South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-04-11
Roundup of Five Boys and
Young Men Living in North
west Part of the City
Clears Many TheftS.
POLICE RECOVER $1,000
WORTH OF PROPERTY
Loot Includes Great Amount
CT Automobile ACC1SS0r-
ieS-EXpeCt to Get
Two More.

held by the police department as
members of the gang of thieves
which has been operating in South
Bend for the past I s months. Stolen
property valued at more than $1,000,
found i'm the possession Of the BOYS
when arrested is at detectives head
quarters and the prisoners have con-
fessed TO almost 100 rObberies. Two
other boys will be arrested this aft
ernoOn.
Those under arrest are.
CLYDE LANDGRAF ] . years old,
631 Leland az.
RUSSELL WILLIAMS. Is years
old. 500 Sherman az.
CLARENCE HANS. Is years old,
SOS Leland av
CHRISTIAN NELSON. Is years
old. 1898 Blaine av.
HAROLD SMITH, 16 years old,
California av.
DEWEY WOOLMAN. Ga Leland
av.. garage proprietor.
ROSS LANDGRAF, p years old.
631 Leland av., jitney bus driver.
Warrants have been issued for the
arrest of Wallace Antisdale, 3 years
old. 1115 Allen St, and Richard
Rohde. living on Blaine av. 1t was
/ expected that these boys would be
arrested Tuesday afternoon along
with at least four others who are
said 10 be implicated i'm the whole
sale robberies.
Boys Confess.
According TO the confessions Of the
BOYS and the property found in their
possession they have been responsible
for practically all of the automobile
accessory and garage robberies
committed in South Bend during the
past year and half Tools, horns,
automobile blankets and accessories
of every description are in The
possession of the police.
At O'Clock this afternoon 43
thefts from automobiles which have
been committed during the last Is
months had been cleared up, accord
ing to chief Kuespert The property
stolen in these 43 robberies had
either been identified by the owners
or through the reports kept on file
at the police department.
In all so robberies are known TO
have been committed by the gang OF
thieves. as stolen goods from as
many places have been identified by
owners.
For over a year the police depart
ment has been attempting TO get
trace of the thieves who have been
.tealing tool boxes, robes. horns.
clocks and other automobile APP
purtenances Monday afternoon
Sergt. William Barnhart and John
PABLO of the detective department
went TO the home Of Ross Landgraf.
There they found a great amount of
stolen property and indications that
a. number Of persons were impli-
Gated in the robberies.
Immediately Chief Kuespert de-
tailed every man on the detective
force TO work upon the case. All
night long the men searched the
rome of the boys under arrest. each
place finding evidence which led
them TO Other homes At 8 o'clock
Tuesday morning half dozen Of the
alleged thieves were at the city Jail
Property Found i'm Shed.
Much of the property was found
in a shed in the rear Of the home Of
Clyde Landgraf. while II is asserted
that Dewey WoOlman, who operates
small garage on Leland av, has
been buying the stolen property
from the boys Woolman is under
arrest along with Ross Ianderaf on
charges of receiving stolen property.
The boys admitted stealing goods
from the lockers at the high school
building and other property from
the Y. NJ. e. a. These robberies
have been a puzzle TO the police de-
partment and other officials for
months. as no trace Of the thieves
could ever be secured. They also ad-
mitted entering a mum Der Of gar
ages and stealing much CT the prop
erty that has been taken from au-
tomobiles left standing along the
streets.
II is believed that very little OF
the property has been disposed OF.
Practically all OF it was Of such a
nature as not 10 be easily sold. al
though the police find many pieces
of tool kits and other such outfits
missing Thus far 1t has been abso-
lutely impossible 20 make up any
list OF the robberies ir which the
gang has been implicated. At the
present time the police and detec-
tive department is being kept busy