The Colfax gazette. [volume] (Colfax, Wash.) 1893-1932, 1911-11-17
AUTOMOBILE
. Thieves CAUGHT
WHITMAN DEPUTIES RECOVER Big
CAR and TURN over THIEVES
TO The AUTHORITIES.

Prompt work on the part Of VIII
Cole and George Corner, two of
Whitman county's live deputy sher-
ifs, resulted in the capture last Sat
urday afternoon of the two men who
stole Fred B. Grinnell's big $4,000
touring car from Spokane the dav be-
fore and were heading towards Cali
fornia with the machine The car, a
seven passenger Stevens-Duryea was
stolen when left alone for a few min
utes in front of an office building in
Spokane Friday afternoon.
The next day the sheriff's Office at
Colfax was notified and a description
of the car was given. Office Deputy
George Corner was telephoning the
description to the small towns Of the
county when Deputy Cole came into
the office from a trip to Spokane and
overheard the conversation.
Il saw big car that answered
that description when l was coming
in on the Inland train a few minutes
ago." said Cole. 1T was down near
the fair ground and going west"
Wires were hot in a minute. The
postmaster at Diamond said. Yes,
the car just went through here" En-
dicott was notified to stop the tour
lists. Not long after word came back,
The car is here and SpeciaI Deputy
Sheriff James Cole is on his way TO
ColfaX with the two young men who
were with the car" James Cole is a
brother of Deputy Will Cole.
When the automobile was stopped
at Endicott an examination Shove
the engine number had been detaced
but the first two figures were made
out TO be the same as those in the de-
ScrlptlOn. The car tailed in other
respects. The men were forced to
run the machine into a livery barn.
They claimed they had been hired by
a Spokane man to take the machine
to Walla Walla. They objected to be-
ing arrested and wanted TO see the
warrant. Cole said he did not have
time to show it and taking one teI-
low in each hand made a run to
catch train No. s, which had already
pulled into the station.
In less than an hour the men were
safely lodged in the county Jail in
this city, where they gave the names
of Joseph Fritsch and ". r. Hodg-
man. Deputy L. o. Caine Of Spo-
kane came after them SUNDAY morn
ing.
It was found that after stealing
the car the two fellows drove TO Mica
in Spokane county where they spent
the night and then came on through
Tekoa and Colfax on their way
towards Walla Walla.
of the Fred B. Grinnell company, was
in ColfaX last Sunday and took the
machine home with him. He esti-
mates the damage to the car a $500.
He says, They did about ali they
could to lose the identity Of the car
When We recovered it the number
had been changed from 1894 to 1877,
the monogram and name plate had
been torn off and the painted number
on the lamps mutilated. Besides this
the top was broken and the tires IN
bad condition. The radiator was
frozen hard"
Several cars have been stolen from
Spokane during the season but tie
only one where the thieves nave
been caught was the case OF the
Grinnell car last week. During tie
Whitman county fair two cars. Z
Chalmers and an Z. NJ. F., We're
stolen in Spokane and traced 70 s..
John in this county. The drivers
left the E. NJ. F. behind a barn while
they pawned a watch and rife 10 buy
gasoline. When they returned to
the machines the E. NJ. F. rad been
moved a short distance and the
thieves took fright and fed in the
Chalmers leaving the other car be-
hind.