The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1866-07-12
my my PICKPOCKET.

.ss.at'srhe one great thing you want to
guard against, Miss Howard, is pick
p1loetsiaaThoy positively swarm on
.sitke'lines ofrailroad Why, every sta
tion-house on every road in the land
fssits' sign up, Bs,cdre Of Pick pock-
cts" Miss Borey with expressive
forefngef traced in the air the legend
of the sign as if it were visibly on the
Istfall before her, "they know what they
are about, those railroad men. Why,
there, was, Miss Neweome, oonly. the
otherday. had hSr pocket picked in just
coming from Yonkers; and when it was
done'she could not tell TO save her. all
she knew was that most gentee and
well-appearing man shared her seat
Ewithher, who was no doubt the thief
1t was always the nicestilooktng, meek
SestS mpst elegantly dressed men who
are thS1ikeliest TO bepick- pockets, Miss
Hewardz4aiways Oh, they are so a.
greeable! and before you know it your
purse is gone, too Why, it is not a
week since my friend Mrs. Cadd. of
Hart. gerSisSwas robbed of her pocket
b66k'in that long dark tunnel in Jer-
sey City by the nicestappearing young
man you ever saw. He held her little girl
on his knee and gave her nuts and was
mighty agreeable; and when they went
into that thnnel be picked Mrs. Cadd s
pocket oiseverylcent she had, and"got
off before she suspected him. Why,
bless me, Miss Howard" ener.
gy--"Ioii have to go through that very
tunnel, don't you? Well, be very care
ful of your port.monnae, that's ALL if
you don'tsyou may be sorryyou didn't
heed the words of one who knows. Be
wars-ffpolite and gentcel young men
particularly ifthey are good looking;
I always do; I make them keep their
distance, l promise you"
This harangne was deliyeie ed by Miss
Bofey9 one day last juno and that
night / dreamed [ was robbed and
choked and thrown out of the car win
dow in that dark tunnel, by the hand.
soonest man, l. ever saw, with great
beantifufeyes andsthe air and manners
of prince,
The hustle of departure heXt morn,
ing did not drive these thoughts quite
out of mind. had no sooner got a.
cross the river and taken my seat in
the car than ! glanced out of the win
,dowahd saw that staring pIacard
"BEwARE OF PICK rocKETsl"
ssdt seemed as If the train would aeU-
er start. | had come over in an early
boat, SOFAS to make sure OF good seat
and hence had half an hour more to
wait Look which way [ would, |
could not get my attention off that
black -lettered placard. My eyes would
in spite of me, wander back to it eve
ry other minute, and read it again, un.
til it settled its shadow over me like a
night mare. In desperation 1 would
shut my eyes; but could not shut out
that placard. There it was, and multi
piled by tens. | opened book and
essayed to read. In vain; could not
settle my mind on any thing but the
nineteen letters thai spelled those
threo words of warning. They began
TO- jnmble themselves up in my mind
in the most agravating way, till my
head ached with their mad freaks
Beware beware pickpockets-pick
ets-pock ockpickets ware--bei
ware--pickpock- -pock-bewaro-
"BEwARE OF pIcKPooKETs?
And back my eyes would 90 as il
the thing was fascinating mc-it a
snake and bird
oh dear, how tired grew of it.
III was great relief when, just as
the conductor called out "All aboard!
a good-lookmg young man came up tc
me with a shawl over his arm, and
said, ia respectful tone,
"Will you allow me to occupy this
seat, MADAME ?"
The car was crowded, l removed
my travelling bag from the place at my
side and he seated himself by ME. liz
said nothing to me, but took The
morning paper from his pocket anc
read it.
Men say that women jump at con
clusions-that their judgment is alto
gethcr intuitive, and that they car
never give a reason for the belief tha
isrin them. l can give you, respected
Sirs. more than one reason for my be
lief that the man ut my side was I
pickpocket. ~, III
,gFifst, although well dressed, he wor
apeculiar pair of black pahtaloon
with narrow white stripes in them
Second, his hands were white thougl
they looked nervously muscular and hc
wore three gold rings on his fingers
Third, he wore a mustache and no beard
Fourth, his manners were precisely o
chat quiet, unobtrusive kind that Mrs
Borey had named.
There There are four reason
which Influenced me in my conclusion
and whether wise ones or not, in them
selves, they were tho basis of my judg
ment So it was not intuition.
The train moved slowly away, ant
presently we plunged into the blacl
darkness of that long and gloomy tun
1ieR Shall 1 ever forget II? ~ Z
: Allmy senses wore koenly on tn
alert. ! drew off my gloves to be pre-
pared for action, if l should be cale,
on. l had barely done SO when fel
amovement of the hand and arm q
my companion.
Instantly | put out my hand;
touched his he made a motion to drav
il sway but ! grasped it firmly by th
wrist, and with my other hand endeav
ored to draw my pocket book from hi