The sun., 1909-06-06

of the thieves was found in the restaurant,
Judge Mulqueen sentenced the thief to
twenty years in Sing Sing.
The thief's name was James B. Jameson
known in the police records as Dixon. He
had been sent to Jail in this city three
times for various offences, one OF them
being carrying concealed weapons. and
once he served a term in Philadelphia
for forgery.
He was identified by Mr.. Tannenholz
as the man who shot him. but the police
seemed to think the identification was not
sufficiently strong for conviction and
he was not tried on the charge. He pre-
tended toknow who did shoot Mr.. Tannen-
holz. Inspector McCaferty had many
talks with him but got nothing OF value
from him. He evidently wanted to play
for a light sentence. but failed.
Only few days ago Henry Acosta
OF 277 Madison street. Manhattan. re-
ported that he was robbed on Ocean Boule-
ward. down Coney Island way, by Ave
men in touring car. As they passed
him they stopped. sprang out. stole 81
from him and got away.
The cars number indicated that il
was owned by a we'll known citizen Of
Brooklyn, who said that il 1t was his car
he did not know it was out that evening.
1t may have been q case Of substituted
numbers. trick which every crook and
dishonest chauffeur.
Three weeks ago bakeshop keeper in
Brooklyn used an automobile for an elope-
ment with his cashier. The girls sister
and friend discovered what was going
on and souff1e occurred on the street to
prevent the eloping girl from getting
away. She tore herself loose from those
restraining her.
An automobile was near by into which
the man eloper had already leaped The
girl made a break for il. scrambled in
and off the pair started. That was a hired
automobile and probably the chauffeur
knew nothing Of the character OF the job
for which he had been hired.
1t is not the purpose Of this article to
suggest ways by which thieves and
highwaymen may make use of the auto
mobile. The fact Is that such characters
know the advantages Of using a motor
car for certain crimes. The police do not
think that there will be any extended use
Of the motor cars by thieves. especially
in the city, for many reasons.
getting away and high speed performances
attract attention. In the next place they
are expensive. Again 1t is practically
necessary to have q chauffeur or garage
owner in the game with the thieves.
The chauffeur certainly must have had
long experience in driving cars. No or
dinary chauffeur will do for a lob that
m llo for tho ahil In lrt Il,
at a high speed 30 that there shall be a
minimum chance Of breakdown.
Another difficulty in the widespread use
of cars for criminal enterprises Ia that OF
getting cars. In the old style Of bank
robbery. 1t was the custom for the robbers
TO turn horse thieves first. 1t Is not easy
to steal an automobile.
Out in the country where there are
numerous private garages It can be done,
OF course, but you can't sell an auto
mobile when you are through with 1t for
criminal purposes as you oan sell O horse
and rig in almost any old place, even IL
the outfit. has been stolen The only
thing TO do with stolen automobile Ia
to abandon 1t.
The matter Of license also interferee
with the old game Of skipping out Of one
State into another. or course fake mum
bers may be attached to a machine, but
that is detail which requires q definite
plan OF escape, ana bank robbers eepe-
cially have to adjust the matter Of escape
to circumstances entirely. To use the
auto for a criminal campaign, or even
for one big job, requires ownership OF the
oar or criminal relations with q crooked
chauffeur or garage owner.
1t may easily happen that some man
owning a car was Raffles living out
wardly the respectable life OF a country
gentleman and being a crook at night,
but the police authorities think that not
only would such cases be exceptional
bpt that owing to the difficulty Of securing
lap orhnary car the general use Of autos