The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-12-21
Three KenOshans Arrested
on Charges of Pilfering
Freight Cars.
TWO HAVE CONFESSED
Herbert c. Dowie and Max
Ladewig, Jr., Both Brake
men, Confess to RObberies.
BULLETIN.

BULLETIN.
All three of the men arrested
late Tuesday afternoon on charges
of burglary from freight cars
we're arraigned in the municipal
court at $3.50 o'clock this afternoon
before Judge Slater.
Max Ladewig, when first arraign-
ed indicated his intention TO plead
guilty and was granted more time
for a formal arraignment. Later
in the afternoon he entered plea
of guilty but sentence was deferred
several days by Judge Slater pend
Ing a thorough investigation into
the case. He was returned to jail
to await sentence.
Arthur Gunther and Herbert c.
Dowis each entered pleas of not
guilty and the hearings were con-
tinued until December goth, under
bonds of $4,000. It was anticipated
that they would be released one
bonds later in the day.
A solution for the mystery of what
has become of hundreds of dollars
worth of tires and other auto accessor-
les which have disappeared from con-
signments of freight to the Nash Mo-
tors Company here during the past
year was found on Tuesday afternoon
when three we'll known employees of
the Chicago and Northwestern Rail-
way Company were arrested on charges
of looting the freight cars and of dis
posing Of the stolen property. The
men arrested were:
Herbert G. Dowie, 81, 555 Market
street, switchman, who has signed
written confession to having looted
some of the cars.
Max Ladewig, Jr., 81, Lake Shore
Road, switchman, who has also con-
fessed to having had part in some of
the robberies.
Arthur Guenther, 80, 557 Market
street, railway fireman, who is i'm
plicated in the confession made by
one of the other men but who as
serts his innocence.
Trailed by Stolen Goods.
The arrests were made as a result
of trailing the men through the goods
which they had stolen and disposed
Of at an extremely low price. For
more than year there have been
continuous reports to police here and
to railway detectives of shortages in
the shipments of auto tires and other
accessories to the Nash company here.
Railway detectives had established that
the pilfering was done either in the
freight yards in Kenosha or at the
farm at Balm Station.
Kenosha police found that the auto
tire market in Kenosha had been
flooded with tires similar to those
missing, all of which had been pur-
chased from Others than dealers at
remarkably low prices. Several deals
made by Dowie and Ladewig were
Investigated with a result that war
rants were sworn out for their arrest.
Nabbed While at Work.
Just after one O'clock Tuesday after
noon Detectives Charles Rock and
Breidt and Sergeant Matt Kirsch of
the Kenosha Police Department and
Detective R. C. Wiegle of the North
western staff, all of whom had worked
in the investigation, arrested the three
men named above on suspicion. 1t
was admitted by the police that the
evidence against Guenther was not as
strong as against the other two men
taken into custody.
When faced with the evidence at
the police office, Dowie and Ladewig
admitted to several Of the thefts in
question. Ladewig admitted that he
had stolen some tires eight months
ago from a car spotted on Track in
tires were at his home. Dowie con-
fessed to participating in the pilfer-
ing of tires on June 9Th and again
on December 9Th. The confessions do
not cover but small percentage of
the missing property and it is believed
by police that there may be either 9TH
ers in the ring or that the men have
not admitted to all of the pilfering
which they did.
DOwie in Other Complications.
AS the news spread of the arrest
of the three men, numerous complaints
came into the police of tires bought
at a low figure. This morning one
of the purchasers to protect himself
filed a garnishee attachment against
the salary due Dowie because of the
fact that the tires which he had pur-
chased in good faith had been taken
from his car. Police declare that the
purchasers had evidently not shown
due diligence in investigating before
buying the tires at bargain price
All of the three men taken into
custody were widely known among the
railway workers of the city and the
news of their arrest came as sensa-
ton. All three have heretofore had