BROUGHT THE AUTO BACK.
MAN TOOK IT FROM FREIGHT
HOUSE FOR A RIDE.
Later It Was Returned With
Even the Shipping Tag Un-
Damaged -- A Railway
Mystery.
"Say, that automobile's not to ride in. We're going to ship it out."
"Pete" Harris, negro night watchman for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company at its freight house at Fourteenth and Wyoming streets, shouted this at a man who climbing into a large red motor car which stood on the platform tagged for shipment to Lawton, O. T., last night.
The man paid no attention to him. He settled comfortably into the front seat, ran his hands over the levers a moment, and then there was a whirring sound from the motor, and the car began to move.
"Come back here with that auto or I'll shoot you full of lead," shouted Night Watchman Harris, drawing his revolver, and starting to run after the car, which was steadily gaining momentum.
"Honk, honk!" responded the absconding chauffeur, working the horn, and disappearing in a cloud of dust around the first corner. The watchman ran as fast as he could, but when he reached the corner the car was out of sight.
The automobile is a large, red touring car. The car had been run to the freight depot during the afternoon for shipment to Lawton, O. T. A little gasoline was left in the tank, enough, the agent said, "to run up a slight hill."
This was at 7 o'clock. The police of both cities were notified. Grocery stores which kept open at night were visited to see if they had sold gasoline to the chauffeur of a red touring car.
At 11 o'clock the agent at the freight house glanced out of the window to the platform where the automobile had been. He pressed his face closer to the glass and looked again. Then he opened the door and walked out upon the platform.
There stood the missing car in the same position it occupied before it was stolen. The agent pinched one of the tires to be sure it was real.
There was no sign of who had taken the car. The agent saw no one bring it back. The night watchman was called, but he had seen no one. There was only one thing about the car that differed from the condition in which it was taken out, even the tag marked to Lawton still being intact. There was more gasoline in the tank when the car returned than when it was stolen.
