The Washington herald., 1912-08-11
MOTOR CARS USED
FOR MANY CRIMES
Paris Apaches Took Hint from New
York-First Came Into Promi.
nence in 1908.

New York. Aug. 1o-The shooting of
Herman Rosenthal on the stems of the
Hotel Metropole Is the latest crime Of n
long list in which the automobile has
been used by the criminals as a means OF
escape. The automobile as an accessory
to crime in New York city first figured
as such on October ., 1895. when the
tewelry store of II. Tannenholz & CO.. at
757 Lexington Avenue. was entered Tan
nenholz himself was held UP and after
ward shot as he grappled with the rob-
Der. who was making OF with the stolen
goods in a taxicab. The proprietor was
seriously injured but. after several
months in a hospital. recovered. Several
months afterward man who gave his
name as James G. Jamison was arrested,
accused OF the crime and sentenced 20
Sing Sing prison for twenty years.
The automobile again jumped INTO
prominence as an effective get away ad-
tunct to the criminal on the night Of
July q. 1911, when the 1eweIry store
owned by Jacob Brothers. at Thirteenth
Street and Sixth Avenue. was entered
by robbers. who drove up in taxicab,
killed Adolph Stern, nephew of the
proprietor. by shooting him. and
speeded away in the automobile with a
tray Of stolen goods.
Crime Well Planned.
The crime was well planned. A
woman accomplice paved the way for
tho robbers by leading a policeman
away from the scene. She acted the
part Of an intoxicated derelict OF the
streets and took the patrolman away
from his beat. BY chance another wo-
man was interested in the purchase Of
pair or spectacles and caused the pro-
prietor OF the store to take her into an
otner room while the others operated.
When the men saw Jacobi, the Jew
eler. leave the main showroom of the
shop they smashed the window glass
and held up and shot young Stern
when he fought them.
Following close on the heels Of this
crime the shoe store of Louis Rosen-
baum. at 241 Bleecker Street, was held
up by young man who said that he
was waiting for two 'Rube friends in
a taxicab. The friends had visited the
Bleecker Street saloons in taxicab
shortly before the attempted holdup.
Rosenbaum resisted the thief. who was
frightened away from the store by a
quickly gathering crowd
Then on February 10 last two men
held up. robbed. and severely beat Irv-
Ing Beckerman. clerk employed by
the United State Rain Coat Company.
The holdup occurred at Great Jones
Street and the Bowery shortly before
noon. and the robbers made their es-
cape In an automobile. Beckerman had
Just drawn 1854 from a bank on this
Bowery and was taking the money,
weekly pay roll. back to his office when
the men assaulted him.
Held Up in Taxfcab.
Five days later two bank messengers
hzrl
and lost $4,000 in bills which they had
drawn from a downtown institution In
this case the two messengers were en-
ployed by the East River National Bank
and were accustomed to making a regu-
lar trip to the Produce Exchange Bank
downtown They employed a taxicab
owned by Gennaro Montana.
The sight of large sums of money
guarded only by two men proved too
much for the taxicab driver. and he
plotted with three others. Montana pi-
loted the machine with the bank mes
sengers and the money inside to Church
Street and Trinity Place, where three
men held up the taxicab. For a time
Montana was able to maintain his inno-
cence. but later he was sentenced TO
prison with his confederates.
Thirty hours later an automobile again
provided a means Of escape when robbers
took $4,000 worth OF diamonds from
George T Horth. John Street diamond
dealer. who was attacked in West Thir-
ty-ffth Street.
Following these sensational hold-ups
the East Side gangsters found the auto
mobile an excellent vehicle to use in
carrying on their factional disputes A
gansster was shot at in Brownsville.
Brooklyn, by four men in a taxicab
from Manhattan, who Journeyed across
the Williamsburg Bridge and fought their
LATHE. after which they left the machine
without paying the driver his fare
Automobiles commenced to figure in
robberies and Manhattan experienced
guerrilla warfare a la taxi. Reports
were published occasionally of big tour
ing cars which tore at high speed through
East Side streets and vomited volleys Of
PISTOL shots. and then came the news
of the adoption of the automobile by the
Paris Apaches.
For six months a band Of ive rob-
bers terrorized Paris. They used auto
mobiles when they found that a safe
escape was possible in a machine After
numbering indiscriminately and robbing
at will the band was sxter1ninated.