Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1873-09-04
Artful Dodgers.
WAYS and Customs of the Light
Fingered Gentry.
Something of Thieves, PickpOck-
cts, and That Sort.

mate channels, and just as great
advancement in villainy and the
modes of its accomplishment
are apparent, as in the more re-
putable walks of life. Rogues
and rascals are equally as quick
as honorable men to avail them
selves of the appliances of mod
ern times in the pursuit of their
profession; and stealing has, in
deed, become a profession in
these days. And so, says the
Brooklyn Eagle, there are regu-
lar schools for crime, as in eve
lrything else, and little children
are taught to steal instead of to
read, to lie and swindle rather
than to work, and so they grow
up until it becomes a second ma
ture to them, and they could
hardly if they would adopt an
other mode of existence. Once
on the road, and under the insi-
dious tuition of older hands, the
tricks of the "Artful Dodger"
give way to the deed of Bill
Sykes, who stopped at nothing
less than murder, ami even
that is a secondary condition!
There are many and distinct
classes of thieves. First Of all
then, to commence with the
youngest, there are
"THE sNoOZERs"
Which is police parlance for lit
tie boys whose habit it is to
snatch pocket-books from un-
suspecting ladies; to clay" for
children going of errands with
five OF ten cents in their posses
sion and steal that; to nab
scraps of old iron and sell it for
few cents, and to prOwl "a
round generally and look out
for themselves. They are dir
ty set of ruffians; the genuine
street Arab-their hand against
every mans, and every mans
hand against them. They are a
nuisance to the police, and slide
off into all sort of unapprOach-
able retreats at their appear
ance.
Next to them comes
TILL TAPPERS,
Who, as a rule, are generally
boys or young men who have
not advanced far enough in
crime to aspire to any higher
branch. The way that they
work is as follows! They trav-
el in gangs" or "crowds," ac-
cording to the police rendition
of the number, which is gener-
ally two or three only. They
will go down some crowded
thoroughfare and watch the diff
ferent stores until they come
to one where there is only one
person behind the counter and
no customer present. All then
90 in, and one of the three on
some pretence or other takes
the man away from the counter
and brings him to the window
where he keeps him for a min
ute or two in conversation; the
second of the trio will remain
in the store and keep watch,
while the third one, as soon as
the storekeeper's back is turned,
slips around the counter, pulls
out the till, takes all the bills
and stamps, and away they go.
This dodge has been played sue
cessfully very often, and some
times the thieves manage to
make handsome haul.
SNEAK-THIEVES.
Sneaks are class of thieves
who are always on the lookout
tor unclosed front doors, and
will dodge into open hall ways
and snatch coats, hats, umbrel-
las, walking sticks or anything
else that may be worth carrying
off and which happens to be on
the hatstand or in the hail.
They have habit, too, of going
to front doors and rapping or
ringing. The servant comes
and is asked if the mistress is
in. Probably she says "yes,"
and the thief will say he has an
important message for her and
must see her personally. The
servant retires, and the sneak
rushes into the first room he
can get into, fills his pockets
with anything of value, and
then returning awaits the lady's
presence, finds he has made a
''mistake" in the house, and
leaves. To sum up, a sneak