The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-26
P0CKET-PICKING AS AN ART
. DETECTIVES ACCOUNT OF THE
PICKPoCKET'S PURSUIT..
|rhc King of Pictpockcts and His
Exp,oi y - Training boys in the
Science of AbstrRctiug.

through course of instruction as n
general thing, and learn it as child learns
read. But no instructors will accept
as pupil any one with short, stumpy
fingers. 1t requires for pickpockets, just
ls it does for playing the violin, long,
can, flexible, and even sensitive fingers"
Do you mean to say that there are
Regular instructors in the art of digital
appropriations
"Oh, yes; old experts who have re-
Fluced it to science. Some of them
who are advanced in years, or otherwise
lncapacitated for active work on their
own hook, devote all their time to in
structing thieves and putting up jobs for
hem. 1t is peculiar profession, and
requires peculiar talents, as well rs pecu
lar surroundings and circumstances to
make it a success. The pickpocket, out
of large city, ceases to be great
artist, and in a poorer town or a village
would degenerate into a mere burglar, or
even become honest or prosperous
The pickpockct never commits violence
hs the footpad, the burglar or the gar
rotcr does. He performs his work I'M
pstentatiously, unobtrusively-I might
Say delcately. He is Il Judge of character,
too. He is sort of detective
pm his way, knowing at a glance
the kind of Il man whose watch
fs likely to be solid and valuable, and
hot belonging to the order of flash
iewelry. Long experience has made him
about as good Il judge of the value of a
thing as a ieweler or a pawnbrokcr
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 lie lives in the face
of danger, He sees companions and
friends perpetually struck off the roll of
gentlemen large. He knows not when
bis own day of doom may arrive"
"Does his business pay, generally
speaking
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 honor among thieves.
Some have amassed wealth, but to how
many of them has it been of use? 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 $5002 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 of
every city in the country, by whom he
was given the title of the King of Pick
pockets" His career of crime has been
long one, and he is supposed to have
stolen about 81 900, 900. lie is not over
forty-ive years of age, yet he has com
mitted more robbcries and escaped scot
free oftener than any man in America.
Then there was Dan Noble, another
famous pickpocket, who recently died in
a London prison. He was about the age
of Parrish, and was quite as well known
at one time on this side of the Atlantic,
but he graduated into Il bank sneak be-
fore his final arrest"
"Do professional pickpockets usually
operate singly or i'll gangsl"
- Some of them prefer to 90 it alone,
but as "A general thing they travel in or
ganized mobs of three. 1t takes three
men to do a neat and safe job except in
dense crowds, where the usual precau-
tions are not necessary; but, even then,
they nearly always work in gangs. In
the parlance of the craft these three indi-
viduals are known respectively as the
wire, the stall, and the cover The
wire is the pickpocket himself; the
stall does duty by attracting the mans
or woman's attention while the operators
fingers are in the pocket; the cover
places himself in position so that the
movements of the wire cannot be OBJ
served. 1t is very often the case that
the wire is a boy, while the other two
are men, For the mere business of re-
licving pockets of their contents boys
are the ablest adopts. Many street arab
has been driven to the work by want and
bad company at very early age, becom-
ing a professional long before he has at
tanned his growth"
~ have heard also that women are
very smooth at the business?"
So they are. They frequently travel
with male pals, and always do the deli
cate and risky part of the work. You
seldom hear of one being caught. This
is not so much owing to their superior
cunning as the fact that they are care
fully covered and protected by their male
confreies. have noticed that when a
female pickpOcket travels alone she
preys upon her sex almost exclusively
When pickpockets are working in great
crowd, as said before, they go in gangs
The chief manipulation goes ahead. He Sc
lects victim, fans his pockets to see if
there is anything in it, then slips his
hand daintily into it and takes out the
purse of money, which he passes back to
one of his comrades. Sometimes it
changes hands three or four times in as
many seconds, and even if the operator
is nabbed Immediately after the work is
done, nothing is found on his person to
convict him of the theft"
"What do you mean by tanning a
mans pocketl'
THAT is simply the slang for feeling
il in the light cautious manner which is