Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1922-08-21
MACHINE PLUNGES OFF
HIGH CLIFF INTO
MURKY RIVER
BELONGS IN AURORA
NO TRACE OBTAINED OF THIEF
WHO DROVE AUTO INTO RIVER
POLICE DRAG FOR BODIES,
BIT NONE ARE FOUND.

Discovery of a stolen Cleveland
roadster belonging to DR.. w. b. Rud.
dick, an Aurora dentist, in the Illinois
hiVer at the curve west of the Ores.
cent sand works early yesterday morn
ing gave Ottawa police an automobip
mystery that is proving hard of soln-
tion. That the car, which plunged Off
the rocks thirty feet above the water S
edge into the murky waters below was
stolen last Thursday from Dr. Rud-
dicks garage was made positive this
morning in messages to the Free Trad
erJournal from Chief of Police Mich.
aels OF Aurora
The mystery is found in the lack of
any trace of the thieves. Whether or
not they are in the river, or whether
they became siezed with fear of cap.
ture and drove the auto over the rocEe
TO rid themselves of bad bargain ara
two questions the police find hard to
solve.
In an attempt to obtain some ink.
liags Of what happened to the human
cargo before and after the crash the
liver was dragged for a considerable
distance without any success in recov-
ering any bodies. On the other hand
the soft sand and gravel of the prc
bore unmistakable evidence Of the ma.
chine having gone through there with
brakes tightly set. Deep ruts made
by the sliding rear wheels were found
In the gravel, but they. according to
automobile men, could have been
made by some other car when the
driver found himself off the road an
backed out onto the concrete again
The best bet" according to the po
lice. is that the thief headed the cal
for the river turned on the power and
then jumped to safety. thus disposing
of the stolen machine in hurry-up fash.
ion and at the same time greatly re-
ducing his chances Of capture. The
Speedometer, after the car was snag-
ged out of its filthy grave, showed that
the rate of travel over the bluff was
thirty miles an hour.
DR.. Ruddick. who lives at 2l7 Sem
nary avenue, in Aurora, reported the
theft to the police OF that city on Sat
urday morning, the night after it was
stolen from his garage. Today he
sent word to Ottawa that he would
NplHf iltIt " ltIltlut MS IlpDtl ~
The Cleveland was traced to Dr.
Ruddick through 1922 state license it
bore. The tag was numbered 520-929.
The spot where the car was plunged
into the river is considered a danger
Gus one to tourists A road used by
gravel wagons leads off the concrete
into the gravel bed at the curve and
stranger might easily find himself
off the highway before he knew it un
less driving very carefully.
Discovered by Two Boys.
lie Roy Halliday and Clinton Raw
ley two boys, discovered the wrecked
machine laying in five feet Of water
at the botto mof the cliff when they
tried to get a shot at an owl which
few from a small tree underneath the
rocks. Peering over the edge for the
owl, they were astounded to see the
dim outline Of an overturned auto
with its four wheels showing plainly
near the surface One wheel pro
truded above the water.
Running to the nearest telephone,
they notified the police department.;
aud a boat, manned by Commissioner
Palmer, Patrolman Jesse Holmes AMI
John Halliday, a truckman, left for
the scene. Arriving at the point deSig
mated by the two boys, the three
searchers found the car
Halliday, without taking off his
clothes, jumped into the river and 70"
several minutes, using his hands and
feet to poke around the wreck. felt for
bodies, was unable to obtain any evi-
dence which would lead him to believe
that anyone was caught in the wreck
age of the machine After diving AMI
feeling around the car for some time
HALFWAY gave up the task and re-
turned to the boat.
Net Thrown Around Car.
To make sure that if any bodies
were in the machine a net was placed
around it before ii was snagged ont
of the water by the Conde wrecker,
which was rushed to the scene to get
the car out of the river. No hats, caps
nor clothing of any kind were in the
car when it was drawn above the
water, nor was any other clothing seen
in or near the wreck.
The Conde wrecker and large
corps of men worked for several hours
before getting the auto high enough
from the water to permit lowering it
onto a ferry on which it was towed
up the river and taken to the garage.
where is awaits claimant.
The machine was not as badly dam
aged as one would expect considering