Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-12-13
TH|EVERY
COMP PLANTS MADE
Merchants of Washington
Receive Goods Broken
Into on Cars.

| Thefts of groceries, clothing, shoes
etc. from consignments in transit by
| freight and express to this city have
reached such proportions in recent
months. according to assertions of
4 many Washington merchants. that the
aggregate value of the goods stolen
reaches far into the thousands of dol
| lars. Bitter protests were made today
4 by merchants at the inability of rail-
road and local detectives and police to
| locate the thieves and put an end to
the pi1fering, which. it was frankly
declared, has become an actual factor
in the mounting cost of living.
| Shoes and Jewelry stolen.
| One retail merchant today said that
about two weeks ago a consignment
! of mems shoes forwarded to him by
| freight from a factory in PennsylG
vania and consisting of five cases was
broken in transit and nearly half of
| the shoes stolen. The tops of the pack
ing cases had been removed some
where between the factory and this
city and n number of boxes of shoes
removed from each case. after which
the cases had been nailed up again.
Even consignments of w-priced
jewelry sent by express it was de-
clared today. have been opened in
transit, part of the contents removed
and the packages resealed. In only a
few instances, it was declared. have
thieves been located and arrested for
iieiSHt piiLdSe
| TheftS Become More Frequent.
Merchants are making many COM
plants of such thievery. and the decla-
ration was made to day by several re-
tailerS that in the, last few months
4 thefts of goods in transit have become
more frequent.
Within the last few days the At
lantic and Pacific Tea Company re-
ceived long-overdue shipment of a
carload of sugar in barrels. The SUI
gar had been consigned from the re-
finery to the company's chain stores
here, but had been sent to York, Pa,
by mistake, where the car had re-
manned on the tracks for several
weeks. When it was finally traced
and forwarded to this city it was
found that nearly half of the sugar
had been stolen. the seals on the car
, having been broken and the barrels
i of sugar removed
Seven Packages Missing.
Another retailer said last night that
/ he has not received a consignment of
groceries in the last two months that
did not contain from one or two to a
dozen packages that had been broken
and parts of the contents stolen
While he was talking this merchant
was opening box of package soda
which evidently had been opened in
transit. and when the renailed cover
was removed it was found seven
pdChdSeS oI the SODA were missing.
A consignment of six boxes of raisins
/ in pound packages also showed that
! thieves had opened the boxes, the
number of packages in each being
short from three to eight.
Still another retailer said that in the
last two months every consignment of
a popular brand of creamery butter
he had received had been broken into
in shipment and two or three to half
! a dozen or more prints of butter re-
moved.
Half of Consignment Stolen.
Another merchant said that within
the last week just half of a consign-
ment of twelve 10O-pound bags of
buckwheat flour consigned to him
from a Pennsylvania mill had been
stolen from the car after it had left
the mill. This merchant said he had
not received an unbroken consign-
ment of any kind of groceries, with
original packages unpilfered in the
last three months. He said that out
of shipment of fifty smoked hams
consigned to him recently from a
small concern specializing in fancy
hams and bacon twenty-five hams
were stolen before the goods reached
him.
Merchants in other lines also are
suffering from the activities of
thieves, it was learned. the goods
missing from shipments in transit in
Guiding shoes, clothing, hats, caps
etc. Efforts of railroad detectives and
other officers of the law to appre-
bend the car looters and end the
no avail, and all of the merchants in
terviewed said the thefts were becom-
, ing larger and more frequent each
week