, 1922-12-07
M0T0RMETERS ARE
LATE LARCENY FAD
TWO CHEAP THIEVES ARE JAILED FOR
RoBBING AUTOMOBILES ON The
MAIN BUSINESS STREET

MAIN BUSINESS STREET
The depth to which a thief, dis
posed to commit petty larceny, will
stoop, has not yet been plumbed def
nitely, although various and sundry
members of this class have eudeav-
ored at times to demonstrate Just
how d~epicable a human being can be
when he tries hard. Stories have
been told OF baby's milk bottles be-
dpg purloined from front steps
other instances Of depravity which
lack confirmation, at least Locally,
so for the present the palm must be
awarded to the thief who sneaks up
on an automobile when h owner'
back ds turned and swipes the
mOtormeter. =,
There are at least two such In
the city now, but this statement neeo
not cause worry as they are playing
nose checkers in the Sanders bastile,
and will be there for a time. The
story of the arrest and trial OF
these two undesirable citizens will
probably interest auto owners as
we'll as students of criminology, for
an neither case was there, by any
stretch of the Imagination. a motive
sor necessity for the petty crime. NO
wife and little ones starving for q
crust Of bread, no cruel landlord who
had thrown them into the street, no
mortgage on the old homestead, to
be roreclosed at midnight nothing
like that.
The story, however. must pc brleI-
Nv told for another reason, that OF
= warming to any others who may
contemplate similar crime. for the
.edict has gone forth that stiff jail
sentences await any and all who
would rather steal than work. In
fact. to all offenders Of the stripe
herein described. Justice of the
Peace H. E. Dunlap heard the two
cases Monday afternoon and in each
instance inflicted a jail sentence
without the alternative of a fine.
First to answer roll call was Les
Ter Pound, a young man OF perhaps
*. Of clean and neat appearance.
who was caught in the act Saturday
night of taking the motormeter from
rhe car Of Jake Zeigler as 1t STOOD
IN front of his place Of business. A
friend of Mr.. Zeigler's stopped IN
and told him about seeing the tneIt
and the latter lost no time In over
taking Pound, who was with q man
named Mike Murray. OF whom we
shall hear more anon. n AFTER re-
raAning his motormeter. knockins
the petty thief down twice before
turning him over to the OFFICERS.
Pound told Justice Dunlap q tale
no absurd that It deserved me scan,
attention that 1t received. He SAID
that he and Murray had been a.
work at one Of the nearby campl
,rrd had drawn their time n were
-.rins TO leave town. They be
PREF sadly l~iguored-up while
w wsnnal that he hadn't mo s.!shte es
recollection of when. where an. 49,.
hs came to have. possession OF the
-.,ssing motormster which wa
- :, ~. .cket. The defendan,
nounI M !" Home was In Montana ant
~. - vas hound thither /. wnei
arrested. kor ,
minutes and . conference neid
Few ~ that Sheriff Sanders ma.
Il o /, questioning on MS ow'
done ON : to the trial and tina
account prio. that Murray. tn
Pound told htA ~ad displayed =
iother defendant. been stolen
m~otormeter which he. IN the ca
As It developed later. r.. I'D hir
Of T. w. Fisher. and had b. tn
10 20 get the instrument from
'car of Mr.. Zeigler. which he did. a,
also turned out that he had written
In fail and turned over for mailing.
fervid love letter to II cousin" in
Kansas City. Mo-. full Of terms Of
great endearment, including q
ocean o. love and Kisses" and Civ
Ing on the outside Of the envelope
the return address OF "Missoula,
Mont, 0en'l Delivery"
=, Before passing sentence on Pound.
We court asked to have his partner
IN Crime. Murray. brought before
him, which was done. and he was
asked to explain the Illicit possession
Of Z motormeter alleged to be the
property OF another. Murray In
shiety-eyed specimen. and when
asked to plead said ne would admit
having the. trinket In his pocket. but
that no had no idea how It got there.
He said he had been drinking
"moon,." admitted q slight acduaint-
ance with Pound. and insisted that
he had never been in trouble or in
4att before. He was greatly shocked
when he was handed out a term of
"a days in jail and nothing said
ssost : fine At all. He was led
: beck 70 the tanks and while waiting
e osveloped that Murray was q full
that . Ncard" was among his ef-
R0n4