The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-12-07
PICKP0CKETS IN SKIRTS.
SOME INTERESTING FL n FROM 4
PARTISAN MONCHARD.
Working the Omnibuses-Scenery In
Siam-Sarah's Pretty Trinkets-tiloyes
in Olden Time.

"a
G. Mace, formerly Chief of Detectives
in Paris, writes as follows;-
If the Italians are perfect in the art of
picking pockets, the Italian women are
perfect also; they display great certainty
Of execution in their exploits, and the
arrest of one OF them is an exceedingly
rare thing.
Germany sends by far the greatest
number of female pickpockets to Paris.
but they are not by any means the most
adroit. The English women have raised
this species OF robbery almost to the level
of an art. Manoeuvring from preference
with the left hand, they keep the right
gloved. The Spanish women are easily
recognized-small, risky and dark, they
glide amid the crowds with great vlvac-
ity. If they see an agent, far from being
frightened by his presence, they walk up
to him and endeayor to get him into y
conversation. One of them recently said
to al inspector on duty at the door of the
Bon Marche stores
MY friend, you are losing your time;
You'll never succeed in trapping me. III
gather the swag under your very nose,
and defy you to jug me-"
The French women do not lack skin,
but are too much preoccupied with the
practical result Of the thefts they COM
nit. They hasten to verify the contents
of the stolen portemonnaies and thus get
caught.
Picking pockets has become second
nature with many French female male
factors. 1t is an evil without remedy,
the result of the gatherings in the big
cities, and the more alluring because the
thief has no need to have recours to re-
ceivers of stolen goods, and thus runs no
risk of being betrayed and arrested.
Numbers of women practice IN the
markets, where housekeepers and
domestics are frequently dispossesSed OF
their portemonnaies. They are con-
cedure. Thus, recently at the Saint
Germain market, a female pickpocket
about forty years of age and respectfully
dressed, bore upon her left arm an infant
of eighteen or twenty months, whose legs
and feet she had arranged in such q man
ner as, when moved, to cover the opening
of the pockets in women's dresses. At
the opportune moment she slightly
tickled the infants legs with her left
hand, while her right, masked by the
child, accomplished her ingeniously con-
trived operation. If the woman robbed
felt a slight rubbing and turned, the
thief administered several taps to the in
FAINT, at the same time crying out:-"Be
careful with your feet; you are so1l1ng
madame's dress!" These words sufficed
to prevent the birth of even the slightest
suspicion.
A new and special species OF pocket
picking was brought to light only the
other LAY. A little girl, scarcely ten years
of age, was caught in the act of commit
ting depredations at an omnibus station.
This precocious and very intelligent little
wretch was attended by her sixtsen-year-
old brother. With her hands in the
pocket of her coat she adroitly robbed her
victims, and if, by some unforeseen Cir
cumstance, the suspicious of the latter
were aroused, on turning about they were
treasured by the inoffensiye attitude of
the child. The pockets in her coat were
only exterior openings, and by passing
her hands through the open front of the
coat the girl could easily rummage the
garments of women pressed by the crowd.
The theft of q watch and chain was mere
play for this child, and b stole from
eight to ten portemonnaies daily, thus
bringing in quite a large revenu to her
parents.
HOW ARRESTS r EFFECTED.
The manner of following and arresting
female pickpockets differs radically from
that pursued in regard to men in the same
| line Of theft. The robberieS committed,
| The women separate and come together
again only in those places where the di-
| vision of the booty is to be made. AS to
1 LllC II 1C1Oog w ~ tAS tA ~ A0tSS1 *
and dangerous, they are effected only
| singly and upon the public thoroughfares,
| every other method of capture, 10 matter
| how much better it may be, being for
| hidden to the agents.
A recent case, chosen among a thous-
and, will post you as to the difficulty of
| making these arrests. A woman freshly
| released from the Saint Lazare prison
was closely watched by two inspectors,
who arrested her on the Boulevard de
Sebastapool, about a hundred yards from
the Pygmalion stores, where, contrary to
the habits of pickpockets, she had stolen
an umbrella representing a value OF
twelve francs.
At first she made no resistance, admit
ting the theft for which she was being
taken to the Commissariat of Police. But
on reaching the Rue DIES Lombards she
! threw herself down, and, rolling upon the
| sidewalk. began to shout, Help! help"
A crowd gathered, and, without know
ing the cause of arrest, took the part of
| the m against the agents. She profit
ed by this interference to say in a loud
voice to the inspectors: II am the honest
mother of a family. | have stolen moth
ing. | paid for that umbrella and you
have no right to arrest me-" Then, ad-
| dressing herself to the constantly increas,
ing throng, she added: These two
scoundrels are notorious b~lackmailers.
| hey Otkhb w OO u y q ab4tA vi
leuse and fired OFF,
The hostile crowd wildly applauded this
sally. and shouted: Let her go! Let hei
gol Duck the blackmailers in the river!'
The situation was growing critical. A
guardian of the peace interfered, but in
stead of taking the oma and the in
spectors to the police station he exacted
on the demand of several individuals anc
despite the customary explanations be
tween agents of the municipal police, the
exhibition of their detectives cards. say
ing to them: "After all, | don't know
you'll"
Congratulated by the crowd and per
haps BY her accomplices, the woman
finally disappeared, leaving the umbrella
in the hands of the agents. The latter, Il
get out OF their embarrassing position
4 then conceived the idea OF opening tn,
| umbrella and, holding it over them
marched away under the protection O
the guardian of the peace amid shouts o
laughter. They were saved, The ludi
erous turn of affairs had disar.ned thu
hostile throng.-NelcdTk Eueatng Nelcs.
Gloves in EARLY Times.
Gloves date back to a very remote
period, the ancients not being strang
ers to their use. and by the eleventh cen
fury they were universally worn.
In a tomb in Egypt a pair of stripe'
linen mittens were found that had beef
worn by a lady. Xenophon alludes to th
Persians wearing gloves, and gives 1T as
proof of their effeminacy; and Homer de
scribes Laertes at work in his gardel