Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1869-02-12
LIGHT FINGERS.

IN the midst of the honest portion of
the community an erroneous notion pre-
walls that the taking of money or valua-
bles from mans pocket approaches art ;
in short, that picking pockets is skilled
department of thievery. Newspaper and
magazine writers foster this idea. Now
this notion is not exactly correct, and it is
to set the matter right that indite this
article. have had peculiar facilities for
an honest man, (and hope I am such
anyhow, I have never been detected in
any crime.
Not long ago I was brought into certain
relations with one Of the most noted and
expert pickpockets of the day, and for
more than a year had daily opportunities
of communicating with him. During this
time he explained to me the whole busi-
ness of stealing from the person, and gave
me practical illustrations of the maodms
0pera7adi in number of cases. To set
the gist of the matter of the numerous
interviews had ~between myself and the
pickpocket in clear light, suppose that
the following conversation occurs
THE Writer. Now, George, what is your
simplest mode of taking mans money?
/ George That's hard to tell, Captain;
there are so many ways of doing it, one as
easy as the other, that there is no choice
besides, it depends upon circumstances.
But the commonest way is this-there
amt much skill in it, only boldness
Three of us go together. 80
To a question. No; we hardly ever
work alone unless circumstances are very
favorable or we are hard up. OF course
ANYBODY can take mans's wipe but
that game isn't played in the country. In
fact (here he digressed with a sorrowful
air., picking pockets don't pay like
burglary--a man has to make so many
more operations, and consequently runs
so many more risks of being caught.
But never mind; three of US go to-
gether, each one having his particular
duty. We go into q .crowd-any large
crowd, but prefer a still crowd, such as
you find listening to a political speech
elections are rich times with us-and to
suppose case in such closely crowded
throng, we single out man who is
promising and whose money we want;
one of US works his way in front of him
SO as to crowd against his left arm,
another gets himself behind him, and the
operator stands at his right, partly back.
In this particular case it is supposed that
our game Is stranger having considera-
BILE money about him. He is careful OF
his money, and keeps his hand on his
pocket book which is in his right hand
pocka. When the proper time comes
the man behind tips up or smashes down
the hat of the countryman, whose first
impulse is to restore it, and as he can't
raise his left arm he takes his hand from
his right pocket, when the operator dives
and seizes the money. This action the
poor devil does not feel nine times out of
ten; he is generally mad a. having his hat
knocked over his eyes ard turns to see
who did it. The one who did the act,
seizes the first fiat" near him and shoves
him ahead, then dives and rushes
through the crowd; this we all do and
meet at some appointed place to divide
the profits. Generally the man whose
money we have got has q jaw with the
one he finds behind him, and by the time
bhe has missed his money we are dividing
! it. Of course, we conform to c1rcum-
stances in the way of operating, but tnis
! is fair illustration. Sometimes, however,
when it is safe, we adopt the way OF lifting
the lining Of the pocket and SO extracting
the money. If we are caught IN this
the same manner of getting away is
adopted, 3 a ~
"Well, George, as to operations on
street cars and railroads." =
"In respect to the former, they are gen
erally nothing but forcible robberies; we
get together on the platform, and, by ere
ating row, take mans money by force
before he knows it. And there is no
much difference in our way of doing things
on the railroads. We pick out our man
and at some stopping place, where he get
out for lunch or any other purpose, one o.
two of us manage to get ahead of him, th'
other behind him, and by .jostling ant
causing confusion we have no difficulty
Why I alone made $4,000 in following
the Prince of Wales when he was here
and could have made more than that il
following Lincoln from Springfield T.
Washington if some of US hadn't beel
fools. You see, suspicion was strong o.
us, and we stayed over in Buffalo t
, gamble, and were caught and convicted
: They could not find anything against mi
| but one of the party had some none
which was identified, and the Buffal
!, Judges never let man go if there is
shadowsof chance of holding him, an
/ when he Is found guilty they pile it 0
: awful. 4 New York Judge wouldn't hay
! given ne hslg as much as ] get from u