Raleigh, Oct. 7—Penitentiary sentences for W.G. Patrick and H.M. Lewis of Henderson, convicted in Vance Superior court of defrauding insurance companies through illegal disposition of automobiles, marks the final breaking up of an auto and arson gang that has been engaged for over two years in the theft of cars and their destruction by fire and in the burning of buildings, according to Insurance Commissioner Stacy W. Wade. Seven men arrested through investigations of the department, six of whom now have received sentences, put a black spot on the county of Vance as the place of greatest fire risk in the state, Mr. Wade said. The theft of a score of automobiles and their destruction and the burning of at least two valuable pieces of business property were proved against the gang, of whom Padrick is alleged to be the leader.
Padrick Sentenced
Padrick was sentenced yesterday by Judge J. Lloyd Horton to serve from five to eight years in the state’s prison, while Lewis was sentenced to from 18 months to three years. Four others had previously received sentences. According to investigations of the insurance department, conducted by H.E. Kennedy and J.E. Scott, department inspectors, Padrick and his lieutenants had made thousands of dollars through the theft of cars and the collection of insurance after they had been destroyed.
After a theft, the car would be sold to an accomplice of Padrick. Padrick, holding the mortgage, got the loss payment rights in the insurance policy, and the machine a week or two later while in the possession of the accomplice and ?? (words obscured) would be burned.
On another occasion, the investigators proved, Padrick invited a friend to go for a ride with him. On the trip the car suddenly caught fire, and the friend testified as to the circumstances. The insurance department alleged and introduced evidence at the trial tending to prove that a deliberate short-circuiting of wires caused the fire.
Padrick and his crowd worked their scheme successfully for more than two years. Insurance reports denoted extraordinary heavy losses on automobiles insured in that sectin of the state, but investigations failed to reveal the cause.
Tried Once Too Often
Insurance collecting tricks were tried once too often, however. The last one was an attempt to burn two buildings in Henderson owned by Padrick and fully insured While the fire department was answering an alarm from one building, the second one on the other end of the town was burned.
The fire company saved the first building, and an investigation produced a ball of towels which had been soaked in kerosene. One towel bore the imprint of the Raleigh hotel and another contained Padrick’s laundry mark, which the Henderson laundry verified. Investigators also found that Padrick had a short while previously stopped at the Raleigh hotel. From these discoveries a chain of evidence was entwined about the man that lead to this arrest and a half-dozen others who had been his accomplices.
Mr. Wade said the state has not before experienced such bold work on an organized scale. Padrick was supposed to be well situated in Henderson and was worth considerable money. His evasion of arrest over a period of two years indicated his shrewdness in carrying out his schemes.
From the front page of The Winston-Salem Journal, Sunday, Oct. 8, 1922
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