Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 November 1909 — MORE ABOUT THAT AUTOMOBILE MYSTERY. [ARTICLE]

MORE ABOUT THAT AUTOMOBILE MYSTERY.

It is believed that the Water Valley automobile mystery has been solved at last. The information comes from Chicago that a car, belonging to a man by the name of Smalley, was taken out of the city by two of Smalley’s friends who wanted a “joy ride.” -■ The car became involved in a smashup and so badly damaged that the two young men who took it determined to destroy it. They broke the car to pieces and tried to hide the parts. Finally, when they saw that the destruction of the car would become public through the discovery of the wheels in the Kankakee river, it is understood that they went to the owner and confessed to the theft of the car and admitted that they had destroyed it. It is understood that they further agreed to pay for the car providing the owner would not prosecute them. As a result Mr. Smalley refuses to make their names public and will let the matter drop. It is said that the car was taken from a point near Wabash avenue and Thirty-fifth street, Chicago, where the owner had left it standing. It was not long afterwards that Mr. Smalley missed the car and offered SIOO reward for its return through advertisements in the Chicago papers. The publicity given the automobile mystery at Water Valley through the Times led the Chicago young men to fear that in spite of their efforts to hide the crime that they would be discovered and sent to jail. This prompted them to go to the owner of the car, with whom they were acquainted, and confessed the whole story. He promised not to reveal their identity providing they paid him the price of the car. It is understood that they have agreed to do this. In the meantime Sheriff Thos. Grant, who has been working on the Lake county end of the case, has made some very Interesting discoveries. At -a point two and half miles south of Demotte jhe called at the house of a farmer named Jostedt It is said that Mr. Jostedt is a painter in Hammond and his wife looks

after the little farm in Jasper county. At this place he learned that exactly four weeks ago yesterday a lone man in an automobile stated that his machlhe had broken down. He asked permission to take it apart on her farm. Mrs. Jostedt granted the privilege. She says that he refused to work on the machine during the day time, but came back to the farm for three nights in succession and worked away dismembering the machine. She says that she was of the opinion that he had taken the parts of the machine with him, but an investigation revealed the fact that the body of the car was stored in the gralnery, where it was covered with grain. The radiator and engine were buried in the farm yard. The wood portions of the car were in Jostedt’s wood box and were being burned as fuel. Sheriff Grant is of the opinion that Mrs. Jostedt knows more than she is willing to tell l . In fact, she maintained an attitude of reticence about the whole affair. The sheriff did not tell her who he was, but secured valuable information regarding the whereabouts of the Chicago people, who were believed to have been involved in the work of destroying the car.—Lake County Times.

Sunday W. C. Babcock, Bert Hopkins and Art Lingenfelter, the latter of the Rensselaer garage, were up at Water Valley and paid a visit to the Justedt place, south of Demotte. The sheriff of Lake county? ( ( ( Sunday W. C. Babcock, Bert Hopkins and Art Lingenfelter, the latter of the Rensselaer garage, were up to Water Valley and made a visit to the Justedt place south of Demotte.. The Lake county sheriff and his deputies were the/e searching the premises, and on Mr. Lingenfelter making himself known to the sheriff, the latter gladly accepted his services in the search, and together they hunted about for pieces of the wrecked auto. In the grainery they found a few pieces, and in a shed buried down about two feet In the sand they found by prodding about, the engine and connecting rods complete. Monday Sheriff Shirer, Mose Leopold, Mike Kuboski and Mr. Lingenfelter went up from Rensselaer to the scene, and a few more parts of the machine were found, including the number tag, which is an Illinois tag, but they do not want the number made public at this time. This tag and some minor parts were brought to Rensselaer with them, and Sheriff Shirer went up yesterday morning again. All the parts of the wrecked auto tgrat were found were loaded into a wogan and brought to Rensselaer yesterday afternoon. This includes practically all the engine, radiator, 4 individual cushions, 2 side lamps, oiler, fan, two sides of seat, 4 pieces of upholstering, 1 simplex coil, rear axle, aluminum steering wheel, starting lever, 4 rub frames, etc. The theory of parties here seems to be that some of the county young men who were enamored of Mrs. Justedt’s. daughter, did not approve of the Chicago visitors, and that they wrecked the machine, and when the parties who drove it there saw that it had been partially wrecked so they could not drive it back, they finished the job and tried to hide all traces of it- „ Mrs. Justedt is a French woman, and has quite an attractive daughter, it is said. The house stands back from the road some 100 yards, on a sand hill. Conflicting stories were told by the family, and it is thought ail the truth has not been brought out. That anyone was murdered in connection with the mystery is not generally believed by scarcely anyone now.