Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1869-02-18
CLEARFIELD, PA.
A TALK WITH A PICKPOCKET,


I
OF the community an erroneous notion
prevails, that taking money or val
uables from mans pocket approach
es art in short, that picking pocket:
s "a skilled department OF thievery
Newspaper aud magazine writers fos
ter this idea. Now this notion is moi
exactly correct, and it is TO set The
matter right that indite this article
| have had peculiar facilities for al
honest man land | hope | am such
anyhow / have never been detected
in any crime.)
Not long ago | was brought into
certain relations with one of the mosl
uoted and expert pickpockets Of the
day, and for more than a year hac
daily opportunities of communicating
with him. During this time he cx
planned to me the whole business o.
stealing from a persons, and gave me
practical illustrations Of the m0duS op
erandi in a number of cases. To sci
the gist of the matter of the numerous
interviews had between myself and
the pickpocket in a clear light, suppose
that the following conversation oc
ours:
The Writer-Now, George, what il
your simplest mode Of taking a mans
money Z
George-Thats hard TO tel, Captain
there are so many ways of doing it
one as easy as the other, that there j;
no choice besides it depends upor
circumstances. But the commonesI
way is this-there amt much skill il
it. only boldness Three of us 80 to
gether.
To a question No; we hardly evel
work alone unless circumstances ari
very favorable or we arc hard up. o
course anybody can take mans
"wipe," but that game isn't played IN
this country In fact (here he di
gressed with sorrowful air. picking
pockets don't pay like burglary
man has to make so many more oper
ations. and consequently so many
more risks OF being caught. But new
er mind, three Of us 60 together, eacf
one having his particular duty. w
20 into crowd-any large crowd
but prefer still crowd, such as yoJ
find listening to q political speech
elections are rich times with us-and tC
suppose "a case in such a closely crow
ded throng, We single out man whC
is promising and whose money W,
want; one Of us works his way II
front Of him so as to crowd agains
his left arm, another gets himself be
hind him, aud the operator stands a
his right partly back. In this partic
ular case it is supposed that our gam,
is stranger having considorabl,
money about him. He is careful 0
his money, and keeps his hand on hi
pocket book, which is in his righ
hand pocket. When the proper tint
comes the man behind tips up o.
smashes down the hat Of the country
man, whose first impulse is TO rostor,
il, and as be cant raise his left arm h'
takes his hand from his right pockeI
when the operator dives and seize
the money. This action the poo
devil does not feel nine times out o
ten he is generally mad at having
bis hat knocked over his eyes, an,
turns 10 see who did it. The one VIII,
did the act seizes the first "hap nea
him and shovcs him ahead, then dive
and rushos through the crowd thi
we all do, and meet at some appointel
place 10 divide the profits. Generally
the man whose money we have 60
has '.jaw" with the one he finds be
hind him, and by the time he ha
missed his money we are dividing il
! OF course, we conform TO circumstan
cos in the way Of operating, but thi
is fair illustration. Sometimes, how
ever, when it is safe, we adopt th
way Of lifting the lining of the pocke
and so extracting the money If W
arc caught in this, the same manne
of getting away is adopted"
"Well, George, as to operations o.
) street cars and railroads. =
"In respect to the former, they ar
generally nothing but forcible robbei
les we get together on the platforr
, and by creating a row, take a man
money by force before he knows II
And there is not much difference j
our way of doing things on the raj
. roads. We pick out our man, and a
b some stopping place, where he get
out for lunch or any other purpos,
one or two Of us manage TO get ahea
of him, the other behind him, and b
iostling and causing confusion we hav
no difficulty. Why! ] alone mad
$4,000 in following the Prince {
I Wales when he was here, and ooul
have made moro than that in follow
! ing Lincoln from Springfield to VAST
d ington ii come of rs hadn't been fools
You see, suspicion was strong on ui
and We stayed over in Buffalo to gan
. bic, aud were caught aud convicted
They could not find anything agains
me, but one of the party had som
money which was identified, and th
Buffalo judges never let a man 60
there is a shadow of a chance Of holC
ing him, aud when he is found guilt
they pile it on awful A New lor
Judge wouldn't have given me half a
much as that Buffalo man, and | b'
, lievc ! should have got clear away.
To a question-"O, yes there ar
women pick-pookets, and men VIII
pick women's pockets. They usual
. 20 alone, and frequent horse-ears, st,
yes and churches sometimes theatre
concerts and lectures. 1t is a risk
business, for when a woman iasten
- on YOU she sticks. But the way ,
doing it is easy For instance, | Sc
alongside Of a woman and manage I
y got my band orfinger into her pook'
o lshe can't feel il as a man could an
! get out her pooket-book then | ope
= IL; understand, though, this nevC
e was my line-lm only telling 20
how It's done) and extract the none,
!. and then replace the pocketbool
That te frrandf,e,t Tfpha diarnvers ht