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Thursday, May 17, 2018

Sheriff Fitzgerald Brings Auto Thieves and Car They Stole Back From Illinois, 1930

The Johnsonian-Sun, Selma, N.C., Thursday, May 15, 1930

Sheriff Fitzgerald Brings Auto Thieves Back from Illinois

Sheriff Fitzgerald, accompanied by Deputies J.O. Hinton and Eugene Caudill, left Smithfield on Thursday morning, May 8, for Carbondale, Ill., and returned Sunday night, May 11, bringing with them the Ford car which was stolen in Smithfield from Paul R. Newman of Lillington, N.C., on Easter Sunday night; also bringing the two prisoners who had been occupants of the stolen car when arrested in Carbondale.

The prisoners, who gave their names as John Doran and Claude Williams, had been arrested and held by the police in Carbondale—an account of which was given in the Johnstonian-Sun last week.
The car, which was a new one when stolen, shows considerable signs of use. It appears to be in good running order, but there is a hole in the body just above the running board, which was made by a machine gun when the men failed to obey the command of the police and stop the car.

The man who gives his name as John Doran admits the theft of the car and says that Williams was picked up by him in Memphis, Tenn., to drive the car. Williams was at the wheel when they were arrested.

The immediate cause of their arrest was the fact that they stopped at a filling station about 2 o’clock in the morning and had their tank filled with gasoline, then ordered patching rubber, and while the service man was getting the rubber they drove off without paying their bills. They were going in the direction of Carbondale and a telephone message to the police station there did the work for them.

The car still carried the North Carolina license plates, and in possession of the men were found Mr. Newman’s identification card, his check book and some letters, all of which the men are alleged to have been using for identification purposes in passing forged checks.

One thing that was a great help in bringing about their downfall was a letter which Doran had written to a Selma girl. The letter which was headed Memphis, Tenn., had been placed in an envelope that had been addressed was found in his pocket.

In the letter, which was a rather long one, he asked the Selma girl whether or not she had heard anything about him since he left, and said he could “laugh at them now.” It was supposed that he meant that he could laugh at the officers who were trying to catch him.

Duran says that he was born on the Caleb Penny farm in Wake County 23 years ago, but has not lived there for several years. He claims to have traveled over several states within the last few years. He says he joined the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg on July 13, 1925, and was discharged at San Francisco, Cal., on July 14, 1928.

It is thought probable that both men might have been connected with a band of automobile thieves. There appears to be very little difference in their ages.

Sheriff Fitzgerald in speaking of his trip said that if he had not been in such a hurry to get back home, he could have enjoyed his trip much more than he did.

They traveled by automobile and spent Thursday night in Knoxville, Tenn. Friday they drove through Nashvile, Tenn., Hopkinsonville and Paducah, Ky. They crossed the Ohio River at Paducah, which is something over 100 miles on this side of Carbondale, Ill., which place they reached Friday night.
Sheriff Fitzgerald says that after crossing the Allegheny Mountains the greater part of their trip was made in the rain, and that in many places the fields were almost covered with water.

He says he passed through the most beautiful farming country that he has ever seen anywhere. He says that after crossing over our North Carolina mountains he did not see a bag of guano or fertilizer of any sort until he got back to North Carolina, but that all through Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois a good portion of each farm was in pasture, where horses, mules, cows, hogs and sheep were grazing. There were also many fields of wheat and other small grain, the homes and arms were beautiful and the people appeared to be prosperous.

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