The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1928-01-12

rugged up a service truck and set out.
I Pulling up to a curb where new car
Was parked towline would be flung
cut and the car pulled away, while the
pseudo-owner sat at the steering
wheel.
But with the passage of the titling
acts automobile thieving became dan
gerous. 1t was almost impossible to
sell stolen car in Maryland and SUD-
sequently in neighboring States where
similar acts were passed. The thieves
found it necessary to run their loot
across several States before they
could find market. Meanwhile, the
alarm, becoming general, encompassed
the crook with danger.
So the underworld gradually gave
up the idea of pilfering motor cars
for resale. Some few crooks keep up
the work but most of them are caught.
Occasionally one of these men takes
a chance and drives away at night to
try to make a safe State in short or
der. Sometimes they succeed.
| Another trick which has Melted
some few cars is that of substituting
the title of wrecked car for that of
new stolen one. This is a "white
collar" job in auto thievery.
Here is the procedure:
A car of certain make is wrecked
in an accident. A service job to re-
build it would be to expensive, so it
seems that the machine is slated for
the junk heap. Some one, however,
offers a small price for the wreck
and the owner lets it go, with much
relief. He transfers his title to the
purchaser and forgets the incident.
The wrecked auto finds the junk
heap, but the new owner has other
plans for the title. He looks about
until he finds a car of the same make,
year and model, steals it and changes
the number on the title by clever ma
nipulation. He offers the stolen car
for sale at bargain, with title that
apparently is legitimate, making quite
nice profit on his deal.
But these constitute a very small
percentage of the stolen cars, hence
the large number of recoveries.
Another reason why thieves are
afraid to take cars nowadays is that
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til few years ago ninety per cent of
the automobiles in the United States
were either black or of very sombre
hue. Conventions were adhered to,
with few thoughts of new departure in
line or color
Thus thief might ride away in a
car, perfectly safe in the knowledge
that he was not attracting attention.
Nowadays it is different. Clear de-
scriptions can be given Of automo-
biles that makes them recognizable
long before the numbers on the IL
cense plates can be deciphered.
While there are any number of light
blue cars, description such as this
is clear:
'Robin's-egg blue Blank Six coupe,
with black tenders, black superstruc-
ture."
There are only a certain number of
such cars sold by Blank Six dealers, so
the police first may look for ma
chine bearing the general description.
The blue will turn up at glance and
the detail will be filled in a moment
later. So many combinations of colors
also offer a better chance of recogni-
ton by police.
Still, a lerge number of cars are
stolen. In proportion they are not
nearly as numerous as in 1920, but
they are numerous when conditions
are considered There are three and
a-half times as many cars now in
Maryland as there were seven years
ago. In 1920, 606 cars were stolen
and 413, or about 60 per cent recov-
cred. Last year 2,447 cars were stolen
and 1856, or about SO per cent, re-
covered.
Most of the cars today are found
parked where the thieves left them.
No effort is made to sell the ma
chimes.
But, if the autojack cannot sell the
car, he will sell as much of it ais pos
sible, piecemeal. One does not need
a title to dispose of tire, set of
tools, meter or any other form of
automobile equipment. Consequently,
a big haul is reaped by crooks who
steal car, run it into clump of
woods and strip it of everything of
any value. The remains of the car
are found and it is registered at po-
lice headquarters as recovered"
Stolen motor cars also serve boot
leggers and rum runners well, particu-
larly where an important deal is on.
Now, under the law, car taken in the
liquor traffic may be confiscated. A
shrewd "bootie" does not intend to
take chances with his own car. He
steals a car and if he has to abandon
it in a chase he at least does not lose
his automobile. If he completed the