Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1871-12-08
Polite Thieves.

! Ir you have any curiosity on the sub
iect, step into dry goods store and ask
! the merchant or clerk, do thieves ever
/ come in here Nine times out Of ten he
will answer why, yes that's our great
est trouble So merchant answered
our reporter Saturday, and then proceeded
/ to explain what he meant. In laS there
/ are only two grades of thieves-the big
| thieves and the petty larceny ones. Out
| side of law there are several grades of
/ thieves and the worst ones to guard
against are [the criminals with white
fingers, the ones who shop for two
hours without purchasing fifty cents
worth of goods
Take an instance which occurred in a
! Woodward avenue store last Thursday.
A lady called in and asked to be shown
some velvcts and some laCes and the
gentlemanly and obliging clerk soon laid
II large stock before ter She turned
over the goods, held them up TO the light,
viewed them over and over, and finally
went away without making any pur-
chases. She had scarcely closed the door
when a cash boy informed the clerk that
he saw the lady pocket two pieces of vel
vet trimming aud lace collar, and an
examination showed that he was right
But the matter ended right there, for it
went no further than to report the occur
renee to the proprietor. He had hun
dred reasons why he should not arrest the
lady or charge her with the theft, the
most prominent being that she was n
regular customer at the store, sometimes
buying bill of goods amounting to two or
three hundred dollars.
II is IA fact, of which all people are
aware, that merchants and their clerks
are invariably on the watch to detect these
"kleptomaniacs,' but ali arrest seldom
follows detection, nor is there word to
give the thief u suspicion that she has
been discovered Suppose that lady
: sits down to the counter and has the space
before her piled up with valuable notion,
; she has asked to see. BE she ever so sly
: she can seldom pocket an article withou
8 some one seeing her. But no one says
e word, and she goes out feeling that sh,
. I has escaped with her booty without any
= one being the wiser Next time sht
=, comes in the clerk will be Just as polit,
I, and Just as prompt, but she viii find tina
: he does not hand the goods down az be
y fore, merely handing down one box o
: one article at a time, and, if convenient
a another clerk will stand near him and Civ
the lady to understand that he has moth
% ing to do but to keep watch of her. Sh
n has a feeling that they are watching her
a bul 9llC NloublS IL Lllty SUSPECT luC lOIult
- theft and so is too prudentl to commi
" another offense \ few days ago mel
chant, standing at his desk, saw woma
roll up two costly lace wells and secretl
work them under her cloak, havin
called the clerks attention to the to
l. shelves for a moment that he might nc
IS see her. The merchant knew her well a
good customer, but yet did not want t
'r lose the costly property. Therefore, whe
al she had finished her trading, he approach
H. ed her and insisted that she she shoul
7r take look at some new dress goods, an
after that, some Cloakings, and then tinall
TO asked her opinion of some cloaks read
y made, and he thus kept the victim in tn
n store for an hour, meanwhile giving he
the history of clerk who had been di
G. charged from the store short tim
=, before for stealing goods. We alway
n detect every theft, no matter how small
le he added, and then excused himself an
n returned to the desk The lady went baC
Is to Il pile of dress goods, hauled the
Or over little, and then departed. III
merchant went to the pile and found Il
:, two wells crushed in between some Of Il
o, bolts Of cloth.
ie The easiest thing in a store to steal is
IN pair of gloves. \ lady is not content wi
10 seeing ten pairs and sometimes not vii
T. seeing ntty. she must nave the VINO
III stock down, and with her own gloves pu
ed down off the hand to the finger joint
OF she has thus two little pockets where 81
III can stow away pair of fgloves.
rl Not long ago, after II merchant h
", borne for whole year with the appropl
e, ations of certain female, he determine
to frighten her out of making any mo
i, thefts in his store She came in, Gle
rs began waiting on her, when the mercha
'ls crossed over to the clerk and said, in h
mt hearing, " Harry, have reason to belle
~ that one of the ladies back there is a thit
K and is here to rob us. | wish you won
d. step up to the City Hall and ask the Chi
to of Police to send down detective
Iy He made splendid hit. She was
frightened at the idea of his having 81
e. picioned any lady that she purchased S
p. worth of goods to avoid suspicion,
ry general purchasing never going above
a, few shillings before.-Defr0H Free Press.