Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-07-18

| hand at the business makes very nttle
| Outcry, and takes it all as q matter OF
| course.
/ A woman was arrested not long ago in
| one of the dry goods stores and taken up
| stairs to the superintendent's desk; all the
time she was talking some one at the op-
| posite side Of the store noticed that she was
taking goods out of her pockets and as fas,
as she did so she dropped them on the floor
! and then tried to kick them under the desk
| Whenever shoplifter is caught she tries
| to drop the goods on the floor, so that when
| searched nothing can be found, and con-
| sequently no arrest made.
If thief is one of gang. she has no diff
| Guilty IN obtaining bail; in some cases the
person arrested and bailed ont has paid the
sum, perhaps five hundred dollars, rather
than appear in court. Two thousand dol
lars was the bail fixed for q woman who
recently stole several rolls of silk. Nothing
is too valuable, naturally, for these people
to steal, and at the same time nothing is
too small or trifiing. Whenever their
homes have been searched, articles Of
every conceivable description have been
found. All is fish that comes to their nets.
The organized gangs have their head
quarters at some place down town. They
go out by the dozens every day, and then
report at night. Some of them when they
start out on their days expedition go down
to the ferries or to the Grand Central de-
pot and station themselves there until they
spy victim-some lady possibly with a
well filled poclzet-book. who is bound on a
shopping expedition. This person is fol-
lowed from store to store until the pro-
fessional has either possessed herself Of
the pocket-book or found out that she has
met some one who is too clever for her
wiles.
AS rule these people are not well
dressed, for whatever money they may
make in this way they spend in drink and
carousals. If they steal a dollar article
and pawn it they seldom get over ten or
fifteen cents for it. At the holidays all
stores double their force o. detectives, or if
they are not accustomed to employ one at
any other season of the year they usually
engage one or two then
Fully nineteen-twentieths Of the shop
lifters are women. It is seldom that . male
shopllfter attempts to ''work'' q retail store
alone, and the instances where women arc
assisted by men are not frequent. Male
shoplifters operate mostly in wholesale
stores. They 60 in couples and generally
drop into store soon after the porter has
opened the doors, and while one of them
engages the attention of the porter the other
makes of with a package of goods.
The usual pretext given by this class OF
thieves is that they have s.just come to town
and thought they would stop on their way
to their hotel'' One Of the men carries
hand-sachel, into which the stolen property.
of course, finds its way.
Professional shoplifters were formerly in
the habit of affecting the 'slleptomania
dodge'> when detected, but since the store
keepers have become SO exacting in their
demands for proofs of good character in
such cases the thieves have abandoned that
subterfuge and now depend upon their skill
and luck to escape detection.
The increasing experiences of the store
keepers and the improved facilities fol
thief-catching have driven the bunglers out
of this branch of the rogue's profession
and it is now an even match between
sharp and experienced detectives and smart
and ingenious thieves. There are plenty
of evidences that 1.-THE smarta and ingenious
thieves are numerous and that they operate
in all the large retail stores with fail
average of success.