Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1917-05-25
THEFT OF MANY
AUTOS CHARGED
Two Men with Vermont Numbers
Taken in Springfield
, John II. Patterson of Westminster, For
merly of Bellows Falls, One of Those
in Custody-other Had $9,475.

Two men charged with making bust
ness of stealing automobiles are under
arrest in the hands of Springfield, Mass,
officers, and confession by one of them
has given the officers trail which they
have followed to Bellows Falls, West
Minister and other places in Windham
county. They recovered six of the miss
ing machines.
On Friday officers visited the premises
of C.. ii. Comstock in Westminster and
found a Ford which they said resemblcd
one they were looking for, but the num-
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 DIR. c. A
Prouty of Putney, who deals in Ford
cars, and talked with him at the police
station, but allowed him TO 90 without
placing 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. Sheehan, who gave his adj
dress as Cooley's hotel, Springfield, Mass
They were taken into custody Thursday
night and were held under bonds OF
$4,000 for a hearing next Friday, but
Police Chief Guilty of Springfield became
surety for Patterson i'll order that the
latter might accompany him and other
officers on a hunting tour looking fol
automobiles which had been stolen and
disposed of. Patterson was with the Off
GERS in this county, Mortified, Mass, and
other places Friday and Saturday.
The arrest of the two men was a SEN
pntt ,N,n Af l,,n1. hnI
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
pcious actions Thursday night attract
ed the attention of the officers in plain
clothes, who decided that it might be ad
visable to take them in as suspects
They were arrested and taken to the po
lice station.
In apparent good nature and will
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 as
both men took to their heels. Patrolman
Taylor was knocked down. by the unex-
pccted blow, but was on Ills feet q Sec
ond later and in hot pursuit. Patterson
ran toward the railroad tracks and might
have led a longer chase if he had not got
tangled up in the works of u freight car
which he tried to crawl under.
Meanwhile his companion ran north
ward behind the buildings, but on his
way attracted the attention of Patrol
mch Henry and. Maria, Who were also
watching in plain clothes. They gave
chase at once and saw the man throw the
brown bag away and speed up to his linn
it, This was not good enough, however
and near the Broadway theater they
brought him to a sudden stop.
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 away
An inspection of their bag shed imme.
diate light on the situation, for. in it
were two Vermont registration number
plates. Chief Quilty took the men in
hand and spent q strenuous session with
them.
Shcehan 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 Chict
Guilty got through with him lie 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 iden
titled by the prisoner.
The plan was to take q machine, pre-
fcrably one from which they had seer
u man alight to 20 to q thcatcr, ant
run it n few miles out of town. In 6
secluded place they would take off thu
Massachusetts registration number ant
replace it with a Vermont tag. Thu!
protected from being stopped by police
who might be notified on the way VI
tile valley they drove to Vermont.
They said they had a friend in West
minister and that all they had to do, il
case he was abcd was to drive the cal
into his yard and come around the mex
day to collect 5000. If he was up they
would receive the 5000 on the spot.
Apparently their automobile trans
actions were highly profitable up t.
last night. Shcchan had $S,475 ON hi
person when arrested.
Bellows Falls officers took par
Friday and Saturday in a search for TIN
stolen cars. Three Springfield officer
went to that village and, accompane,
by Deputy Sheriff Fred Is. Rand, put il
two busy days. They recovered six of !:
cars the man confessed to stealing.
c. ii. Comstock of Westminster, VIII
conducts a repair shop and formerly wa
deputy sheriff, was asked to accompan,
the officers on their hunt for lost cars
Patterson also was with them. The ear
were recovered in Chester, Springfield
(VtO, Weston, Westminster and Putney
When Mr.. Comstock made his tri
with the officers Saturday, it is said tina
he paid each man from whom car wa
recovered the price they had given for il
except in one instance. J. w. Severanc
demanded a bonus of $50. All the car
which were recovered were Fords am
they were driven to Springfield Saturda,
night by drivers from Bellows Falls.
One of the cars was recovered iron