The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-08-01
BOON THIEVES WAYS.
GENERALLY nONC.sslscS AND P.l-
F5R5ES WITHOUT REASON.
That With Boston LhTlTila-A Clever
Ihisi- \ Aluable Fart Of a LIbrary.
Safeguards which are Adopted.Muti-
latioa by Pistar. Crank~

ALL rits> dHSDst Librarians AMI tl.lI. r haze
pe1'r'is- Au "a greater IrttaGt.sn % pro
t'tt tlelE tss 4, than in !4stan At tbs
As'"r library IN New York, for instance, an
tl-s=Fr l. statsuHrt az the dor o. iIspsc.
lHrPle a. ttsE INiS, IA and out He ss.s tha.
b-'As "itLifaSR by patrons If the llLrar-
ar pFaf'rl' rLIr-e't, AMI .rrnIts nOt.siy 70
FaN" LIZ blitt.ns With a box or Iar,, that
a. al asruItit'l t'r arcUriin. H. tbs u,tL..k
= IL" library II I4u - ia thtre With a
s'rsA that !, y"Gr I.rsollal property YOU mus,
LaS" 4. h. k,'l al tie DIR, or ,hI. sit IL tn n.
l.'s S"I ?" aHay again Tin, /, Of epur~.,
y lsnyeht auyls.iy fran Substituting A
,E'''l * IL Ia, ""n tlr yalUal h. number
In III library Ne have not hll u aloit
. 't.A "-yore us,.,urrs in Isrteh. however.
ali dn nj tLi.4k it a.ll ever Il, ip,,,-S,ary.
ron 'i' "r',-,l Fe,iiy b.. t.uks, do you
lu.tf
IN, - Ia, thc b., /, NOT II suiiirb.pt
fri~'rIstt,N. o. petty u, IN rs,rirtins the
rudnta-'-, II thc library by more stringent
/ n1-glatinll> The nuur RUS marks BY wLicl
( "ur l-rks can IT, identified make .uco-ssfc.
lllI,rin: very difficult. Each lsDk, Us Won
have probably notEvi, has large printed
Lil'l va tn inside II each c,Ser, Il numb
/ AMI >t"lt hl.l On thu hack, ami tie ssal O:
/ 'Ar library stamped IA raised Ltters on the
7 III" Page ant IN Sariou, parts IT the volume.
/ We hal s"me trvuLr a while am in detecting,
thht whu hai cuulur.,i biz operations ser;
'tSrrly. Having withdrawn a book ho
.'akt'i oil the varlpu, lai.k ami transferred
I Them :" their rsi.ctNe places ON worthless
Is"k, which he in duc tim" la>s,l in at tl,e
rtnrrlns counter II was put in its llroIsr
/ lI1rr on TIN shelf, AMI nutLin. was known IT
| the trick until >on,h.sly called for the same
| bnk IL Was then discovered, If course, that
4 "A transfer hal ls.n mblr, ami steps wr,p
taken u rc"N"r n" missing property. IL
Was ,,th'ually found IN the POSSESSION of tbe
! thct lie hal lsrn afraid o. offer il for sale.
i"r'ti~' h. cuuhi not vraNe the mark " tho
! library seat
VULNERABLE PART OF A LIBRARY.
"lh" m'>t vulnerable part Il the library l.,
naturally, ia" reference shelves. Backs on
tln~" shlys, cannot la guarded as those let
out by EARL, ami renewal, ara now ami then
necessary by rraSpn Of l~S.s from theft.
Perhaps the most r,markal,lr ease Of lsrk
stealing IN rsurl occurred here when, ta
tn" same day, suurla.iy walked OH Nth our
Nor',>t"rs AMI Wrtstcrs unabridged die
tinnarl's. We puzzled considerably over the
problem Of how it was dome, AMI concluded
that ta" trip must have leen miulr, and that
thu h,.'k wa, held ol"n against tho tbiefs
chest, ami concealed by lsr>r u,crcait.n
"Dpps Your experience show that book
thieves are generally nplomania,so
as rub they are. The book thief 3
usually unable Ia show amy adequate rascn
for pilfrrng. Sometimes hc Is an enthusiasts.
on certain subject, AMI strives a. accumu-
late special library hut In eases VI this
Kind the thief i, generally rich enough to pay
tur all the b""k, h. wants Again, "A man
will steal a b"pk without any idea Of its
| natnr', apparently bcing overcome With
d'Nlrr 10 steal, and taking the first book he
can lay his LANDS on.
"Emmntly respectable people, professional
men, arr sometimes caught in the act A re-
mar.nllc ca>e was that concerning Justice
ON th" supreme bench Ut Massachusetts, AZ,
oil story, hut being "A true one, worth rcIaat-
in%. This Gentleman vas very old AMI ,us.
rssci IT a mania for collecting funeral ser
mons lie purpNa4l to hstow his collection
upon the college from which he graduated.
lie went n,>ing Alrput In libraries, searching
among til" pamphlets. No one ever thought
Of watching him, h. sto,l 81 highly ia the
community tue day he was examining lot
OF laNlphlcts hound together, and somebody
heard him rip AMI tear the volume. After
hc had gon" an Investigation was malo and
II was found that funeral sermon had been
distracted A note was sent to him request
ing tho return of the missing pamphlet, ard
l,,t Al.
came back hy the next mail II was further
found that his collection contained quite
number of pamphlets stolen in similar way,
but thu discovery ended his eminent differing
80 far rs il known
TlitlvING Rtpt CED TO A MINIMUM
There are GnnU volumes in the state
library, a large collection when IL Is con
silcrcd that it includes no fiction 1t Is in
valuable rs reference library and Is used
for tin, purpose exclusively. No hooks arc
taken ont and there is no rel taIe in the man.
agcmcnt The visitor names the book be 10
airS tu consult, and n courteous attendant
brings II To him without n carl or Formally
| uf amy kind. Tho rules Of the institution aro
very simple, requiring that the i>itor behave
well, lot the shelves alone and refrain from
mutiating the books. In spite of this ap-
parent lack Of prccaution Librarian Filling
hast regards the danger from the,ing ~
ducei to "a minimum
II am in the library almost all the timc,-
h. said, "anl the assistants are always busy
about the ruun People who consult the
books are night under our eyes all the tine,
AMI when il i, necessary we exercise especial
watchfulntss. Moreover, there ARE certain
safeguards that | will not detail, but which
secure uS amply. Tho labels and STAMPS
amount to almost nothing, for they are the
first thing. n thief would remove or cover IN.
Private marks, incuil>picuuus Ia the genera,
reader, hut clear rs day To- the librarian are
very important Another thing in our favor
/, the fact that the rotation 1T the hnuks from
the shelves 10 consulting tables is ~ rapid
Almost amy h,nk would hc Quickly.miSs,sl, 50
great is the call and So limited the number.
"Thc greatest danger to which libraries are
subject from their patrons" continued Mr.
Tillinghast, "is mutiation by picture eranks,
lincan men who havca passion for collecting
portrait, ur rngraSinES You cant trust
biography or magazine with them. First
thing You know they will tear cut n page
containing a picture, map ur some kind Of H.
lu>trntun Df course | do not mean Ia say
that all collectors If cngrarinlgS are inclined
to act, of vandalism, but it is II fact that with
many Of them the passion is ST. strong rs 10
overcome all scruplcs uf honesty or! pro-
prirty Won cannot catch them at II either,
except ly n lucky accident and unless caught
IN tlr act they can never hc convicted -Dci-
tom Glulc