run down, lead ing to John Smith, banker and church member. Smith's car is found by a roadside, usually the worse for wear. W. May. Akron, Ohio. World's > Champion; C C. Davis of Colum tn:s, Ohio px -champion. Frank Ja.'V-ua In'll.- s s a.i to.-scr; 11.•• mi . Falor St.y Cnatnpion of i i!».- ;v ifi.. (Can Nutie.naker, the ;!: vi'i.t ..pi iv.'.'C of Miami. Fla.; l-rjir, i/itm lialpn Spencer. | Flank 1 and other near ■a mi,.. *.n.l-Champs, including •» .... ■!...fh.sen Jr.. Witt Doyle, • .icn. Wilkinson, Loren V,.n :m. Hrutidi-ge, Spencer m.\ other •t: oi.u .v.incii- stars will be vto ..fnics 'Uspham, HMmbaugh, Un.im. Voung and Col It is ex i i.fcted that the world’s record i made nt CTevdand in e 100-point 1 irjati.e with 63 ringers and Ift doubles. will be broken. Practically every sectiou of the country was represented at the Cleveland tour, .ment L* Septem ber. Over 200 competed la the mey’sjxmteat ftkme. Thera ware PAGE SEVEN ***** ! It used to be a penitentiary offense —in some sections an offense reward ed with informal hanging— to steal a SSO horse. Now six months In Jail is heavy for stealing a $5,000 car.' That is one reason why automobile; theft is on the increase. But the big reason is that stealing [ an automobile is so easy, and capture ! is So unlikely. Automobiles recover ed does not mean apprehension of the thieves. The recovered cars are at , most always deserted. Revealing Erased Numbers A real step toward detection of’dls guised cars, turned back into the channels of trade, has been made by perfecting a process for making via-. ! ible identification numbers that have i been filed away from metal surfaces, i The professional thief’s first step Is i always to file away the numbers placed on the engine by the mannfac • turer and stamp new ones in their ■ places. This is done so skillfully that only .an expert cab detect that a ; change has been made, and the mere detection of a change does nothing i toward identifying the car. Recently it was found that the Im pression by die of the original num -1 ber left an invisible compression in 1 the metal. By applying heat and, acids to the surface, this compression 1 was made visible in the form of the.'!-- original figures. By us,e of this method the surest safeguard .ot the thief has been removed,, and although the method has only recently come in : to use, hundreds of cars have already ; been identified and returned to their ; owners,; •J --i The pedrgree of a used car should t ■ always be traced by the prospective 1 buyer. The man selling the car may : be honest, but one or two steps back of him a thief may lurk, i Bringing to justice the men who • are getting rich in this business Is i the duty of every citizen. The police - can’t do it all. They have too much i else to do. The first step Is for the i driver—the car owner—to be as care . ful as the thief.' I large entries in the women’s tour nament and also in that for bo ye under 15. Nearly aL these com petitors and many others have signified their intentions of being present. Western stars will com pete with experts from the New England and Central states. In addition, fans from all over the United States will attend. The Florida State Horse Shoe Pitchers' Assn, will hold their annual meet at Lake Worth at the same time. Secretary C. V. Faulkner is mak i ing big preparations, Mayor , Clark of Lake: Worth .and the ■ Board of ; Trade are preparing a l royal welcome for the visitors. : Lake Worth is one of Hie most I beautiful and modem towns on the East coast of Florida and fs bound s to attract thousands duripg the s big meet, February- 18th to 24th. - aa it ft on the line of llgUdA 3 East Coast iSWj- anllajSly a*. 5 cessible from Northern point*. __ i
The Concord Daily Tribune (Concord, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 10, 1923, edition 1
7
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