The San Francisco call., 1903-12-06
WIRE THIEVES
ARE IN PRISON
officers Run Down Men
Who Stole Govern
ment Property.
Story of Remarkable Theft
Is Substantiated by
Captures.

captures.
With the arrest of w. Farber of 27
Chesley street and S. Cooper, a junk
dealer at 112S Mission street, by Detec-
tives Ryan and Taylor and Southern
Pacific Detective P. Levin yesterday
afternoon, and the taking into custody
of Corporal Lewis of the Coast Artil-
lery by the military authorities at the
Presidio, the story as published exclu-
sively in The Call of a recent date rela-
tive to the daring theft of 10000 feet
of insulated wire from the United
States torpedo station at Goat Island is
substantiated in every detail.
The magnitude of the theft of which
the three men in custody stand accused
and for which they will be prosecuted
by the Federal authorities is surprising,
as sufficient wire to string a single line
between this city and San MateO was
carried away i'll a launch from Goat
Island under the eyes of those in
charge of the station. A peculiar fea-
ture attending the investigation OF the
case by the police was the discovery of
another theft of wire from the san
Francisco Gas and Electric Company
! by one of the employees of the depart
ment of electricity of this city, and as
a result the name of Philip McSwegan
of $50 Fell street appears on the detinue
book at the City Prison.
DARING THEFT.
| Chief of Police Whitman received a
communication yesterday morning from
| Captain w. S. Overton Of the Artillery
Corps. L. S. A, relative to the loss OF
a large quantity of wire from Goat Is
| land. The captain in his letter stated
| that about October "a he went on a
months sick leave and Electrician
| Sergeant Henry Simard was left in
charge of the torpedo station at Goat
Island. Sirnard had under him Sergeant
Hodgman of the Twenty eighth Com
pany of Coast Artillery and three pri-
Yates. On October % the launch Brisk,
with the name Joe Kane" painted on
her stern, visited the island and took
away $4,000, feet of insulated copper
wire. Simard at that time told Ser
geant Hodgman that the wire was to
be used at the Presidio so as to allay
all suspicion. On November the same
launch again visited the torpedo sta
tion and $1,000 feet of wire was placed
on board. Sergeant Simard boarded
the boat on that occasion and has not
been seen since.
Upon receipt of the communication
Detectives Ryan and Taylor were i'm
mediately detailed on the case, and
with the assistance of Detective Pete
Levin had cleared up the mystery sur
/ Ia
and landed three of the guilty parties
behind the bars before o'clock The
officers were highly commended by
their superior officers for their clever
work.
LOCATE THE WIRE.
Their investigation shows that Cor
poral Lewis, who was also stationed at
Goat Island, was sent over to this city
by Simard to negotiate for the sale of
the wire. Lewis enlisted the services
of Farber, who took sample of the
wire to Cooper. The market value of
the wire is so cents pound, but Coop
er would give no more than 10 cents.
The wire was turned over to him and
he recently sold it to the Great West
ern Foundry, 217 First street The de-
tectives found about $4,000 feet at the
latter establishment, and the firm has
agreed not to dispose of it pending the
final disposition of the case.
Cooper and Farber were taken into
custody and brought before the milf
tary authorities at the Presidio. Cor
poral Lewis was sent for, but denied
all knowledge of the affair. Upon be-
ing confronted with Cooper and Farber
he broke down and confessed. He
stated that the two men in custody
knew where the wire was coming from
and told him to bring all that he could
get. From checks found in possession
of Cooper and Farber it was ascertained
that the Great Western Foundry had
paid Cooper $176 50 for the goods and
Lewis was paid $153 40 as his and Sim
ards share of the proceeds. Lewis was
arrested and placed in the guardhouse-
SOLD DEAD LINES"
While the detectives were in Cooper's
establishment McSwegan, who is en-
ployed as lineman in the department
of electricity, drove UP in wagon and
disposed of 400 pounds Of copper wire
for $50. In view of the fact that Cooper
had purchased such a large quantity
of stolen Government wire the officers
determined to investigate this latter
sale
Superintendent Hewitt, the City
Electrician. was sent for, but upon an
examination declared that the wire
was not city property. The superin-
tendent of the Mutual Light and Pow
er Company was then called in and
stated that the wire was the property
of the San Francisco Gas and Electric
Company. McSwegan at first denied
his guilt, but subsequently admitted
that in stringing wires for the city he
had come across a considerable num-
ber of dead lines and confiscated
them. He is a married man and ow-
ing to that fact it is understood that
the gas company will not prosecute.
Cooper and Farber. will be turned
over to the Federal officials for trial.
At the time of the exclusive publica-
ton by The Call OF the fact that I'm
Gle Sam had been made the victim OF
a bold ring of thieves, the military
authorities absolutely denied all
of tho T,1affor hat e,.r,~o