Tombstone epitaph., 1916-08-20
TRICKS 0F THIEVES
Safeguards Adopted by Automo- bile Owners Are of Little
 Avail
FIND WAYS TO BEAT THEM
Automobile Thieves Are Clever Me chanicians and Understand Every Part of the Make of Car and
 Nothing Bothers Them.

The man who steals an automobile
 Is one of the cleverest mechanicians in the country. He knows every make of car from the steering wheel to the tires, and there is scarcely any precau- ton taken by the owner of the car to
 safeguard his property that the auto mobile thief cannot beat.
 Some car owners fondly imagine that when they chain the wheel of their car with fairly thick steel chain they have made 1t impossible for any crook to move the auto from its an- chorage. The simplicity of this safe guard must cause hilarity among the motor car crooks. the Philadelphia North American -em:-kS. so. tas or dinary steel chain can be cut in a sec ond with the appliances that the mo- tor thieves carry in their outfit.
 But most car owners consider they have made the car immovable by mere ly locking the switch box. It will in- terest them to know that the car thieves have found a way to beat this precaution very easily. The clever me chanician who makes a business of stealing cars can cross wires so as to cause ignition and move the engine without bothering with the switch box at all. A method that is kindergarten to the car thief is to connect wires from the dry cell battery direct to the ignition coil, thus starting the motor without difficulty.
 Some cars have devices by which the gasoline supply can be locked, and this is regarded by some owners as placing a hopeless barrier in the way of the thief who would run of with the standing car. For how can 8 car be moved when the supply of gasoline is shut off? Nothing easier. The mo- tor-car thief carries with him his own supply of gasoline in a bucket With this gallon or so of gasoline. carried negotiate a 15-mile run with the car by connecting his bucket of gasoline direct to the carburetor. Feeding the gasoline to the carburetor in this way through a rubber hose, the automobile thief can send the car far from the scene of its former station; sufficient ly far to enable him to put the gaso- line tank and the car in regular com mission and speed where he will to safety and a sale.
 But the commonest and therefore the safest trick of the automobile thief requires no expert mechanical knowl- edge. It simply requires nerve. which these thieves possess to an unusual degree. This trick Is the old one of driving up in an old auto, that looks like a garage repair wagon, hitching a rope to the car that is to be stolen and towing it away. The thieves dress for the part in oil-soaked over alIs. When they have selected the car to be stolen, picking one that is in a sidestreet and not likely to be under the eye of a policeman who may have been tipped to watch the car, the thieves come up to the scene in their old car, looking like the ordinary crew sent for from the garage to repair car that is in trouble or isn't working as well as its fastidious owner would wish.
 They alight from their own car and make a great pretense of examining the car that they intend to spirit away. They remove the hood and scrutiniZe the motor. They get out kit of tools and tinker for awhile with some part of the machinery. If anyone should happen to be watching them or look ing on from a neighboring window, all the men do has the appearance Of nat ural work by honest workmen from the repair shop. Presently the men hold consultation, pointing to some part Of the motor machinery, and ap- parently come to the conclusion that the car cannot be started with the tools at their command. Then they hitch a rope to the car and tow 1t away at the end of their own car. Could anything be more simple?
 How can you beat such a game as this? Carrying away part of the ma does not prevent the thieves from towing the car away. One sure way to prevent robbery is to have the car watched.