St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1869-02-26
HOtC Pockets 0"e Picked.

more interesting statements which Ii
makes:
''We 20 into crowd-any lar@
crowd, but prefer a still crowd, such II
you find listening to IL political speech
Elections are rich times with us-and t.
suppose Il case in such Il crowded throng
we single out man who is promising
and whose money we want; one of Ii
works his way in front of him 30 us +,
crowd against his left arm, another yet
himself behind him, and the operate
stands at his right, partly back. In thi
particular case it is supposed that ou
game is Il stranger having considerable
money about him. lie is careful of hi
money, and keeps his hand on his puck-
et-book, which Is in his RIGHT hand pOck
ct. w hen the proper time comes til,
man behind tips up or smashcS down til,
bat of the countryman, whose first i'm,
pulse Is to restore it, and as hc can't raiS,
his left arm, he takes his hand from hi,
right pocket, when the opcr tor dive:
and scizcS the money. This action the
poor devil does not feel nine lilacS out OF
ten: he is generally mad at having hi,
hat Knocked over his ewes. and turns tl
see who did it. The one who did til,
act sclzes the first fiat near him. and
shoveS htm ahead, then dives and ru>lr>
through the crowd this we all do. and
meet at some appointed place 10 divide
profits. In regard to street car robbcrieS,
they are generally nothin" but torcible
robberlcS we get together on the plat
form, and by creating Il row. take :,
mans money hv force before he knows it.
And there Is not much difference in our
way OF doing things on the railroads
We pick out our man. and at some stop
pm" place where hc gets out for lunch or
any other purpose, one or TWO OF us
manage TO yet ahead uI him, the ether
behind hun, and by .o-tiing and cau-iu.
confusion, we have no difficulty. Why :.
| alone made 5000 in following tine
Prince of Walc, when hc was here. and
could have made more than that ia fol-
lowing Lincoln from Springfield To WASH
Imgtuu II some OF u hadn't been luJl~
You see, suspicion w:t~ >trun. un ~. and
a. STAYED over in Buffalo t. .amulr. .,ui
were caught and con>ictr,l Turv could
not find anything against me. but one ut
the party had some money which Wa
identified, and the Buffalo iuI.r- never
let Il man - ii there l. Il shadow 60, =
chance OF ho!din" him, and when he j.
found guilty they pile it on awful. \
New York jude wouldn't have giycn
IA, h.lt ma, II a. Ut from that But
tllo man. and | believe | should have
got clear away.
There are women rickpockct>, and
men who pick womcu'~ p,,hc,,. They
usually % alone and frequent horse cars
stages and churchc>->"uIctimc> th,:Irr-.
concerts and lectures Ii l. Il risky hu-j-
ness, for when II woman Ia-tcn- On Won
She sticks But the way of doing it l.
easy. For instance. iii alongside of a
woman and manage t. @ct my hand cor
finger into her pocket (>hc cant trrl II ~
a man could) and get out her pockrt-booh,
then | open il tundrr>tanl though that
this never wis my liuc-l'm only tcling
wa lI'N AIs 'A''lI' Al tl' IIl''il-
rv, and then replace the pockct-booh.
That i, 'wecding. If She discovers her
loss, she l. almost sure 10 think that she
has lost her money or lr!t ii where >hr
WAS last shopping, and 81 we got oil easy
enough. The stories about throwing Il
bullet which IS shut into the pockrI-boo>
and l. fastened 10 a slender cord. l. a
humbug, and any person OF -ru-e ought
to know il.
As to taking watches and icwclry, we
don't do it-tlat i. the best ut us don't
unless We are hard up. Some poor
sticks make a business of stcaliu. watch
-. but they are interior. If we want Il
mans watch we manage pretty much the
same way a. if we Were after his money.
No, we don't cut the chain We yet the
watch out of his pocket easy enou4h. and
twist the ring out of it. Some of the
old-tashioncd ones have the riu. rivctcd.
and make a loud snap but the whole
thing is easy. Then we gct new rings
put IN, and have the numbers altered
'christcning,' we call it-and sell them to
the fences For Il watch worth 800.
we get from $40 to 500 Silver watch
cs we don't bother with. Chains We
rarely get except by force. and they amt
worth much unless solid, then we have
them melted down, Us we also sometimes
have the cases.
We can take money from Il mans IN
side coat or vest pocket, and we can ca
silly tell whether a man Is worth follow
ing two or three days or not. The Prin-
ciplc of the whole thin@ i. that Il man
having an unusually large amount OF
money on his person will be 50 careful Of
it that he will often feel to see whether
it is safe. Besides knowing these men,
we watch them. and SO learn which one,
are the most promising. Sometimes, too
those operators who stay i'll New York
or other large cities are Informed by bro
kers clerks and o,hers-thcy get Il small
share, about five per cent of the gains
of Il certain merchant or banker having
in his possession large sum. If this l.
known, the man very likely loses hi
money.
The average amount taken from a
mans pocket isn't so very much. | have
followed Il man two or three days with
my pals, and only got - or 50 from him
because he kept the bulk of his money III
drafts. We get slipped up in that way
once in Il while. Then, again, | have
'raked in as much as $1,000. But a
good average is $50; and that is very
good in ordinary times"
SUNDAY RAILROAD WoRK.-DOE> II
PAY !-The New York Sabbath commit
tee lately sent circulars Of inquiry TO l2i
railroad companies throughout the Uni