San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-10-19

tne renee always ueuluHuS iuh Shai y
of the profits for his 'paatOof his work..
The crafty receiver knows very well
that the thieves place themselves in his
power when they como To him, te dis
pose oftheir ,phindery and he doSs not
hesitate 10 drive hard bargains with the
Loss daspNrsts-of his oustOxAsrs. - A thief
frequently gets no more than enough to
pay his weeks board for stealing val
liable watch Whenever, "a burglary is
planned by thieves, O receiver is always
consulted, Tor without some means Of
hastily removing and disposing Of the
goods no profit could be be gained by
the undertaking. 1t is usual for the rev
ceiver to provide wagon, watch the
building where the burglars are known
| to be at work, and at a prearranged
signal, to drive tonthe place and carry
tbe booty.o7s If 4 clearinghouse or
fur store has been robbed, the articles
are at once stripped of their wrapping,
and altered in appearance so that the
owners would chaveo great difficulty in
identifying their property. Many OF the
receivers keep in their, houses melting.
furnaces to convert into bars OF. metal
those articles of gold and silver which
are difficult to sell without detection.
The most adroit thieves have special
lines of work. "A professional pick,
pocket will seldom attempt a burglary
When plan to rob bank has been
A formed, thieves of more than one class
are employed in the work. One mani
prepares the way by opening an ac-
count with the bank, and drawing on
\ his deposits I'M small amounts. He Wis
its the place at different hours of the
\ day, and learns the habits of the bank
officers and clerks, q. He makes careful
observations Of the building and Of the
safes din' which money is kept. FREE
! quently q roominthe basement or in an
sadjoining building is hired and occu-
pied by, confederate. When all is
Efeady, the man who plans the robbery
seeks the assistance Of a skilled work.
man who is Able to cut through a. floor
or wall quickly and with little noise.
The services, of an expert safe-opener
are also secured. A Saturday night is
] usually chosen for the attack. One after
another the men employed for the work
pass into che confederate's room unob-
served and are secreted. After every
one has left the bank for the night, the
work of robbery is carried on with all
possible haste, and before daylight the
thieves have divided the plumber and
separated Occasionally the work can
not be completed in the night, and the
bold thieves carry off their booty in
broad daylight, Inobserved by the
crowds on the street. Some months
ago the Sixth National Bank, at Broad
way and Thirty-third Street, was enter
ed and robbed of several thousand dol
lars in, silver coin on bright Sunday,
while hundreds of people were passing
the place. ,...
Those thieves who steal articles of
small value, or such as they can easily
conceal about their persons, are classed
by, the police as pick-pockets, sneak
thieves, shoplifters and confidence
swindlers. The pick-pocket works on
crowded street-cars, at the entrances of
theaters, public halls and churches-in
any place where people congregate in
numbers sufficient for his purpose. The
sneak-thief enters dwelling houses on
various pretenses and steals any article
that he can seize and carry off unob-
served. A fayorite practice of sneak
thieves is to call at houses advertised to
rent and asked to be showed rooms
Another plan is to visit the offices of
physicians and other professional men,
and to steal articles of value in the wait
ing rooms while they are left alone.
The majority of shoplifters are women,
who visit stores and steal articles from
the counters while the, clerks are busily
engaged in piling up assortments of
goods for their inspection. The prac-
tice of shoplifting has become so extern
sive that at Stewards, Tiilany's, and
other large retail stores special detect
ives are employed to watch customers.
Confidence men make use OF the creduli-
tv of country people and strangers in
the city. A favorite plan is to watch
hotels and get the names and adj
dresses of guests. A Mr.. Brown,
from some quiet country place,
registers his name at a Broadway hotel,
+. eats his dinner, and goes out for stroll.
A confidence man, who has been on the
watch fer his appearance, meets him
some blocks away from the hotel, and
rushes up to shake his hand. SHOW do
YOU do, Mr.. Brown and how are the
folks up at -" Mr.. Brown is taken
by surprised at being recognized in the
big city, and if he i, at all credulous,
the confidence man has no trouble in
making him believe that they have met
before. The swindler then contides to
his new acquaintance that he has drawn
a large prize in lottery, and invites
him to accompany him to tine lottery
Office and share in his good fortune. On
the way they visit a saloon and have a
drink together. Another stranger
comes in, and is introduced TO Mr..
Brown rs downtown merchant. Sud
denly the confidence man discovers that