Evening star., 1898-08-27
BICYCLE ST EALING

| One of the most daring bicycle thefts oc-
Cured Thursday at the Medical Museum,
7th and streets southwest Mr. b. w.
| Reiss, the secretary of the Oldest Inhab-
| itants Association, lost his wheel. The
thief escaped. and though the police de-
partment was promptly notified, there is
little hope of the culprits arrest. The very
| daring of the matter shows that the thief
was no ordinary criminal
number of the clerks In The Medical
Museum ride wheels and while the owners
| are working the bicycles are stored in a
small space in the north central portion of
| the building on the first floor. The place
| has a concrete floor, and can easily be
| reached by entering the main entrance on
street, walking in the wide space between
the double stairways and out to the rear
From the bicycle place TO the ground in
the rear there is a fall of several feet. and
the clerks have small gangway which
they use with their wheels. They use the
rear way, never carrying their wheels
through the main entrance
Whlle the messenger was seated at his
| usual place near the door Thursday he OBJ
served stranger, weighing about one hum
dred and forty pounds neatly dressed with
| dark coat light trousers and crash hat
coming from the place where the bicvcies
are stored showing a wheel. He spoke to
the man about the regulations prohibiting
the running of bicycle across the floor
The command of the messenger was rather
sharp. The stranger, with the greatest as
SUI dhSS, SboOptU oNST, plCkeO the DlcNcl9
up by grasping hold of the bottom frame
piece and walked out down the stairs to
the street, where he mounted and rode
away.
thought that something was strange, as no
| outsiders are allowed to place their wheels
| in the bicycle room. He made an inquiry
and ii was quickly ascertained that a wheel
| had been stolen, and that the victim was
Mr.. Reiss. The police were notified irnne-
diately Since the wheel was stolen it has
been found out that man answering the
same description had been seen loafinR
nearly all of the forenoon around the Ma
tonal Museum, inspecting the different
wheels which were standing I'm the racks,
belonging to the employees AS there was
| some one around the place most of the
time. the stranger evidently was afraid to
ride of with any of the machines and went
over to the Medical Museum
On account of the boldness of this theft
| and numerous other thefts of bicycles of
late there is an impression that regular
| set Of bicycle thieves exists, who steal
wheels and sell them again. To do this il
| is necessary to have some place of busi-
ness, where the machine can be doctored,
SO that recognition is impossible The ma
chine could be SO skillfully treated tnat
even the owner would not be able to iden-
tify 1t.
While there is no positive assurance that
such a gang of thieves exists in this city,
IN other cities they exist, and have sort
! of means Of communica ton with each other
In different cities. 1t is likely that WASH
ington is in the list, being recognized as a
fine bicycle town. BY having three or four
wheels, changing the saddles and handls-
bars. and possibly the wheels big change
In the appearance of each would be made
without even enameling the frame Some
wheels that could not be well disguised
could be sent to some Of the agents of the
gang in other cities and there disposed Of
The following article clipped from Chi
cago trade paper contains some Interesting
facts on the matter: Bicycles are stolen
10 order in Chicago. according to a local
oobber. Regular gangs OF thieves are or
ganized for the purpose. One of the men-
bers takes orders. He finds out what is
wanted by inscriptions dealers and reports
TO his mon The latter go out on the boule-
wards and In the parks and steal BICYCLES
answering the descriptions. Ten dollars Is
said to be the regula ton price for '9S
model OF the standard nigh-grade makes
1t Is estimated that fifty machines a CAY
are stolen in Chicago. The dealers who buy
them cut them down, interchange the tires
pedals and saddles, re-cnamel and change
the numbers. and the machines become
high-grace secondhand bicycles Other
wheels are sold to dealers who make a busi-
ness OF shipping them out of town inter-
changing with ST. Louis and other cities
for bicycles stolen outside Of Chicago. They
are usually stolen by men in bicycle cos
Il me. who saunter around parks and places
where wheelmen lounge. The thief mounts
machine that IS left unguarded or cuts
the chain with . pair Of nippers IL IL ia
locked -