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

eral million dollars
one Of the members Of the firm said they
would gladly pay ten thousand dollars an
nually to be insured against the pllfer1ngs
of shoplifters, professional and otherwise.
The Sixth avenue shops are more troubled
with thieves than those in other parts OF
town. At one store the superintendent as
sured me that shoplifters were never al
lowed to enter, the detectives employed by
them being very successful in "spott1ng''
shoplifters at the first glance. At an
other store near by they do not employ a
regular detective, but pay some OF their ex-
perienced statesmen liberal salary for
watching the people that come and go, and
to keep constant watch on suspicious char
acters.
One of the floor walkers said: eff we have
reason to suspect any person who comes in
here we follow her up closely, and do not
for one instant lose sight of her. The most
skillful shoplifters invariably travel in
pairs, or, In detective parlance, one Stalls
for the other. That Is, one OF the thieves
will undertake to engage the attention OF
the clerk, while the other deftly abstracts .
piece Of silk q package of gloves, or card
of lace from the counter. It is frequently
the case that the confederates will not enter
q store together or exchange any percepti-
bic signs Of recognition while plying their
vocation. A well-dressed woman, of re-
spectacle appearance, will step up to the
lace counter, for instance, and ask to be
shown some fine lace embroideries. The
clerk, mentally noting her well-to-do ap-
pearance, thinks he sees chance of making
, good sale and is, consequently, very
obliging. He finds his customer hard to
suit and places box upon box of choice goods
before her. Soon second woman comes
up, and calmly ignoring the first customer
-as women have way of doing-she de-
mands to see a peculiar kind of goods
which belongs to that particular depart
ment
The clerk pulls down something for her.
It turns out to be the wrong article, and
leaving the first customer to contemplate
the extensive assortment OF embroideries
before her, he endeavors to please the
second customer. Immediately he finds
himself the victim Of two exactlng and I'M
reasonable females, and, after showing
them large share of the goods in his de-
partment, he is mortified to see them walk
away, each one in a different direction,
without having bought a dimes worth, and
he is subsequently mortified to find that
two or three cards Of the most costly lace
have been stolen. IL
Substituting an empty pocket-book for a
well-illed one Is another dodge A lady
lays her pocket-book on the counter while
she looks at some goods that have been
taken down for her inspection. In the
twinkling of an eye an empty purse has
been substituted for the plethoric one, and
the shoplifter betakes herself to another
store to repeat the operation"
.sAre the women who ply this trade well
dressedr'
ssNo, not as rule; if you would like to
get an idea of their general appearance you
ought to go to police station and see the
tRogues' Gallery.'n
Rather glad of a pretext for seeing this
interesting collection of celebrities, went
o one o. the police stations and had the
pleasure of seeing / 1875 rogues, all in row
mot such bad looking lot, either, as 1
had expected to see. The shoplifters, who
were pointed out to me, were mostly wom-
en-; as rule they affect shawls or loose
sacks and jaunty hats. Some Of the wou-
en- were not over twenty or Whereabouts,
but the majority were middle-aged, and,
from their appearance, had grown hard
ened in crime. Some Of the men had been
decidedly averse to having their photo
graphs taken, and in some cases drawn
their faces into all sorts of contortions
Where a man had absolutely refused to
look the camera squarely in the face a po-
liceman had obligingly held up his head
ent. Their pride in having their photo
graphs look as well as possible had over
ruled their desire for Disgusting their coun-
tenances. In one or two cases. however
the less hardened of the wretches held their
heads bent over az far as they could, and
their eyes were closed. This was possibly
the first time they had been asked to con-
tribute mementoeS of themselves to the
Rogues' Gallery.
'sThey have very little sense Of shame,
however," remarked an officer, ssand they
seldom reform. A shoplifter once, q shop
litter always. Now, this woman here, No.
=" he continued; ''she has been brought
up here three or four times, and there is no
telling how many times she has appeared
In other police courts"
The record accompanying each picture is
concise aud to the point:
Name, aliases, crime, nationality, age, color
of eyes, read, write.
A young girl about twelve years old was
arrested In one of the stores yesterday and
brought here. When searched it was found
that she had innumerable pockets in her
sskirts, which she had filed with a variety
of articles, gloves and handkerchiefs pre-
dominating.
There is regular system of education in
vogue among shoplifters. There are nu-
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