The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1883-11-28
POCKET-PICKINGA AS ANART
A DETECTIVES ACCOUNT OF THE
PIcKPocKET's PURSUIT.
The King Of Pic spOckets aud EEis
ENplOi Training Boys in the
Scfcure of AbstraCtings

to a Chicago AelcS reporter. lney go
through course of instruction as a
general thing, and learnit as child learns
to read. But no instructors will accept
as pupil any one with short, stumpy
fingers. It requires for pickpockets, just
as it does for playing the violin, long,
lean, flexible, and even sensitive fingers.
"Do you mean to say that there arc
regular instructors in the art of digital
appropriation"
"Oh, yes; old experts who have re-
duced it to a science. Some OF them
who are advanced in years, or otherwise
incapacitated for active work on their
own hook, devote all their time to in
structing thieves and putting up jobs for
them. 1t is peculiar profession, and
requires peculiar talents, as well rs pecu-
liar surroundings and circumstances to
make it a success. The pickpocket, out
of large city, ceases to be great
artist, and in poorer town or village
would degenerate into a mere burglar, or
even become honest or prosperous.
The pickpocket never commits violence,
as the footpad, the burglar or the gar
roter does He performs his work un-
ostentatiously, unobtrusively-I might
say delicately. He is judge of character,
too. He is sort of detective
IN his way, knowing at a glance
the kind of man whose watch
is likely to be solid and valuable, and
not belonging to the order of flash
iewelry. Long experience has made him
about as good Judge of the value of
thing as jeweler or a pawnbroker.
There is a daily danger in his mode of
life which, no doubt, has attractions for
the venturous. He goes forth with his
liberty in his hand. He lives in the face
of danger. He sees companions and
friends perpetually struck off the roll OF
gentlemen-at-large He knows not when
bis own day of doom may arrive"
"Does his business pay generally
spealxingl"
Hardly. That is to say, there are
very few rich thieves of any description.
They nearly all die paupers, or in prison,
or in their boots; many at the hands OF
their comrades. Fear and guilt are the
passions that sway them. There is no
such thing as hcIor among thieves
Some have amassed wealth, but to how
many of them has it been of use2 You
remember Joe Parrish, who was arrested
here in Chicago last February by De-
tective Elliott and taken to Syracuse,
N. Y, where he was wanted for picking
mans pocket of $5009 He was one of
the most adroit pickpockets in the
country, and his similar operations of the
few months preceding his arrest would
reach an aggregate of several thousand
dollars Parrish has grown rich from
his multitudinous' 'robberies, and owns
valuable real estate in Chicago, New
York, and many other large cities. He
is widely known among the crooks oi
every city in the country, by whom he
was given the title of the King of Pick
pockets His career of crime has beer
long one, and he is supposed to have
stolen about 81, 600, 900. He is not over
forty-fve years of age, yet he has com
mitted more robberies and escaped SEQ
free oftener than any man in America
Then there was Dan Noble, another
famous pickpocket, who recently died il
London prison. He was about the ag
of Parrish, and was quite as well know
at one time on this side of the Atlantic
but he graduated into bank-sneak be
fore his final arrest"
Do professional pickpockets usual
operate singly or in gangsp
8. Some of them prefer to go it alone
but as a general thing they travel in OF
ganized mobs of three. 1t takes thre
men to do a neat and safe job, except i
dense crowds, where the usual precau
tions are not necessary; but, even then
they nearly always work in gangs l
the parlance of the craft these three indi
viduals are known respectively as tn
wire the stall, and the cover TIL
wire is the pickpocket himself; tn
STALL does duty by attracting the man
or womans attention while the operator
fingers are in the pocket; the cove
places himself in a position so that tn
movements of the wire cannot be oil
served. 1t is very often the case this
the wire is a boy, while the other tw
are men. For the mere business of II
lieving pockets of their contents boy
are the ablest adopts. Many street ara
has been driven to the work by want an
bad company at a very early age, becon
ing professional long before he has a
tanned his growth"
Il have heard also that women al
very smooth at the business~
- 80 they are. Ihey frequently traV
with male pals, and always do the del
cate and risky part Of the work. YC
seldom hear of one being caught. TIL
is not so much owing to their SUPERB
cunning as the fact that they are car
fully covered and protected by their ma
confreles. / have noticed that when
female pickpocket travels alone 81
preys upon her sex almost exclusivel
When pickpockets are working in gre
crowd, as i said before, they go in gang
The chief manipulation goes ahead. He 5
lects victim, fans his pockets to see
there is anything in it, then slips l
hand daintily into it and takes out t
purse of money, which he passes back
one of his comrades. Sometimes
changes hands three or four times in
many seconds, and even if the operat
is nabbed Immediately after the work