New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1918-07-10
MUST BUY BONDS TO
PAY FOR BSCAPADE]
WARTHA WHO STOLE A FORD is
orRELEASED ON HIS PROMISE
ST. TO ENLIST

!. qHRELEASED ON HIS PROMISE z Y
Z s. TO ENLIST r.
JOY RIDE is COSTLY. MUST
PAY ALL EXPENSES AND
BUY BONDS
Joseph A. Wartha took rather ex-
pensive joy ride last week Sunday
evening when he attended a dance held
at the R. D. Wagner home on the Stuebe
farm in Lafayette. The joy-ride was
taken in car owned by Herman. Ebert
who objected to having someone else
make away with his Ford and reported
the matter to the police. Meantime,
Wartha changed the numbers on the car
and sped on his way, disregarding Mr..
Ebert's wishes entirely. However, by
the time he has finished paying for
$500 worth of Liberty Bonds and paid
all the expenses attached to theloss of
the car, he may decide that he would
have gotten off cheaper to buy brand
new car for his own than to take the
one belonging to Mr.. Ebert.
Wartha attended the dance at Wag-
ner's Sunday evening. He had perhaps
planned on some such escapade as the
Joy ride for he had previously acquired
in some fashion the numbers belonging
to the Armin Tauer Buick. He seems
to have driven the car to New Ulm and
changed the numbers here and then set
out bright and early for his real ride,
headed towards the Cities. Near North
field he passed another car on the road
but failed to make the passing in good
order for the Ebert car went into the
ditch The driver of the other car was
L. A. Minske, an auto dealer of Morris
town who was also on the way to Min
neapolis WsrSha asked Minske to give
him lift to the Cities and Minske COM
piled. =. -.
On the way in, the two struck a
bargain, whereby Wartha relinquished
all claims to the car for $500. That is,
he told Minske he would sell the wreck
for that price. Minske promised to
send the money for the car by mail and
Wartha gave the name of A. M. Tower
of Mankato. The damaged car was taken
to garage at Mortified. It was con-
siderably damaged; the tenders being
bent and the radiator and top smashed.
|. Trap Planned. ,
Minske thought the whole transaction
bit queer and he failed to send the
money. He heard of the stolen car and
notified the police. Sheriff Olson Of
Nicollet and Mr.. Ebert went to Morris
town and identified the car and Minske
was directed to send letter to ''Tower"
but to enclose no money. He wrote
that he would deliver the car upon re-
ceipt of clear bill of sale. This letter
was sent to Mankato and from there was
forwarded to New Ulm upon receipt of a
telephone order to do so. Wartha
telephoned the order and when the letter
had arrived in New Ulm Chief Harmon
ing looked up Wartha and asked him
to accompany him to the local post
office to get the letter. .
Taken To Nicollet Co.
The boy knew he was caught and he
offered no resistance to the officer, who
babe him call for the letter and sign for
it in the name of A. NJ. Tower. This
was all that was needed to fill out the
evidence and Wartha was taken to jail
Immediately. Sheriff Oslon. later came
to New Ulm and took the boy to St.
Peter as the crime was committed in
Nicollet County.
Punishment Fixed.
Wartha admitted the theft but said
that he would have returned the car to
the owner had he not been so unlucky
as to tip over and smash it up. Satur-
day deal was fixed up whereby he was
given the privilege of paying for the re-
pairs and all the costs OF catching him
and was ordered to buy $500 worth of
Liberty Bonds and to enlist in the navy,
all of which he agreed to in return for
his escape from further punishment. He
was bound over to the Grand Jury but
provided his behavior is satisfactory be-
tween now and fall the charge will be
dropped. +.
Too Much Leisure.
Warthalis an example of young man
who had too much time and liberty. He
is bright boy, first rate mechanic and
has considerable talent in music. He
had worked at the Review office steadily
fop five years, and would have been
good man with strong hand to hold
him in check for he was inclined to be
somewhat reckless. During the fall he
worked for time at the local post office
and it was then that he left the Review
office and after finishing his work as
extra man after Christmas went to work
at the Liesh Printing Company He did
not have steady employment there and
did great deal of running around. He
had planned to enlist but something
prevented and left him free to get into
trouble which he did. Perhaps the navy
experience will be just what is needed to
make Of him the kind of man he can and
should be.