THE LITTLE CHICAGO CHRONICLES Chasing “Auto Theft” Rings

BY RICHARD O JONES

THE INCOMING administration of Mayor Harry Koehler, Safety Director Tom Boli, and Chief of Police Otto Kolodzik had their hands full with the rampant crime in Hamilton, not all of it Prohibition-related devilry. Police arrested only two drunks over the weekend that ushered in 1926, calling it the “most quiet celebration in history,” but eight automobiles were stolen from city streets.

Even though the incoming chief had no police experience, he had been employed by insurance companies tracing stolen automobiles and aiding officials in gathering evidence against auto theft rings. One of his first acts in re-organizing the department was to increase the auto recovery department from one detective to two handpicked officers, veteran detectives Robert Dinwiddie and Robert Leonard. In his first meeting with the whole department, on January 21, when he handed out a new set of policies and practices, Kolodzik emphasized the need to thwart the increasing number of automobile thefts before even mentioning vice.

At that meeting, he and Boli both encouraged patrol officers to take advantage of ordinances against loitering, even though the Ohio Supreme Court said a year previously that such ordinances were unconstitutional and a better version hadn’t made it through the city council yet, as a way to discourage young men from scoping out automobiles to steal.

Officers made a loitering arrest just after midnight on February 9, when they found three men in front of 518 Millikin Street changing tires from one automobile to another. Willard Brucks claimed ownership of one of the cars, saying he recently purchased it from a dealer in Reading. Earl Blum, who lived at the address, said he owned the other one. The third man was Buck McRoberts. It’s not clear why they were arrested for loitering, given that they discovered that the identification numbers stamped on the motor blocks on both cars had been altered. Blum presented a bill of sale that turned out to be a forgery. The car had been stolen from a Harrison, Ohio, man on the last December 26.

At their arraignment the following day, the loitering charges were dropped, but the three men were hit with various other warrants related to the sale of stolen automobiles. Blum, who said that he was a core maker at the Black and Clawson plant, cooperated with the police, telling them that he was given a coupe by a man named Clem Wilson in exchange for keeping a large leather grip for him while Wilson went to Florida. Blum said he was trading the car for Brucks’s sedan, but he wanted to keep the tires, and that’s what they were doing when arrested.

Wilson, 24, had lived on South Second Street and was a known character to Hamilton police. He had been arrested the previous fall in Eaton, by a marshal who caught him and Roscoe Doty, also of Hamilton, altering the numbers on the motor of a Cadillac coupe stolen from a garage on Dayton Street in Hamilton. They were released on bond after their arrest and did not show up for their court date and were then being sought by authorities in Florida. Blum said McRoberts and Brucks filed off the old numbers and stamped new ones for the stolen sedan based on the numbers of an existing bill of sale: “The car was made for the bill of sale, not the bill of sale for the car.”

In a search of Blum’s garage, detectives discovered the valise allegedly left there by Clem Wilson. It contained “complete machinery for manipulation of stolen cars of all makes,” the Evening Journal reported. “A score of bill of sale blanks, three perfectly modeled notary seals of the state of Ohio, a complete set of punches and jiggs to imprint numbers on automobile motors, and fake stamps of the Butler County and Hamilton County clerks of court offices were found in the grip. A complete hand-operating printing outfit was also found.” They also found documents relating to other car thefts in the area, some of them bearing forged signatures of actual employees of various car dealerships and government agencies.

Four days later, on February 13, Detectives Dinwiddie and Leonard were searching for a car stolen early that afternoon from Washington Street and spotted it being driven north on Central Avenue that afternoon. “They gave chase and commanded the fleeing autoist to halt. The command only caused the driver to step on the accelerator. The pursuit continued east on Hanover Street to Eighth Street. When the driver made another turn, Dinwiddie fired four times. The man jumped from the car and attempted to escape on foot, but was captured.

