The Washington times., 1920-05-30

The horse thief Of yesterday is the
automobile thief of today.
In the old West they hanged men
for horseN stealing. In Washington
they generally sentence auto thieves
to a year or two years in jail. sl-
though ten years may be the penalty.
Under the law 1t is not grand
larceny charge merely to steal
car. For tie ordinary theft. the
limit Is three years. The charge In
that case is "joyriding." 1t is not
considered larceny unless the thief
attempts to dispose Of the car, by
trading bartering or selling
An average of more than two cars
day have been reported stolen In
the District during the past month.
More than sixty five cars were sought
by the police. OF these, fifty-one
have been recovered
Squad Traces stolen Cars.
The effective work OF the head
quarters automobile squad, besides
precinct officers. has minimized the
number of unsolved thefts. Led by
Detective Sergeant f., :. HughlCtt,
Detectives Walsh, Connors, DAVIS,
Waldorf and Alligood are kept busy
every day following up clues which
might lead to the location OF stolen
automobiles.
The recovery OF stolen bicycles is
also in their hands.
Today there are two mSa at the
District jail convicted or "joyr'dlHS'
in connection. with the disappearance
OF automobiles. There are fOur
awaiting trial Thirteen are under
sentence in Occoquan for using auro-
mobiles not their own.
And to cap this. fifty-six men are
4 Cos
tory on this charge. These do not
include the cases of larceny. in which
the thieves attempted TO dispose of
the cars. There are many of these in
the District jail also,
Only Eleven Cars Missing.
There are but eleven cars reported
stolen during the last month that
have not been recovered. The aggre-
gate value Of these has been placed
around $4,000. More than $4,000 is
the value OF automobiles reported
stolen and recovered during the
month.
Today three DodGes. a Buick, a
Chevrolet and six Fords. are "miss-
ing" Under the caption OF "Automo-
biles Still Out" the daily police bull
letin gives a description OF stolen
cars being sought.
1t has been estimated that nearly a
half million dollars in automobiles is
stolen in Washington in a year. Most
of the cars are recovered. 1t Is safe
to say that more than half the thieves
brought to headquarters stole auto
mobiles.
Two Thcftless Days.
The calendar OF May leaves but two
days 70 date that automobiles were
not reported stolen. On May and
rs. the automobile" book at head
quarters was not touched. Thirteen,
in connection with District cars. is an
unlucky number. On May IS Ave
cars were reported gone. as was on
May 20.
The caliber Of cars taken is inter
esting. The cheaper the type of car
the easier il is stolen, according to
statistics. Thirty-one Fords were
taken, while only four electric cars
disappeared.
/ The location OF the automobile
spotted" by a thief does not deter
him. Cars have been taken from in
front of the owneres home. from
public parking space along Pennsyl-
vania avenue, from practically any
where.
Every. neighborhood IL on the call
ing list of the automobile thief. He
visits every part OF the city and daily
each police precinct is watching out
for him.
Thieves Cnmoufinge Car.
Many cars are camouflaged after
theft. Tires hoods or bodies are
often changed. They are painted,