The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1869-01-19

Your artistic piekpockei Isl a gsatle
manly looking fellow wears neat boo,
and gloves always has new lookin
bat ana altogether tie last man -
would suspect q any sinister design
On your pocket He lives ia frsi-olas
hotels and boarding houses often re
qpcnting The same house for years
totally nnsuspeeted, and remarkably
only ior his quiet and gontlemanly dc
meapor Ho carefully chooses foul
companions equally respectable 10 ap
pearance 10 form ahat is called a mob
each one producing a certain sun "a
msl bank, TO be used IN case Que Of
them hils uaken by the police, ia
order % provide bail or 70 pay his conn
sci fees They chen frequent railway
stations, public meetings OF any place
whore tney can find a crowd A victim
is quietly selected as a probable End,
Two Of the mob then place themselves
IN front Of bin, and two remain bonind,
occupying as it were, the angle q a
square Of which the victim is the center
These are called the front aud back
stalls The unfortunate victim IS then
famed, that is, his pockets are softly
padded to find out the one in which he
keeps his wallet; the sign is passed TO
the operator, who is termed the wire.
who Immediately proceeds to work.
He does not place bis hand in the
pocket, that is a fatal error, but with
the two first fingers he gently draws up
the lining Of the pocket 70 the opening,
and with It the wallet, and the trick is
done. This system is called reefing.
The wallet is Immediately passed to
one Of the back stalls, who quietly,
though quickly leyants. The most
place for money is undoubt-
edly the pocket Of the pants, Again,
one Of ths front stalls passes his arm
before your face to touch the other
front stall on the shoulder, to say
"How are you2" but tie wire from be-
bind has your diamond pin in his pos
8es ion. II possible, they return the
empty wallet to the pocket to avoid |
detection in its possession, or the
dangerous necessity Of throwing it
away For instance two gentlemen
sitting at one end Of car get into an
angry altercotion, high words ensue,
tho attention Of the other passengers is
attracted to their dispute, aud the
young lady who sat next TO that nice
ooking man at the other end Of the car
inds on arriving at Stewards that her
ourse Is empty The angry gentleman
md the nice looking man are simply
'onfederatcs This they term wedding.
correspondent Of newspaper lately
ost $500 in this way while riding in
Fourth avenue car Pickpockets are
necessarily very migratory in their
habits, finding long residence in one
,lace inconyenicnt This makes il al
most impossible to make any estimate
# their probable numbers in this city
They prefer locality for the scene OF
heir operations TINT has numerous
ines Of rail to enable them to separate
u various directions as soon rs they
ave a good swag, and to meet again
u some other town These men stand
y one another in trouble, and are
trictly square in their mutual transact
)ns. A curious instance of 'honor
mong thieves, is found III the follow
lg anccdote The elder Matthews
nd Theodore Hook, on one occasion,
,ent together to the theater; wLile
scending the staircase Matthews play
lily took a bundle Of papers from
looks pocket, when he was touched
d the shoulder from behind by
entlemanly looking man, who handed
i'm bis own pocket book, apologizing
)r taking it by saying Il didn't know
on we're one Of us, and pertinently
dding "but what d--d fool you
.ust be TO carry it there" Pick
ockets, however, never save money.
u they are all bitten with mania for
and strange to say, are
snerally unsuccessful at it. Their
nguage is most peculiar, only to be :
nderstood by that intelligent body of =
sntlemen who hail from Mulberry
rect. Their depredations Oh the pub : :
c amount to very large sum in the
'urse Of the year, considerable por- :
On Of which is never recovered from 2
e general inability d .hc ,ictims to !,
We any description which might lead !
Identification, they never, il possible, ,
lowing you 70 bave d fnll view 81 their I "
&c = Nete York Trt5ime 7
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PuSeKsT Did you ever bear the I
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