The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-05-19
Two Men with Vermont
Number Plates Taken i'm
Springfield
TRAIL LEADS TO
WINDHAM COUNTY

John H. Patterson of Westminster For
merly Of Bellows Falls, One of Those
in Custody Other Had S8,475 in
His Pockets.
Two men charged with making a bust
ness Of stealing automobiles are under
arrest in the hands of Springfield, Mass
officers, and a confession by one of them
has given the officers a trail which they
have followed to Bellows Falls, West
minister and other places in Windham
county. The officers are hot on the scent
of stolen ears ana expect to have at least
eight of them rounded up before tonight
Yesterday officers visited the premises
Of c. H. Comstock in Westminster and
found Ford which they said rcscmbIed
one they were looking for, but the nun
Der did not correspond with the number
given by the man whose car they were
looking for. Mr. Comstock was not at
home The officers found DR.. G. a.
Prouty Of Putney, who deals in Ford
cars, and talked with him al the police
station, but allowed him to 70 without
Iplacng him under arrest, his presence
| being guaranteed when wanted
The two men arrested are John II. Pat
terson formerly of Bellows Falls, who
has lived IN Westminster several months,
and Ernest n Shcchan. who gave his ad-
dress as Cooleys hotel, Springfield, Mass
They were taken into custody Thursday
might and were held under bonds of
5i,500 for hearing next Friday. but
Police Chief Guilty OF Springfield became
surety for Patterson in order that the
latter might accompany him and other
officers on hunting tour looking for
automobiles which had been stolen and
4 disposed Of Patterson Is with the olii
GERS in this county, Northficld. Mass, and
other places today.
The arrest of the two men was a sen
~atonal piece OF luck The men had
been under surveillance since Sunday
night, but the officers had no evidence
TO show that they were involved in the
numerous automobile thefts Their sus
Ipicious actions Thursday night attract
ed the attention of the officers in plain
Eciothcs, who decided that it might be ad
visabe to take them in a9 suspects.
They were arrested and taken to the po-
lice station.
In apparent good nature and with
cheerful assurance that the officer was
making a mistake they went along until
they reached the Water street entrance,
Then their good nature vanished and
Patterson hit the officer vicious blow a.
both men took to their heels Patrolman
TAYLOR wa, knocked down Dy the uncx-
pectcd blow, but was on his feet see
ond later and in hot pursuit Patterson
- 4 J.
have led longer chase if he had not got
tangled up in the works of freight car
which lie tried to crawl under
Meanwhile his companion ran north
ward behind the buildings, but on his
way attracted the attention of Patrol
men Henry and Maria. who were also
8 watching in plain clothes They gave
chase at once and saw the man throw the
brown bag away and speed up to his lin
Z it. This was not good enough, however.
/ and near the Broadway theater they
brought him to a sudden stop.
n When the men and the bag were
! brought in there was little suspicion as
to their real character, the officers
simply being sure that they had caught
something which wanted to get awar
An inspection Of their bag shed imme-
; diate light OH the situation, for in it
were two Vermont registration number
J. plates. Chief GUILTY took the men in
: hand and spent a strenuous session with
$ them.
L Shcchan remained stubborn through
out and refused to give any real ac-
count Of himself, but toward midnight
Patterson began to give some real and
interesting information. Before Chief
G GUILTY got through with him he had
confessed TO the theft of II automobiles
from Springfield within the past six
weeks BY looking through the police
records 10 Of these machines were idcn
Titled by the prisoner.
q The plan was to take a machine, pre-
fcrablv one from which they had seen
+ Il man alight to 20 10 theater, and
i run il 4 few miles out Of town. In .
y isccludcd place they would take Off the
i | Massachusetts registration number and
! replace it with Il Vermont tag. Thus
: protected from being stopped by police
who might be notified on the way W
the valley they drove to Vermont.
They said they had a friend in West
minister and that all they had to do, in
ease he was abcd was to drive the car
: into his yard and come around the next
day to collect 5000. If he was up they
Iwould receive the 5000 on the spot.
Apparently their automobile trans
" actions were highly profitable up t.
last night. Sheehan had $S,47J on his
y person when arrested.