Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-06-07

"Lifters? Yes, there are lots of them. We
can't tell how much we lose in a year from shop
lifting" said an Avenue merchant the other
day as he leaned carelessly against the counter
his restless black eyes watching every one and
everything in the store with the keenness of a
detective. "Kleptomania they call it where
fashionable women caught with bolts of
lace, handkerchefs, collars and the like snug
gled under their wraps"
"DO you meet with cases Of that kind?" asked
THE STAR with establishment.
MANY" was the reply. There are women in
the highest walks of life in this city who are
practical shOp-lifters. They say 1t is disease
when they are caught, but don't believe that
One woman | caught stealing some lace. how
| ever, swOre that 1t was an affection that she
could not control. and offered to bring her fam
| lily physician to prove it. But don't put any
faith in it. They have propensity to steal and
they do it rather than buy. Some of these wo-
men are from the first families in the CITY: have
wealth. and would pay out almost any amount
OF money to avoid exposure, yet they will steal.
and we have to forbid them the store. Some of
them are very clever thieves
How do you catch them?" asked THE STAR.
1--WE are always on the lookout. and most of
the sales-girls are very sharp. Then, too, we
| get to know their ways so well that we recog-
nize them very readily. When a woman is very
/
| fully on yours while talking averting them only
| occasionally to take hasty glance at the arti-
! Giles about her, she's person to be watched. 1t
| don't make any difference how handsomely she's
dressed or whose wife she is, We have to keep
| an eye on her. OF course we never let them
| know we suspect them, but it's seldom they get
away with anything when once we have marked
| them thus. When we once catch them we gen.
| orally take them up stairs and search them,
| and having settled the thing upon them we
| for w af md
warn them never to come in the store again.
l suppose there are great many whom we
never catch. But our girls are trained to be
quick and clever, and they are not apt to let
would be next to impossible for any one to steal
from-they are always watching. and never seem
to be. Girls Of this kind are Of course in great
demand, and their wages are regulated by their
cleverness. There's girl" he added, pointing
| to a strawberry blonde with pretty, bright
face. "She's the sharpest girl In the store.
She's always pleasant with the customers never
| appearing to be suspicious OF watchful but
there is very little she does not see. very
stylshly dressed lady-the wife of navy
She had every mark of q lady about
| her, and was the last person In the world you
would suspect OF being shOplifter. But she
had not been In the store long, looking over q
pile of fine collars. when that girl gave me a
| sign and told me that the customer had some
thing in her pocket that she had not bought.
Before we could secure her she got out of the
store. but we followed her close without attract
| ing her attention. and she went into the store
next door, and taking the collar out OF her
| pocket pretended she wanted to match It, then
asked the clerk to wrap it up. Just then she
! was told that she was wanted in here, and she
returned without protest. but before doing so
| she slipped the collar over to her maid, who was
accompanying her. They were both brought
In here, and she paid for the collar after receiv-
ing lecture, and being warned not to come
into the store again. She is woman of high
social position, but is probably pretty well known
| by the merchants in the city by this time. There
are any number Of just such cases. though, of
course, the majority of the shoplifters are pro-
| fessionals. One woman. who is pretty well
known to Us now, (she lives in a fine house,,
stole pair of stockings. The sales-gir saw her
tuck them up under her basque, and invited her
| upstairs and on the way up she tried to throw
| them away. There are lots OF these cases, and 1t
Is hard to tell what to do. / suppose we should
expose them, but it's hard to do as many of
| thom are from families who would be crushed
| by an exposure of anything of the kind. Then,
too, the articles are too small to prosecute for,
! and we prefer to settle the matter at once.
! Whenever we catch any one stealing. no matter
| who 1t 49, we settle with her and show her out. "