Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-03-11
A Pick-pocket's Performance,
ALEXANDRIA, Va, March 10, /


ALEXANDRIA, Va, March 10, 1885.
An account of the manner in vsht:l :.
pocket-book was lost Sar tle 4th instant 10
IY.e,: ~, may furnish a useful caution to
many of your readers who may hereafter
mingle in crowds in the Capital of our ma
ton.
~ had lady, and her little daughter, he
tween five aud six years old in charge. we
stood in front of the platform Oh which
President Cleveland was 10 deliver his inau-
eural address. The multitudes surrounding
us were measurable by the acre. We had
purposely gone more than an hour before
The appointed time in order to obtain so
convenient position for seeing and hear
ing. The waiting was very tiresome Much
of the time held the child first on one
shoulder aud then on the other. Par paren-
thesis, the presence of the child there was
at no suggestion Of mine In addition To
all ewes being directed toward theplatform,
nv hands and attention were given to the
child had two coats on the inner one n
broadc!oth frock, with tight skirts, buttoned
| only across the breast the overcoat open.
Nv peck ct. hook was in the left side trow
sers pocket On this side at first Sl00d a
young man having the appearance oil be-
| longing i'm the country. and possessed OF nut
little of this worlds goods. After a while
he talked OF feeling sick at the stomach and
ask ed me if had an orange about me that
he alayed sllrh feelings some times by suck
ing one. Soon thereafter he got down
on to his knees on The asphalt and spat and
etched but not till twenty minutes or II
half hour Of this performance did lie sue
ceed in vomiting. All this while he was so
close TO my side as To spatter my shoes anu
pants | wondered that he did not go out
of the crowd in his sickness; and confess
that felt more disguised at the part was
sutlerirgs Here, below every. body's sight.
he could choose his opportunity to go into
my pocket without the least danger Of de
lection. He only had TO insert his hand
carefully up little way between tho frock
coat skirt and my pants, to reach my peck
ct entrance; and an inch below the bottom
of the slit for an entrance, was the top Of
the peck book The balancing of the
child OH my shoulder, the employment Of
my hands and their elevation from my side !;
the aching of my back with the load and
the straining of my eyes toward the plat
form aud the Intense Wishing of my snn
for President Cleveland to come, say his
say aud SO set me free; all this made it per-
fectly easy for this expert to pursue his del
icate manipulations about my pants With
out being felt by the wearer.
1t was only after had repaired to my
room TO free myself from his conta mina
tions, that discovered he had taken as we'll
as left
NV opinion is that he had confederates
present, and that he was put forward to do
the work because be was so verdant and
/ To mir
This was the first part. But, now, how did
I recover the pocket book with such of the
contents "a were worthless to the thieves?
In this wise-there is no other explana.
ton The thieves had enough of better
humanity to say, on examining the contents
and approprating all the money and other
value available to them, "We will not de-
stroy these papers, worthless to us, but
seemingly important to the owner. Let US
put them Oh the way back to him. Here
are tickets to Alexandria; probably he lives
there. five drop the pocket book into The
pocket of somebody belonging there, it will
BIZ pretty sure, with the name on the papers
as clue, to reach him." And, accordingly,
Mr.. J. B. Towney, of the V. NJ. r. r.,
found it in his pocket. This implies more
virtue in the thieves than at first sight
might appear. At such times they are in
danger Of being pounced upon by detec-
tives in citizen dress. and searched from
the sole to crown, before they can make
the least move towards making away with
or secretiug anything that would tell against
them. Much more safely could they have
dropped it into the first water-coset, or
even into the street. To Gnd a pocket TO
drop it into was plainly to run risk, for
which cannot help feeling thankful to the
rascals.
To Mr.. Towney feel under obligations.
| He knew no person of the name some of
the papers bore, and therefore discreetly and
considerably turned the pocket book over
to the Mayor of Alexandria
1t was kind Of Mayor Beckham to take
charge of it. But he did more; he caused
notice to be published in your paper and
in the Washington Star, which brought the
book and remaining contents back TO its
owner last night.
To both these gentlemen I tender my
cordial Acknowledgements; and, by the way,
] am happy to be able to say that /, as it
were in anticipation of their kindness and
courtesy, have already in some sense re-
eiprocated them-though to another bene-
fciary-by writing to a gentleman in Rich
mond, Va, the other day apprising him
that colored boy in Washington had found
some loose papers 10 the street, and, by
advice, had submitted them to me for
examination, and, upon learning their
character, had entrusted them to me TO
restore to their owner-probably the reject.
ed contents of the gentleman's pocket,
picked by some sneaks who had not the
one virtue of the fellow Tor his confederstel
who empiied mine. Respectfully yours,
]. EVANS.
COURT OF APPEALS YEsTERDAY.-Bar-