The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-01-18
Eight Cars Filtered In St.
Paul Sold Here
STORY OF ONE COLLINS
Said To Be Member of ALLEGED
Syndicate Engaged in the
Thieving Business
From Mondays Daily.

been stolen in Minneapolis. were
disposed of at the Ford headquarters
in Mankato. There the cars were
bought innocently and paid for. They
We're later sold to other persons.
These were Ford cars Of the 1917
make, all practically new and in
good condition.
Now comes the report from Min
neapolis of the uncoverins of an auto
mobile theft syndicate, together with
the information that eight automo-
biles that were stolen, had been To-
Gated in Mankato. 1t is understood
that one of the arrested men, Jesse
w. Collins, was married to st. Clair
girl. The Mankato police department
and the local Ford agency are look
ing into all the particulars of the
eight cars that were sold and resold
here. These transactions will be ad-
justed, in manner to do justice to
all concerned.
The st. Paul Pioneer Press says:
An auto theft syndicate, which has
been operating in Minneapolis for
several months, and which has stolen
more than 284 motor cars, valued at
more than 100000, is believed to
have been uncovered by the Henne-
pin county sheriff's office, which yes
terday arrested six men, who have
been accused of being members of the
ring. One hundred and eighty-four
stolen cars have been recovered.
The Men in Limbo.
Tho man orroctod Ahro h m
Friedman, DEBORAH hotel; Nick Dali
sem, 1913 Chicago avenue; Edward
Hoppe, COS Ninth street south; Frank
Weingart, Rosemont hotel; Jesse
Collins, 1918 Park avenue; Harold H.
Cass, 3743 Washington avenue north,
all of Minneapolis.
Cass and Weingart were arraigned
before Municipal Judge C. L. Smith
on the charge of stealing an automo-
bile from H. F. Sward, on September
2. They asked for an examination,
which will be given them in munich
pal court January Is. Bail was set at
$4,000 in each case, which was not
furnished.
The arrest of the six men followed
the discovery of two of the men seen
by Deputy Sheriff G. N. Stockwell
driving an automobile into a sup
posedly deserted barn near Nicollet
avenue and Thirty second street,
Minneapolis, last Monday Stockwell,
after following the pair Monday and
Tuesday, arrested them Tuesday
night.
Search Was Made.
A search of the barn, in which the
floors were torn up, revealed 125 Ii
cense numbers removed from stolen
cars, automobile tools, dies, rain
coats. automobile robes, tires and
inner tubes. Seventyfive more Ii
cense numbers were recovered near
the barn yesterday.
C. Kenyon, chef at the Maryland
hotel, Minneapolis, helped the sher-
IFS office in running down the
thieves. A boy friend, whom he did
not name, he said last night, ar
ranged with one Of the thieves to take
a car to North Branch, where he was
told he could find customer.
Kenyon, after informing G. A. Will,
attorney for the Minneapolis automo-
bile club, and the sheriff's office,
He paid $50 down, agreeing to pay
the remainder, 5000, at the Great
Northern station in Minneapolis the
next Morning.
When Hoppe Was Arrested.
Hoppe was arrested when Kenyon,
arriving on a train from North
Branch, pointed him out to deputy
sheriffs as the man who had sold
him the car.
The unnamed boy also is said to
have told deputies the location OF the
barn where the thieves operated.
Hoppe is said by deputy sheriffs
to have confessed to stealing auto
mobiles in Minneapolis since July.
Friedman and Dalsem were arrested
by Stockwell. They were the men he
trailed after seeing them driving
the automobile into the barn near
Nicollet avenue.
The 2S4 machines stolen here, the
deputy sheriffs declared, were first
taken to a garage formerly owned by
Collins, according to information Civ
en- by Hoppe, there reprinted and
disguised and sold in Minneapolis
and towns in Minnesota and South
Dakota.
Agents Sent Out.
Agents even were sent out to Min
nesota and Dakota towns to dispose
of the cars, the deputies said, selling
them to farmers and telling them
they represented a concern which
dealt exclusively in used automobiles.
Deputy sheriffs Immediately were
sent to towns where stolen cars were
known to have been sold, and recov-
cred many Of them from farmers and
townspeople.
Deputy Sheriff Abe Joseph Satur-
day reported the recovery of eight
stolen machines at Mankato and
three at Garfield; Deputy Herbert
VIM, the recovery of seventeen at
Sioux Falls, Orient and Henry, S. D.,
and Sam Holt of twenty at North
Branch. Deputy Sheriff George Strand
and A. p. Schoenert were at Lam
berton Saturday rounding up cars
stolen in Minneapolis.
Hoppe Expected to Tell.
Hoppe, they said, is expected to
tell all he knows of the automobile
thefts, and probably will be witness
for the state. The grand jury will
hear evidence against the Gen to-