Evening star., 1899-11-04
THEFTS OF WHEELS
Species of Roguery Quite Common
in Washington.
WORK OF The DETECTIVE OFFICE
Officer in Charge Of Fereting
Out the Thieves.
VERY Blu SY MAN

A Il N Is y - I NJ a N
One of the busiest members of the local
police department is Detective Michael
Muller who is assigned to the duty of
looking after stolen bicycles and the peo-
pie who steal them. The business of re-
covering wheels and detecting the rogues
has become quite feature in the work of
the local detective corps, and unless some
thing is done to check such thefts it is con-
sidered to be likely that more than one man
will have to be assigned to the work. This
is distinctly bicycle city, Detective Muller
being authority for the statement that
there are possibly 5O,000 riders in the city.
Reports of bicycle thefts come in thick
and fast at intervals, and for weeks at a
time the detective has no time to devote to
other business Besides outright thefts
wheels disappear under other conditions
and often these conditions will not sub
stantiate a case of larceny. This class of
cases includes instances of hiring wheels
or the borrowing of wheels without the
owners permission, and then abandoning
them.
In this connection the chief of police. in a
recent report made a valuable suggestion
He said:
1T has been demonstrated that much in
convenience and expense might be avoided
were the laws so modified to reach that
class of individuals who for sport gain
or other mean purposes hire bicycles and
afterward abandon them to be lost or
stolen Unless such property is hired and
sold the existing statute will not cover the
cases. Such a law should be secured as
will make It a criminal offense for person
to hire a vehicle of any kind and after
wards abandon 1t upon the streets or in
some other city or town. The owner not
infreQuently finds his property injured and
oftentimes must devote time from his bus
mess to hunt up and secure that which was
supposed to be rented to honorable people
The prosecution to conviction and penalty
of few such mscreants would soon put
stop to this particularly provoking and
costly kind of dishonesty"
Would Save Annoyance.
Detective Muller believes that if a law
covering these suggestions were placed on
the statute books these annoyances would
cease. Then, too, he believes bicycles
should be treated as horses are in most iu-
risdctions. This would make the theft of a
wheel a penitentary offense and it is his
opinion the number Of people who steal
them would be largely decreased. AS it is
bicycles are so cheap that It is almost i'm
possible to Sustain a charge. of grand lar
ceny in a case where the wheel had been
ridden. The maximum penalty for the
theft of most wheels is a sentence of six
months in jail, while the payment of a
fine usually meets the case Many a per-
son who will risk short jail sentence or
a light fine for the theft of wheel would
keep hands off If he believed he would go
to the penitentiarv. While the question of
having Congress enact a special statute of
this kind has often been discussed nothing
has yet been accomplished but this winter
a move In this direction will be made, and
the authorities hope for good results
During Detective Muller's experience in
this line of work he has found that some
bicycle thieves have done a wholesale busi-
ness Several times 1T has developed that
two or more men worked together and
would make no effort to get rid of their
plundcr until they had a half dozen or
more wheels in stock Not long ago the
officers investigation of a case resulted in
his going to Virginia town in search Of
an alleged thief. He learned there that q
number of wheels had been sold by some
one who had undoubtedly made several
trips to this city.
While some of the thieves ship their
wheels to other cities and dispose of them
there, others hide them here and still 9TH
ers ride them about the streets until they
get caught or get tired of riding, and then
abandon the stolen property
Easy to Escape Detection.
"a man may steal a wheel and ride it
about the Streets said the detective land
if an officer apprehends him it is usually an
accident. That it IS almost impossible for
an officer to identify moving wheel no
frequently made by the owner who is nat
urally familiar with his particular wheel
1t often happens said the officer. that
stolen wheels are taken apart and pieces
OF different wheels put together. In this
way thieves are sometimes able to destroy
every mark by which a bicycle might be
Identified even by the owner.
People who make mistakes in taking
wheels belonging to others because they
are in hurry and do not stop to look be-
tore mounting give the police as well as
the victims of their mistakes considerable
trouble. Amusing instances of this kind
frequently occur"
1t does not always follow that because a
complaint OF theft is made that a theft
has actually been committed. Dealers fire.
quently pick up wheels on the street when
the rider has failed to make his payments.
Such cases are usually adjusted without
much trouble, although civil suits some
tl1nes follow: Only few days ago a young
man entered complaint against a supposed
unknown thief, and had the police looking
for the wheel for several days The de-
tecuves were unable to find any trace of
the missing bike, and later it developed
that the young mans father had put it
away for the protection of his son. The
latter was on spree and the father feared
and perhaps get killed.
This Time the Wheel
few days later the loss of another wheel
was reported, and in this case 1t developed
that the wheel was on spree. The owner
had not the slightest idea where the wheel
was until he was informed by the proprie-
| tor of saloon that it was In his place.
Detective Muller believes that the imposi-
ton of small tax on bicycles would be of
| advantage both to the police and the own
| ers The tax, he thinks, should be very
small and government tag should be re-
CURED to be kept on each wheel. In issu-
ing these tags the District officials should
take a complete description of each one
| licensed, SO that a duplicate tag could net
| be issued. This, the detective says, would
| be OF great assistance in the investigation
! OF, cases. Should thief get tag Of this
could easily be detected When something
| of this kind Is DONE Detective Muller says,
| more stolen bicycles will be recovered
Tax on stock Transactions.
In the case OF E. A. Bowers & Co., bro
kers of this city. who were reported to the