The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1888-03-24
PICKPOCKETS.
The Methods Pursued By These
Lightfingered individuals.
An Inmate of a Prison Cell
LooSens His Tongue.

pocket. "What is your Legitimate line
of work, as you call it r. asked the re-
porter The prisoner replied:
Taking care Of purses and such
things for people who don't know how
to take care of them themselves. If a
man studies his business he need never
get caught picking pockets. 1t is SIM
pie and nice light work for gentlemen
who don't care about doing hard work.
You probably don't know it, but the
professional dipper studies his work just
the same as a lawyer studies law. Take
the Eastern safe crackers, Randall,
Thomas and Heinz, who were out here
a couple Of years ago. Why, they've
got their business down to "A science.
They know just where to look for the
combination il safe, and with one bore
they break the tumbler ard lock into
pieces. 1t is part Of their business to
know these things, and they never have
to pry the door off with a crowbar.
That's not safe cracking, and fellows
who do bungling work ought to so TO
prison.
people think that a pickpocket
rushes up to q man, dives his hand into
his pocket and grabs the purse. That's
not so. To do neat work, pickpocket
must have good stalls to do the 'cr ush,'
and he must be able to tell what kind
OF man he has selected to rob. The
stalls are helpers, and do the rough
work while the pickpocket is getting
the purse. When you work in crowd
there is not one chance IN a thousand
that you will get caught if the stalls
understand their business. Now, when
/ worked the thcaters or the ferry land
ing always had two good helpers. We
would go to the theatcr and wait until
the end o. the first act OF course, we
never noticed each other, and when the
other gentlemen would go out to get
cloves We would 60 to. The stalls
thea commenced their work, and l
would stand back and study. They
would size up men who looked as if they
had more money than they needed, and
would brush up close to them. While
they were working il aad out around
the bar l would be studyin--.
1.-The nervous man who is always on
guard against being robbed was the one
wanted. Now, the cautious fellow
who feels for his purse IS soon as he had
been crowded, shows two things. First,
that he has got something worth steal
Ing ald then that he will 90 to pieces
and lose his head when damned il a
crowd. When | selected my man l
would give the stalls the sign and we
would 20 back to the show. When he
was leaving the theatre the stalls
would manage to get around him, one
/ ahead, and one behind. l would walk
/ by his side and | knew just what pocket
/ his purse was in for ! coticcd that when
/ he felt for it at the bar. Thea when he
| GOT into the Jam the stalls would COM
mcacc the crash, that is, squeeze him
| between them. The man ahead would
accidentally push him back, while the
one behind would crush him ahead
As soo1 as he felt the crush he would
get nervous and excited, raise his hands
up to make his way through the crowd
and wrigglc from one sd, to the other.
The tails wouil only squeeze him
harder and then wcgid slip NY hand
into his pocket and get the purse. A
cough would he a signal to tn stalls
that l was through, and then they
would stop squeezing him.
AS soon as We released him from the
crush It was funny to see how he would
wigSlc to get ont of the crowd, and when
he got there h. fouad that his purse was
gone. OF course, You can work that way
in any crowd, but you must always take
a nervous man. Take one of these cool
fellows who doesn't think of getting
robbed, and who doesn't mind the crush,
and 90 times on: Of 100 Lie will cat cl,
you"
But how is 1t that you manage to rob
ladies, when oftcn;imes their pockets are
covered by their skirts r. asked the re-
porter.
"Just the same as a man." answered
the prisoner. THE stalls give them