In September 1912, Wineville rancher M.L. Worthley met a man from Modesto by the name of C.A. Shedd. Shedd said he owned land in Vermont that he wanted to trade for land in Riverside County. The men began negotiations, as Worthley thought he could use the Vermont farm. The land Worthley owned and wa nted to trade was not worth quite as much as the land in Vermont, so Worthley added his Cartercar automobile to the deal. Shedd took it — the five-passenger vehicle was worth about $700. Papers were drawn up and Shedd returned to Modesto in the Cartercar. The Cartercar was built between 1905 and 1915. It had a friction drive transmission, which was the forerunner of the transmissions used in today’s vehicles. Cartercar’s parent company was bought by General Motors in 1909, but low sales led to the vehicles being discontinued in 1915. Once the paperwork was signed, Worthley began looking into the Vermont land he had traded for. He was convinced he had been had and Shedd didn’t own the Vermont land included in the deal. Worthley included in the car transfer a clause — if the deal fell through he was to have the car back. He hopped on the first train he could to Modesto and managed to find where Shedd lived. When he arrived, nobody was home but the Cartercar was in the garage. Worthley took the car and drove it home. When Shedd returned and found the car missing, he made some inquiries and discovered Worthley had taken it. Shedd immediately swore out a warrant charging Worthley with theft of the automobile. When Worthley and the car arrived back in Wineville, today’s Mira Loma, a neighborhood in Jurupa Valley, he found a deputy sheriff waiting for him. He was arrested and the Riverside County deputy took the car, while the court in Modesto determined who owned it. But this was not the end of the story. On Sept. 27, Attorney A. Heber Winder filed a suit on behalf of M. Elizabeth Worthley, C.L. Worthley’s sister. She claimed the machine was hers and her brother had no claim to it, nor did Shedd. C.L. Worthley was going to have to return to Modesto to answer the theft charge and M. Elizabeth Worthley was going to have to go along to try to convince the court the car was hers. If she could do that, then Shedd would have no case. Related Articles Who is the Ford for whom Ford Dry Lake in eastern Riverside County is named? Junior Shoe Town was the place to get children’s shoes in Riverside From irrigation to recreation, how Canyon Lake came to be What leaders in Riverside County cities, towns said they needed when WWII ended What’s the story behind Riverside’s Wood Streets neighborhood? In the meantime, the coroner had the Cartercar in his possession, as the law provided that the coroner held property involved in such cases. The Riverside Daily Press could not help but conclude, “This does not imply, though, that the auto is a dead one.” On Oct. 5, 1912, the Riverside Daily Press reported that the district attorney of Stanislaus County, where Modesto is located, decided there was no theft case against Worthley, and so he was able to keep the car and not spend time in the Modesto jail. As to whether the car belonged to him or his sister, that was not reported in the paper. If you have an idea for a future Back in the Day column about a local historic person, place or event, contact Steve Lech and Kim Jarrell Johnson at [email protected]. ...read more read less