Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-03-05
POLICE PLAN DRIVE
ON AUTO THIEVES
injector Wilson Calls Confer
ence of Officials to
Start Action
ro DROP PRESENT SQUAD
Negro Held in $1,000 Bail for Court
on Charge Of Stealing
Car

p,o,ests by the business men and
.,,,on,ible owners over the increased
,.,es for auto insurancc due to whole
.aie auto thefts stirred the city officials
es,or long hcsitanCy. and this afternoon
conference was held in the o'icc of
4 INJECTOR Wilson, at which plans were
! ..anned out. IL was announced. to halt
.ho wholesale theft OF ears and drive
tbe thieves from the city.
X tus, what these plans are was not
.,,,,,yed but those present predicted thar
,he remedy would he effective.
Among other decisive steps considered
=, tho conference. IT is said, was the
.hoIition Of the present auto squad OF
s,cu,hs which was formed ostcnsibly TO
,r.ce stolen autos. The fact that auto
,hefts increased with the formation of
,ho souad caused the general deduction
Mat This special organization was worse
II than useless
"A rhosc who attended the conference
& ,znod by Director Wilson were super
Z ,n,endcnt of Police Robinson. Assistant
. m,,cctor Of Public Safety Harry Davis,
/, can,ain william r.. Mills. Of the traffic
a',irion. Lieutenant George Fritz. Of III"
& ,,o,or,yrle squad. and Captain OC Doe
Y tectives Tate.
& while the conference was in progress
Samuel Rutherford. of Forty-sccoud
( and Poplar streets, was given hearing
before Magistrate Watson in the Gem
4 ,raI police court, charged with having
a stolen automobile in his possession.
rutherford said he obtained the auto
mobile through Edward Boyd. a negro.
saId 10 be connected with the auto thicv-
ing syndicate which has been stealing
many cars throughout the city.
Boyd was also arragncd before
Magistrate Watson and held in $1,000
bail for court
Z Rutherford told the detectives me hap
pened to remark that he wanted cheap
y car and Boyd promised 10 get him one
"A for 500. The car was obtained by
BOYD. according to Rutherford, but de-
liytred by another negro. The car was
z originally stolen, the police say. from
y Samuel Flaum. Of Front and cumber-
land streets. and passed through many
{. hands before getting into the possession
e OF rutherford
4 Rutherford was discharged. Assist
ant District Attorney James Gay Cor
don. who conducted the ease. said that
he had evidence in his possession which
would prove that Boyd was head Of a
system organized for the stealing of
X automobiles.
" Automobile agencies III this rty nm
= nounced today that the local rates for
Insurance against theft were advanced
35 per cent on March I. They attribute
this advance to the failure Of the police
y to curb the activities Of the thieves. who
are whisking the automobiles from under
their very noses
\. Business men are aroused over this
state Of affairs, They demayd to know
from Mayor Smith why automDb'ic own
" ers in Philadelphia should pay higher
rates of insurance than any otuer city in
is the Union, Meetings of various business
organizations have been called for the
81 purpose Of demanding action on the part
h Of the police.
N Such are the conditions now that a
n plan is under consideration to raise
E funds for the hiring of private dctec-
tives to hunt automobile thieves and
q prosecute them.
N Efforts 10 arouse the Administration
$ chiefs to action proved futile until to-
q day. In December Powell Evans. chair
l% man Of the committee on the prevention
and automobile insurance Of tn" Cham
Der of Commerce, wrote II letter to Di-
rector Wilson, calling that officials at
tention TO the many thcftS of automo-
81 bes and requesting that steps be taken
to remedy the situation. That letter was
apparently ignored by the Director.
Steps were then taken to bring the mat
ter to the attention of the Mayor.
Then automobile owners began to COM
pain about the operations of tho auto.
mobile squad in the Detective Bureau
Cars stolen and abandoned by ioyriders
were the only cars that were recovered
win the exception Of a few instances.
Insurance men say that the squad under
detective Jesse Wistcr is failure be-
cause only two men on the whole squad
Know anything about automobiles.
In direct contrast 20 the working
methods and results obtained by this
SQUAD Is that OF the Pittsburgh police
department. Automobile owners there
pay insurance rates that are very much
lower than in this city. This Is the
a reason:
According to the report OF Captain r.
Marshall, head of the traffic police in
flltsburgh, eight motorcycle policemen
are employed to recover stolen auto.
mobiles. Before obtaining u position to
,h's squad each man must prove expert
knowledge Of automobiles. Where the
case requires, the men do plain clothes
work But when not so engaged. they
4 must patrol the highways. ever Oh tho
lookout for stolen cars. Each hour theS
eali up headquarters and are told about
vars mat were stolen within that hour
lhen they search every nook aud corner
uhtii the thief is rounded up. Durinl
the month of January forty-two cars
vaiued at S65.4lO, were stolen. Fort,
Oh these cars We're recovered. The valu,
VI the recovered cars was $6i,5lO, only
fWA