The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1885-06-02

Few persons, says a New York cor
respondent, realize to what great eX-
tent shop-lif:ing, as trade, is carried
on in this city. The wholesale store
keepers who suffer from these petty
thefts, and the police or private de-
tectives who are employed TO catch
offenders of this kind, are perhaps the
only ones who properly estimate the
large number of people that make a
practice of robbing the counters. There
is splendid field for the shop-lifters'
operations in the immense stores of the
metropolis. On busy day the amount
of petty larceny committed is enor-
NOUS. The crowded store, the hustle
and confusion, the shop-girl with more
customers than she can attend to, and
a score of other things, all aid in the
successful pilfering of small articles.
Shop-lifting is crime to which
women are particularly addicted. 1t
is very seldom that male shOp-lifter
is arrested. Perhaps this is due to the
fact that women are more given TO
shopping, and therefore female thief
can carry on her work with less fear of
suspicion and detection than a man.
All ages are included in the ranks of
the shop-lifter. The child as well as
the gray-haired old woman is found
with this propensity to seize what
is anotheI"s property. Some are no.
toriously proficient in the trade, are
looked upon with admiration by the
younger or less experienced members
of the fraternity, and are continually
falling into the clutches of the police.
One of the best-known of the profess
SIGNALS is Mag" Lille. She originally
came from Maine, and was the wife of
a sea Captain. Over twenty years ago
she abandoned him and became init
mate with a well-known confidence
man. Afterward she went to England
with noted English burglar, and the
two were arrested for picking pockets.
Mag" got off with sentence of two
wears. She returned to this country
upon her release and lived with a re-
ceiver of stolen goods. Then she mar
ried bank sneak thief. After going
through some exciting scenes with him
here and in London she associated her.
self with woman named Burtis and
began to rob the dry goods stores of
this city. In one of their expeditions
they were caught, but escaped punish
ment by jumping their bail. She was
afterward re-arrested and sent to prison
The shop-lifter is often detected be-
cause she is too persistent in her thefts.
1t is strange what a lot of stolen things
she can get into her satchel. One
woman who was arrested in Sixth ave-
nue. store had in her possession the pro-
ceeds of over fifty larcenies. Awoman
who had been robbed of her pocket
book raised an cutlery Immediately up
on discovering herloss. The store was
crowded at the time and great excite
ment prevailed. The thief, in her haste
to get out of the place, ran into the
arms of police detective, who, motto
ing her condition. detained her. At
her feet the missing pocket-book was
picked up, and she was taken forth
with to the station-house and searched.
Three other pocket-bookS and fifty-one
trinkets and articles of millinery and
laces were found upon her.
When man is concerned in shop
lifting it is generally as an outside
partner who disposes of the stolen
articles. These partnerships generally
exist between man and wife. One of
these thieving couples was arrested in
Brooklyn. The wife Systematically
robbed shop-counters and the husband
pawned the proceeds of her robberies.
In some of her visits to a Fulton street
dry goods store she stole several pieces
of flannel. The proprietor gave the
police description of the party he sus-
pected. The house where the couple
lived was not known to the detective
who was put on the case, but in hunt
ing for it he discovered thirty-five
pawn-tickets, representing over one
thousand dollars in value, secreted
under the flooring of a barn on Frank
lin avenue. Man and wife were subse-
quently found in building adjoining
the barn.
Quite often women who are relatives
go out together on their shop-lifting
tours. A woman was not long ago ar
rested in this city for taking pair of
stockings from the counter and con-
cealing them in her pocket. She had a
younger woman with her, who, she adj
mitted, was her daughter-in-law.
When searched the shop-lifter was
found to have in her possession not
only the stockings, but also a comb, a
pair of kid gloves, and pocket-book
containing sixty dollars. The younger