That incident involved the forty-third automobile theft in Hamilton that year, prompting local insurance agents to band together to offer cash rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone connected with the theft of automobiles or automobile accessories. The rate of theft in Hamilton caused insurance rates to skyrocket to $4.50 for $100 worth of theft insurance. In similar-sized Ohio cities, Marion for instance, the rate was as low as seventy cents. “The offering of the reward is with the hope that people who see persons acting suspiciously about cars will promptly report to the police,” the Evening Journal explained without attribution. “An investigation will hurt no one, but may lead to an important arrest.”

“There are at least two more gangs of automobile thieves and accessory thieves at work in Hamilton and we will continue our war on these men until they are weeded out,” Kolodzik said.

Leonard and Dinwiddie believed they had cracked such a ring on February 18 in a raid on a garage at 806 Hooven Avenue, arresting Clarence Baker, 22, who lived there. Police uncovered seven tires, a fan, a radiator, for boxes of headlight bulbs, two inner tubes, a dome light switch, a box of tail light gloves, three inner boots, a box of patches, and 50 feet of wire. Most of the loot had been stolen from a garage in Cincinnati. Later, police arrested accomplices John Agnew, who had lived until recently at 1100 South Second Street in Hamilton before moving to College Corner, and Louis Brucks, 23, the brother of Willard Brucks, who had been arrested just days prior.

Baker made a detailed confession that revealed that Brucks and Baker worked in Springfield, Middletown, and Hamilton. He admitted having stolen cars in Springfield and Middletown and brought one of them to Hamilton. The cars had been seized by police at the home of his father-in-law, Manly Graves, on Fair Avenue. They would also strip cars down and sell off what parts they could and the rest for junk. On February 16, Judge Kautz of the Municipal Court fined Baker $300 and costs for having an automobile with a defaced motor number, $300 and costs for making false statements of registration, and $200 and costs for improper tags.

Kolodzik complimented his automobile recovery squad and other detectives on their brilliant work during the past 10 days and said their work was the finest in the history of the department. Just before the approach of midnight Thursday evening, March 4, Earl Murphy, the night marshal at Eaton, received a call about a strange automobile parked in a residential neighborhood. The deputy marshal stationed himself at the front window of the house and watched the car. When he saw two men approaching the automobile, he walked out the house’s front door with a flashlight in one hand and a revolver in the other.

The two men saw him coming and galloped the last few paces, jumped into the automobile, and started the engine. “I’m an officer of the law!”

Murphy shouted as he stepped up on the passenger side running board and demanded their names and the nature of their business. Neither man answered him, but the driver shifted the car into gear while the other man scuffled with Murphy. The gun in Murphy’s hand discharged and the driver struck Murphy on the wrist with a club, causing him to drop the revolver into the floor of the couple. As the passenger shoved the officer from the running board, the car sped off and disappeared, but not before Murphy noted the license number: A87296.

The next morning, Marshal Willard Armstrong called nearby jurisdictions with the license number. Chief of Detectives Frank Clements and Detective Robert Dinwiddie traced the number to an automobile owned by the county dog catcher, William Hunt. “Instead of questioning Hunt, detectives searched for the car, found it, and then drove it to headquarters,” the Evening Journal reported, where they discovered a bullet hole in one of the seat cushions. When questioned later, Hunt said he loaned the car to John Agnew, who was out of jail on a $2,000 bond furnished by his lawyer, and Lou Zimmerman Thursday afternoon on the promise it would be returned at 7:30, but that Agnew didn’t return the car until four a.m. Friday morning, rousing Hunt from his bed. Agnew was then alone.

Hunt did not give up the information willingly and became unruly, so the detectives charged him with disorderly conduct. Investigation revealed that Lou Zimmerman was playing cards in Hamilton at the time of the attack on Murphy, so suspicion against him was dropped, and the identity of Agnew’s companion would remain a mystery.

Earlier in the day, Hunt had left Sheriff Luther Epperson with the impression that the automobile had been stolen. When Epperson heard of Hunt’s encounter with Hamilton police, he asked the county commissioners to abolish the office of county dog catcher, which was technically a deputy sheriff. They did, and Hunt was removed from his position.

