The Washington times., 1922-01-13
INSURANCE
SWINDLE Is
Al | { c { D
Washington Lawyer, Brother
Two Sisters, and PhiIadel-
phia Men Are Involved.

Norman T. Whitaker, a Washing
ton lawyer and international chess
champion, and his sister, Miss
Dorothy Whitaker, were held for the
action Of the Los Angeles, CAL,
courts today by United States Com
missioner Hit on a charge of vio-
lating the Dyer act, which prohibits
the interstate transportation of stolen
automobiles. Whitaker was held in
$4,000 bonds and his sister in $4,000
bonds.
With the arrest of the Whitakers,
the Department of Justice believes 1t
has solved many automobile thefts
and automobile fires, in addition to
other losses occasioned by theft Of
baggage and fires. Whitaker and his
sister. in connection with their broth
err. Roland W.: another sister. Miss
Hazel; Harry Drexel. Of Philadelphia.
and Miss Anna e. Bryant. of phila.
delphia. said to be Norman Whitaker's
fiancee, have collected thousands OF
collars from insurance companies
throughout the country on the So
called flourish floater" policies, and
also for cars destroyed by fire, the
the story of the loss was exactly the
Thank God! no one was killed" That
sentence set the insurance companies
TO investigate the claims and close
watch was kept on them.
Drexel Aids Prosecution.
Last summer the Whitaker party
was indicted in Los Angeles on .
charge of transporting a stolen auto
mobile from Ocean City, N. j., to Los
Angeles. Harry Drexel, who has been
imprisoned In Los Angeles, was
brought here as q witness against the
whitakers at the hearing which be-
gan yesterday afternoon. He testified
that he and Roland Whitaker rode In
the stolen machine from Ocean City to
Philadelphia. where they were Joined
by Norman Whitaker. They then pro.
the Whitaker sisters and Continued the
trip to the coast. The engine numbers
, on the stolen car were obliterated, he
said. and new numbers substituted.
Norman Whitaker also came under
the attention of the Washington po-
lice some time ago when an automo-
bile which he traded in for a new
machine was found to be a stolen car.
The car he traded IN was sold by .
Washington automobile company to
an officer stationed at the Washing.
ton Barracks. and Detective Alligood
discovered the car had been stolen.
Whitaker was asked to come to Police
Headquarters and talk the matter
over. which he did, but he proved an
alibi.
Collections $3.50 to $1,000.
Detectives employed by the insur-
ance companies say the Whitakers
never collected less than $3.50 and FIRE.
Quently more than 81 900 in every
fire, accident or theft.
In the summer Of 1919 there was a
fire in Norman Whitaker's office at
922 F street northwest, and Conrad
v. Hahn, who was then a lieutenant
in the army, collected $500 for prop
erty destroyed in the fire.
They also collected heavy damages
from insurance companies for the loss
by theft Of baggage.
The Whitakers were represented at
the hearing before Commissioner Hit
by Paul j. Cromlein, who asked that
they be dismissed on the ground that
the Dyer act is unconstitutional, and
that the indictment was void. Com
missioner HIT upheld the contention
Of J. III. Bilbrey, assistant to the At
torney General, who conducted the
Governments side Of the case, in that
the indictment was not void and that
the act was constitutional