Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-02-14
STEALING FROM STORES
New York Merchants Plan to Minimiz.
Losses by Shop-Lifters.

a New York Merchants Plan to Minimize
Losses by Shop-Lifters.
A New York merchant believes he
aas discovered method to effectually
clrcunyent the bothersome shop-lifter
This Is nothing more than blacklist
containing the names and descriptions
OF habitual offenders. which is circu-
lated among the dry-goods men, en-
aiding them, the New York merchant
claims, to recognize at once any of the
fraternity as soon as they enter the
store.
1nls Is the way the scheme is ma
r1puiated: An offender is detected in
the act Of shop-lifting and taken direct
~ to the managers private Office. A
document is then produced and the
guilty one Is told that she must either
sign 1t or suffer the alternative of arrest
ana imprisonment With no other
CHOICE the woman succumbs to the in
evltable and signs the following:
l. the undersigned hereby confess that upon
the 22d day of December. IN 1888 I stole hand
herch els ana other small articles from the dry
gooos shop OF and was arrested with these
articles IN my possession make this confess
sion with full knowledge and UNDERSTANDING
that II is u be used against me if eyerI again
set foot IL the said shop.
Mrs. FRANCES 5. -,
Ninth street New York City
As soon as the paper is signed the
Offenders name, together with a
description of her appearance, is fur
nlshed 10 the general blacklist of the
merchants When woman, who has
been caught in this way. presents her.
self at the door of some store she is
told that they are acquainted with her,
and that 1t would be a great deal to
her advantage to go elsewhere. In
this way, the merchant is reported as
saying. his losses from shop-lifting
during the holidays was reduced from
something like 5000 to nearly half
that amount.
The manager of one of the leading
Chicago stores was asked by reporter
what he thought of the scheme He
paused a moment before replying to
issue a sharp order to a sandy-haired
urchin.
Il don't think" he then said, that
the idea is feasible one at all. In al
most every case of this kind false
name and address is given. and there
Is no possible method of telling when
this Is done Here is an illustration OF
this that occurred only few days ago:
A ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS woman. with a
rather faded sealskin muff, came
in and made several purchases.
which she requested should be sent
G. o. ID. to Mrs. SO-and-So at a GER
tain number on Indiana avenue. When
the goods We're sent as directed the
mum Der and the name proved to be
fictitious, and in addition to this. on
looking over the stock that night, we
found that the woman had substituted
her worn muff for one of our finest
sealskins.
There is another serious objection |
have to the scheme" continued the
manager, land that is the danger OF
mistaken identity. Strong ikenesses
are found between persons who have
no relationship whatever, and when
there is nothing to go on but descrip-
ton furnished by another person one
is apt to mistake an entirely innocent
and respectable person for the shop
litter. But while l don't think the idea
a good one, yet something ought I'M
doubtedly to be done, for the amount
of goods stolen in this way by shop
lifters can not be estimated. l notice
the New York man estimates his loss
at three thousand dollars during the
holidays. but it is laughable to think
that an estimate can be gagged at all"
Chicago Mail.