Litchfield enquirer., 1869-10-14
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 WHY THIEVES PROSPER.


 money, and are always spending it with reckless inn r,vidence.Is Yet. we are told ins the report of the Police Commissioners, that the value of the property lost in 1868 was only S4 755 OT7 83, and that oi thls silmJ J$41 1383. .567 13 was recovered, leav. Ing only the. trlhiug balance of $371 5lO. 70 as the total loss for the year. Accepted without que ,tlon, these figures are credita- biefto the police But, as matter of fact, tHis rep9rtsd total Joss isEiapparent only; the thieves are tp be charged with much more than the S150, each, given offia.i'- a i'--- ' their annuai income. ,,;ss;o,,ors ara o6taaiaei Eas fp;;- py~ compa.ing in. one account property reported as stolen and that re- ported as lost uuder ths one head as 'spro- iperty iost:,piteNow as the lost is nearly al- ways, fouud. and thus appears On both sides of tue account, lwaile the stolen very rarely requires q second entry, 1t is appa- rent that the official figures are altogether deceptive. Even If the Commissioners kept separate, account of the property stolen, the result obtained would not be exact, since they can only carry upon their books the robberies reported to them, and every one knows that not day passes when scores of pockets are not picked, and not 8 night when buildings are not entered and rlied, and the police left uniformed of the facts. The crimes reported either to the police or in the newspapers being only part of those committed, we must go outside of reported figures, and, by 8 close observation of the outlaw clssses, make our own estimate.
 As rule, the New York thief is we'll dressed and we'll housed: 1t is singular fact, by the way, that when the thief comes III the shape of an actual purchaser he sel- dom attempts to ply his vocation, but pays full price for all he buys It is plain, therefore, that he must have money, and nothing is more certain than that he does have 1t. Some of our thieves squander princely incomes every year, while others starve aud pinch on bare suficiency, but their average expenditure is certainly $4 q day each; and, as every dollar thus spent is the product of thievery, it is plain, al lowing them to realize the par value of their thefts, that being about 2, 300 in num- Der, their first cost to the city Is about $10, 900 per Jay. or $3, $50, 900 per annum. But it is we'll known that this par value is something the thief never gets, and that these figures, therefore, are not the true representatives of the property stolen. This vast sum. too, is merely the first cost of the criminals, who make necessary be- sides all the enormous outlay for the po- lice and criminal judicial establishments to preserve the public peace and protect the citizen ln his property. The amount annually extracted from the ax-payers for the support of thosa establishments IS about $3, ,212, 900, which, added to the for mer amount, makes the total cost of the criminal and disorderly classes to the city $6, S62, 900 annually The crumb cf com fort to be found in the fact that the cost of the police and judiciary should be equally divided between the criminal and dlsor- derly classes, is eaten up by the other fact that the amount received by the thieves for stolen property is far less than the val ue of their thefts. .a. ..t
 Although the thieves are not credited with thelr full dues on the books of the Police Commissioners, they gain nothing by these large additions to their incomes, which the authorities arc afraid to &C., knowledge, even to themselves. Whether the receipts of a thief De four dollars or four thousand, in the course of year, he IS generally penniless. A more improvi- Ient, reckless spendthrift than the profes sional criminal does not live. To take no heed of the morrow is the only scriptural iujunction he eau be relied upon to ob- serve. His money comes easy, but 1t goes with such marvellous ease and rapldity that ne cau hardly remember that he mas had It. Ia his way he Is just and generous, aud when his pockets have been filled by some lucky venture lie first pays hIs own press Ing debts, and next he.ps some less tOrtu- aate comrade out of the sioughs of pecun- l.ry de>poud. Ii he has any thing left after tuese demauds of honor are s.tlsfi sd. de pbuuges iuto tue excitement of ganiug, aud almost invariably leaves his surplus With some faro dealer. Ha4s undoubtedly devotee to some extent of Wine aud wo- nen, but Is ecuuum.cal ln both of these iuduigeuces. Rarely drunkard, he Is >tili less often a Ilceutious debauchee, aud tue presumed co partnership between har- lotry and thlevery Is . deluslon. SJme. tunes, indeed, a thief Is found living inc ttly with woman, but she IS ahnust cer- cain 10 be .an adept Ill some purloiulug art, aud to contribute her full quota to- the joint income. ..ao ''se
 But even if the thieves never approach ed the gainlng-table, and never expended d dollar for tue qualification of sensual ap- petites, they would still be an inapecunlous race, fol. no class Is so ruthlessly stripped. They are common game for detectives and lawyers, and when once entangled in the meshes ot either, expect to be robbed of their last penny-and are rarely disap- pointed in their expectation. If they are thieves of the lesser order they are sure to be pln:ked and go to prison afterward; If they belong to the ranks of the educated and adroit operators, and happen to have large amount of money on hand when caught, by due discretion in its use they can compound the most fragrant crimes. For the present administration of correc. tional law in New York may be thus epito- mixed: Obtaining conclusive euideace Q, guih against q dhisf; osresting him; screstins from him the last possible dollar, and then turning him loose to repeat las crime ano again experience its condonement There are exceptions, of course, but this is the usual end and aim of detective endeavor. Such being the perils that surround the stealthy won products of thieves, we cannot won der that they are, as class, usually impe- curious, or refrain from joining in the general amazement recently occasioned by the announcement that noted depreda. tor had just dled worth $60, 900. It is doubtful, however, whether the general public will share in the poignant regret l aroused in the detective breast by this piece of news--at least, not for the same reason. aeslol.
 There are statistics to show that our thieves wage their crusade against society