Vultures at the Washout
When an unlucky driver wrecked his car in a washout, thieves swooped in to strip the vehicle clean before help could arrive.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
While on his way to Yakima, M. S. Meeks badly wrecked his Dodge car when he ran into a washout in the road about a mile east of the Maebour place. With him in the car were Mrs. Meeks, their son Charles, and Mrs. H. E. Neimeyer, none of whom were injured. A party coming behind took them into Yakima. When a garage man whom Mr. Meeks had sent reached the car the next day, he found that someone had stolen the casings from both rear wheels, the lights, and the radiator, and had drained the gas tank. A clue picked up from someone who had overheard a conversation led to the arrest of a couple of young men living near Moxee. At the trial in Yakima last week, they pleaded guilty and each was fined $100 and given a 30-day jail sentence.
“When a garage man whom Mr. Meeks had sent reached the car the next day he found that some one had stolen the casings from both the rear wheels, the lights, radiator and had drained the gas tank.”
Car trouble in the remote Columbia Basin remains a hazardous business, though modern roadside assistance is a far cry from the 'vultures' of the 1920s who would strip a stranded vehicle for parts. This incident highlights the isolation of travel in the region before highway infrastructure matured.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.