Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-10-13
POCKEr-PIcKING As AN ART.


| POCKEr-PICKING AS AN ART.
| A Millionaire Pickpocket and His Elk.
| ploits-Trainins Boys i'm the Science
| Of Abstracting.
There may be persons who, like the Queen Of
France, rather admire great thief on gibbet,
but have high disdain for such q petty Of
fender as a mere pickpocket. On the stage
Pistol, Nym and Bardolph are amusing, and au-
dences smile as these worthless steal whatever
they can lay hands on. But when the play is
ended the careful man buttons his coat over his
watch-pocket and leaves his sympathies with
the stage rogues behind him in the theater.
Yet, phlosophically as well as practically con-
sidered, there is, after all, a tinge of romance
connected with the profession OF picking
pockets. 1t is only big city that can furnish
one of this craft with his daily supply of purses
and pocketbooks, jewelry and small wares
Only amid great wealth and a vast population
could such a profession be carried on with sue
cess, and it surely requires great adrOitness to
escape detection.
"Pckpockets are a class of thieves who must
be especially fitted TOR the business" said a
headquarters detective to Chicago Ne,cs re-
| porter ''They 90 through course of instruc-
| ton, as a general thing, and learn it as a child
| learns to read. But no instructors will accept
as a pupil any one with short, stumpy fingers
1t 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 are regular
instructors in the art of digital appropriations"
"Oh, yes; old experts who have reduced 1t to
a science. Some of them who are advanced in
years, OF 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 as peculiar surroundings and
circumstances to make it success The pick
pocket out of large city, ceases to be great
| artist and in poorer town or village would
| degenerate into a mere burglar or even be-
come honest or prosperous. The pickpocket
never commits violence, as the footpad, the burg
lar or the garroter does. He performs his work
unostentatiousy, unObtrusively-I might say
delicately. He is a judge of character, too. He
is a sort Of detective in his way knowing at a
| glance the kind of a man whose watch is likely
to be solid and valuable, and not belonging to
the order of flash jewelry. Long experience
has made him about as good a Judge of the
| value of thing as jeweler or a pawnbrOker
There is daily danger in his mode oflife which,
| no doubt, has attractions for the adventurous.
He goes forth with his liberty in his hand. He
| lives in the face of danger. He sees compan-
ions and friends perpetually struck off the roll
| of gentlemen-at-large. He knows not when his
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
Detective Elliott and taken to Syracuse, N. Y,
where he was wanted for picking q mans
| pockets of $500? He was one of the most
adrOit pickpOckets in the country and his SINH
| lar operations Of the few months preceding his
arrest would reach an aggregate Of several
thousand dollars. Parrish has grown rich from
his multdinous robberies and owns valuable
real estate in Chicago. New York, and many
the crooks of every city in the country by
whom he was given the title Of the king Of
PickpOckets" His career of crime has been
long one, and he is supposed to have stolen
about s., OOO,O 600. He is not over IS years of
age, yet he has committed more robberies and
escaped scot free oftener than any man in
America. Then there was Dan Noble, another
famous pickpOcket, who recently died in Lon
don 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
bank-sneak before his final arrest"
DO professional pickpockets usually operate
singly or in gangs?"
"Some of them prefer to go it alone, but as
general thing, they travel in organized mobs of
three. It takes three men to do neat and safe
job. except in dense crowds, where the usual
precautions are not necessary, but, even then,
they nearly always work in gangs. In the par
lance OF the craft these three individuals 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 womens attention while the opera
tors fingers are in the pocket; the cover places
himself in position so that the movements of
no 10 of
the case that the wire is a boy, while the
other two are men. For the mere business of
relieving 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 becoming a professional
long before he has attained his growth"
Il have heard, also, that women are very
smooth at the business?"
$50 they are. They frequently travel with
male pals. and always do the delicate 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
carefully covered and protected by their male
confreres. have noticed that when female
almost exclusively. When pckpockets are
working in great crowd. as said before, they
60 In gangs. The chief manipulation goes ahead.
He selects victim, fans his pockets to see if
there is anything in it, then slips his hand
dainty into it and takes out the purse of
money, which he passes back to one OF his COM
rades 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 con-
vict him of the theft"
What do you mean by tanning a mans
pOcket?"
'.That is simply the slang for feeling it in the
light, cautious manner which is learned by
training. sharp thief never puts his hand
into mans pocket at random, but goes
through the flaming process at first, and To-
Gates the object he desires to pinch A clever
boy, gaining character for a light and success
fnl hand. is well cared for by his older pals.
behave fairly and gave him a liberal share of
the spols. heard of a case not long ago,
where boy, being detected by one of his VIC
TINS. was got away by two of his comrades, one
of whom was arrested, tried and convicted, and
sentenced to six months imprisonment. Dur
ing the circus season sWarms of pickpockets
follow the travelling shows about the country.