Chief Kolodzik accompanied Detectives Joe Evans and Dinwiddie to deliver a search warrant on Agnew’s house but found neither stolen goods nor liquor. “Residents at the Agnew home complained that every room in the house was ransacked and the house was left in a chaotic condition,” the Evening Journal reported. Agnew was charged with disorderly conduct and taken into custody. Deputy Marshal Murphy identified him as the driver of the car.

Indignation was high in Eaton and the city courtroom crowded to capacity when Clements and Boli took Agnew there on March 9 to answer the charge of assault and battery against Murphy, a war veteran and a popular officer. Agnew pleaded not guilty and was held under a $400 bond. His lawyer told newspapers that when Murphy jumped up on the running board of the car he was driving, Agnew thought the deputy marshal was a bandit, and that’s why he cracked his hand with a baton.

Officials in Hamilton said that the case against Agnew and Louis Brucks for the thefts of automobiles and accessories hinged “entirely upon whether or not Clarence Baker, another alleged thief, turns state’s evidence.” Baker had implicated both men in his confession but had refused to take the stand against them. Buck McRoberts was brought to trial in May, but Judge Walter Harlan acquitted him with a directed verdict.

Still, Kolodzik and Boli’s interest in breaking down the “auto theft rings” seems to have had some palpable effect as by March 13, insurance brokers reported that premiums had reduced by as much as twenty percent. “Insurance men claim the reduction in the rate has been because automobile thievery in Hamilton has been greatly reduced in recent months,” the Evening Journal reported, giving the credit to the new administration and restructured police force, noting that of the dozens of automobiles stolen so far in 1926, only four had not been recovered.

Spotlight Recipe

Chef Monique Runzer’s

Sweet & Sour Ribs over Jasmine Rice

MY FATHER, DENNIS, has been making these ribs for years right around New Years Eve. I have made a few modifications to the recipe along the way and am proud to present this to the masses. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs pork ribs, about 1½ lb, (See note #1)

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 10 cloves garlic

• 1 thumb-sized ginger

• 3 stalks scallions cut into halves

• 5 tbsp white sugar

• 4 tbsp black rice vinegar divided

• 1 tbsp light soy sauce

• 1 tsp dark soy sauce

• One large can pineapple chunks

• ⅛ tsp salt

• Toasted sesame seeds for garnishing (Optional)

• Scallions, finely chopped for garnishing (Optional)

• Jasmine Rice (Follow rice cooking instructions)

Instructions

Blanch the Ribs

1. Put pork ribs into a large soup pot. Fill it with plenty of room temperature water. Bring it to a boil then leave to simmer.

2. Skim off the foam appearing on the surface with a spoon. After about three minutes, drain the ribs.

Braise the ribs

1. Pour oil into a clean wok (or deep pan, pot) then add the drained ribs, garlic, ginger, pineapple (drained but save the juice) and scallion. Stir fry over medium heat until the ribs become a little golden on the surface.

2. Add sugar, black rice vinegar (keep one tablespoon for later use), light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and salt. Top up with hot water enough to just level with the ribs and pour the pineapple juice in (just whatever is left in the can).

3. Bring to a full boil then turn the heat to low. Cover and leave to simmer for about 50 minutes (see note #2).

Reduce the Broth

1. When the time is up, uncover and pick out all the garlic, ginger and scallions. Add the remaining one tablespoon of black rice vinegar. Turn the heat up to high to boil down the liquid.

2. Stir from time to time. Once the liquid becomes just thick enough to coat the ribs. Remove from the heat immediately. Be attentive not to overcook as it’ll cause the sugar to burn. It took me about eight minutes but it may vary in your case.

Garnish and Serve

1. Transfer the ribs to a serving bowl/ plate. Sprinkle sesame seeds and scallions over to garnish.

2. They may be eaten while warm or at room temperature. Serve them with plain, brown or my favorite Jasmine rice.

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