Norwich bulletin., 1920-02-05
PUTNAM

this city is being swept by a serious
 epidemic of influenza. press des-I patch sent out from Hartford through a news agency that serves many Con- necticut papers was published in many state papers Wednesday and listed
 Putnam as having 33 new cases of in- | f1uenza. In proportion to the popula- tion of other cities included in the list and the number of new cases in each, would appear from this despatch that Putnam is the worst afflicted of any Connecticut town of it's size.
 It is true that many are i'll here but there is no certainty that all are i'll
 with influenza, or what is this winter
 being called influenza. It is also true that fewer deaths are occurring in
 Putnam and vicinity in two weeks
 than occurred in single days during
 the real influenza epidemic in the fall
 of 1918 and the early part of the win
 ter of 191g
 The fact is that Putnam's people are
 no worse afflicted than are those of
 any other town in eastern Connecticut.
 Many who are i'll are not seriously SO
 but are remaining at home on the ad-
 vice of their physicians. The situation
 here, as regards public health, does not
 compare in any degree of seriousness
 with the conditions that prevailed a
 little over a year ago, and it was be-
 
 is not the slightest reason for alarm.
 State Automobile Inspector R. C.
 Young and Harry Luse, special agents
 of the Automobile Underwriters De-
 tective Bureau of New York. continued
 Wednesday their investigations along
 the lines that state officers have been
 following here for several days reia-
 tive to cars that have been stolen
 from their 1igh.ul owners, brought
 into this territory and sold to unsus- pecting people who were in the market
 for machines.
 Each days investigation by the of-
 fcers has led to, the discovery of
 much interesting information pertain
 ing to this class of cars, which, it ap- pears. have been unloaded wholesale in this part of eastern Connecticut during the past year. The investigators continue to locate cars on which iden- tif1cation numbers have been obliter- ated and altered and it seems strange 1 indeed that someone of all of those who have come into possession of l these cars has not noted the irregular | ity of the numbering and, in some 1 cases the patent fact that attempts had heen made to tamper with this, l means of positively following out the history of ownership of each car. It is pointed out, however, that very few automobile owners can tell off hand the manufacturers number of the car they are driving, even though l they purchased the machine brand ! new, and there are many men who cannot tell you, without looking to 1 assure themselves just what the state registration number of their ears are.
 The investigations on Wednesday 1 took the officials who are handling the case into surrounding town. It is now believed that cars that in the past have been stolen will be located in Daniel son, Pomfret, the Grosvenordales, | Moosup and possibly other places in this section. Many cars that have been handled in this city are now owned. or have been owned, in nearby towns and the search for them will not be stop 1 ped until each an devery one has been l traced out and looked over It may take weeks to complete the job. Tn the course of the work the of ficials have seized cars from local men, l each of whom had no suspicion that
 his ear at sometime had been stolen. One of these cars. a Cadillac. in con nection with the sale Of which Arthur Pepn, automobile dealer. was arrest ed here, has been traced as having Fbeen solen in New York city from Packard Automobile Exchange. Inc.
 on March 19, last. It came Snto this city from Massac achusetts and the of flcers would like to interview the man who brought it here. This ear has been in the possession of Leo Delisle, who bought and paid for it in an en-,
 tirely regular way.
 Another of the cars, a Buick road ster, was seized from Newton Vaughn,
 one of the city's most reputable busi- ness men and one, whom everyone re- gards as wholly above any transaction not entirely legal and above board MT Vaughn bought the car from a man who is known as Wright or Adams paid for it when the transaction was completed in Willimantic, and never had any reason to ssspect that there action until the present situation arose. The state police claim that the l car was stolen on June IS, in Bridge port, and is the property of s. L. Brad bury, of9Glastohbury.
 Another car. a Buick, that has been | in the possession of Joseph Dumas, ] has been under investigation the last A hours and it was found that all but one of the identifcations numbers 1 on this car had been changed before 1 it came into the possession of MT. Du- mas.
 l As may be imagined, the result of | the work of the officers here in trac- ing out stolen cars has made about every man who purchased used car i within the past year nervous unless 1 he is very positive that his particular ! car is ia no way likely to become in-
 volved in the investigation now going on.
 Miss Elsie Gallant, stenographer at 1 the office of Torrey and Geissler and l commercial teacher at the night
 school, has been confined to her home 1 by illness the past few days.
 | Everett John Lake, Hartford. lieu Ftenant governor from 1907 to 1909, is to | have a birthday next Sunday. when he will have rounded out 49 years. MT.
 Lake was born in the town of Wood
 stock, February 8, 1871, a son of
 Thomas A. and, Martha A. Cooking
 Lake. He was graduated from Har- yard in the class of 1892.
 Members of Elizabeth Porter Put nam chapter, D. A. R.. were at the home of Mrs. c. HI, Gilpatric, on Se- l ward street, for whist party, We'd i nesday afternoon.
 Deputy Sheriff George F. Holbrook.
 who has seen more years of service l than any sheriff in Windham county, 1 Grove street, Wednesday. He has been | Putnam bowIers are hanging up
 some remarkably fine scores at the Putnam Inn alleys these winter even l ings and backing with record rolling
 their claim to being the strongest
 group of rollers in eastern Connecticut. l Wednesday proved the most treach- i1<ae1