Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-03-11

Makes Report to Officials Of Tele.
phone Company.

Sheriff f. G. Kelly made dis
covery last week that has created more
than ordinary excitement In ! Cleve-
land. He located quantity of wire
believed to have been stolen from the
Cuyahoga Telephone Co.
Referring to the discovery the Cleve.
land Leader says:
1t is thought that large and bold
gang of wire thieves that has been
operating in the vicinity of Cleveland
is making it's headquarters ut Akron.
The sheriff of Summit county, there
fore, seems to have chance to make
an important capture and win the
gratitude OF the telephone companies
of Cleveland. Stealing wire has been
regular occupation for some time
past for large and well-organized
gang of men. Last week Sheriff
Kelley, of Akron notified the officials
of the Cuyahoga Telephone company
that he had located three-fourths Of
ton of copper wire, and that he
wished the company to send someone
there to identify it. OF course. as
the wire is new, it would be practically
an impossibility for anyone to identify
it, but it is thought that if the sheriff
has located so large a quantity of tele-
phone wire under circumstances that
indicate it was stolen. hex must be in
position to give chase to the thieves.
Manager Mark Davis, of the Cuya.
hoga Telephone Company, says the
thefts of wire from the telephone com,
panes in Cleveland amount to thou
sands of dollars year for each com
pany. There is a State law that makes
it a more serious penalty than simply
theft to steal the wires of a telephone
or telegraph company that are in use,
for the value is insignificant compared
to the damage done by the Interrupt
ton of business. Usually the thieves
are wise enough to steal only wire that
is in process of being strung or be-
ing taken to the place where it is to
be strung. Under the law these cases
are punishable only as ordinary thefts,
according to the value of what is
stolen. The special State law regard
ing interference with telegraph and
telephone wires does not apply TO
stocks of ware that are not yet in use to
telegraph OF telephone lines. For this
reason the experienced criminals
avoid live" wires, 1t Is from the wa.
gons used by the linemen and from
piles of wire that may be left on the
ground for short time that the thieves
steal. In some cases 1t has been found
that the thefts were committed by
men in the employ of the telephone
companies, Some of these dishonest
employees have confessed. There was a
recent instance of this kind in which a
driver employed by one of the tele-
phone companies admitted having
stolen a large quantity of wire belong
ing to his employers, and also to hav.
ing sold it for ten cents pound.
You are not good trader the
official of the company said to him,
any more than you are an honest
driver. You could have sold that wire
for seventeen cents pound, It's
worth about twenty ON the market"
The increase in the cost OF copper
that has made the fortunes of the
copper kings of the West is the In.
direct cause of the thefts of wire. The
lines of the telegraph companies are
not troubled because the telegraph
companies use steel or iron wire that
Is not worth enough to make 1t profit!
able plunder. Copper has been up to
twenty-three cents a pound, however,
and a man can carry on his shoulder
enough wire to be worth fifteen or