Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-02-17
No, Scar Is Recovered.

Smiths. plan for finding his car diff
fered from mine. He wanted to hire
a taxi and give chase, but my plan
was to go over to the police depart
fment and review the list Of recent
automobile losses.
THE thief will probably be in
Alaska by night" Smith complained.
THAT car of mine could show speed"
your car" I said. will probably be
standing in some side. street garage
being reprinted and camouflaged.
They will drive 1t somewhere else.
but not until they have destroyed the
usual means of identifying It"
Then why not search the garages
and repair shops?' Smith asked.
1.-THE INSCRIPTIONS fellows in the
business would get wise and tip of
the crooks" / explained. 'The car
would never be able to find it. We
must first find the thief. Then it will
be simple matter to find the car.
Unless l am q pretty poor prophet the
thief who took your car will be on
the job in front of some other bank
tomorrow. His speciality Is bank
cars. His plan is to study the habits
Of one particular motorist-a chap
like you, for instance, who does the
same thing regularly, but forgets to
lock the car the one time when he
should remember to.
Trailing the Car Thief.
Now take this" I added. pointing
to a list Of cars on q card which the
clerk in the detective office handed
me. A particular item read: "
sedan, value $4,000. Stolen from in
front Of Mutual Bank This hap
Ya~
time for this crook to be working in
front Of the Mutual Bank again?'
Smith thought 1t quite possible. But
again he displayed a desire to leave
the matter to the insurance company.
MY advice to you is not to report
a report to your agent, but ask him
not to press the matter for q few
days. The company ts now deliberat-
ing as to whether they ought to over
with an extinguisher. II you now re-
port that the car has been stolen they
will be inclined to conclude that you
are careless-perhaps purposely care
less"
So, according to agreement. we
pulled up to the curb opposite the
Mutual Bank building in my car the
following day. Being noon hour, 1t
was difficult, indeed. to single out any
one person from the crowd as the
of number Of men might have been
observing the habits Of some one
motorist in particular. After wait
ing thirty minutes the arrival Of a
certain car, however, attracted our
attention. The driver drove up to
the curb, switched off the engine and
jumped out. We watched him until
he disappeared through the. doorway
stout man emerged from the crowd
and stepped into the car.
Hunt Growing Warmer.
That's not the man we're looking
for" Smith said as l cranked my mo-
tor.
That's not the man who owns that
car" / retorted. There must be sew
era l,, Of them working this game
We did; It was not hard work:
either. And apparently the thief
never suspected that we were always
right in the heart of the automobile
section of the city he turned into a
side street. I drew up to the curb
there, jumped out and followed him
with my eyes. Noting what shop he
store and phoned to one of the de-
tectives at city hall. a half hour
later we had not only located the car
Just stolen. but Smiths car as we'll.
There's my carl" Smith exclaimed
upon seeing his old faithful.
Can you identify it," the detec-
tive asked.
The garageman smiled. No wonder.
Not number correspondent with
those originally on Smiths car.
Smith was convinced now that pre-
paredness pays. He recalled that be-
fore he had taken his car from the
dealer I had. suggested that he put
some secret identification marks or
the car.
"You will find my initials scratched
in the cover of the distributor" he
said. The detective Investigated and
reported that he found the letters
u. S."
'"They stand for John Smith," I