Raleigh, July 18—North Carolina’s granite bed from which was quarried the state capitol delivered a Hudson super-six this afternoon from a depth of 50 feet of water, and a license plate number 84 showed it had been the property of Wilton Muse, Raleigh.
With the discovery the city is moved to pump the abysmal hole dry enough to see how many machines, babies and grownups lie at the bottom. One subscription of $100 has been made and Fire Chief Hubert Horton thinks he can turn the trick in 48 hours with the city’s engine. The police superintended the fishing party of 500 this afternoon. From the top of the city’s skyscraper bank buildings scores watched the party more than a mile away. The insurance men who have been paying heavy theft damages suspected the quarry hole as the auto limbo. Divers with only bathing suits as paraphernalia negotiated the distance and hooked cables to the big machine which came up with two dozen tugging at it. They pulled it far enough out to see the number. Young Muse was present and watched the resurrection of his machine bought last year and insured, it is said, for $2,500.
Moral certainty that a King eight and a Ford have been caught leads police to hope for at least two more deliveries tomorrow. Not only do insurance men believe that the rockbed is full of machines, perhaps 25; they believe also that the human wreckage may exceed the mechanical. Two dead men have been found there in the past. It once was a fashionable suicide resort, occasionally a failure being recorded.
The police do not know how came the insurance men to suspect the old quarry. It took much persuasion to send the divers there. L. Francis, motorcycle salesman, artist, and swimmer, did the diving. Once the machine caught deep under the water, whereupon he dived to the steering wheel, turned it, and change the machine’s course. When it emerged from the water, he was riding it.
The police now think that the notorious Kelly, who has been tried in the local courts, was at the head of the automobile gang which mystified all officer wherever they went early in the present year, and late in the last. The unusual demand for auto insurance added to the suspicion that not all the machines have been taken by thieves.
The rock quarry is ideally situated for drowning machines. Chief Glenn thinks the method of pushing autos into the water was the use of high speed rather than shoving. The men would open the throttle, stand on the running board, and leap before the machine plunged. By that method no marks were left on the banks.
That the Hudson did not reach the bottom in 60-foot water is apparent to diver Francis who thinks he did not go deeper than 20 feet. The machine doubtless rested on another and there may be others under both. Continued search tomorrow is expected to bring up others.
From The Mount Airy News, July 28, 1921
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