The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1890-11-01

pretty much alike" said superintend'
ent Of foor-walkers In one OF the large
Chicago stores. "The professional
shoplifter seldom makes purchase.
She goes from one counter to another,
generally choosing q busy day for her
operations so that she can glide out
into the crowd after getting what she
wants. Some of them are handsome,
distinguished-look women, who
would not be taken for thieves II seen
on tho street Generally they are we'll
dressed and have a number of capacious
pockets in their skirts, into which val
liable silks can be easily dropped. Soma
of these pockets are large enough to
conceal an entire roll of silk without
giving any external indication of the
roll"
do you employ private detectives to
watch such persons?" asked reporter
of the Chicago Herald.
"No; our own employees look after
them. We have three young men here
who know every professional shoplifter
In the city, and when one comes in she
is Immediately put under close surveii'
lance. They seldom escape with stolen
goods. Some of our salesladies are
quite as expert in detecting these
women as the young men, and we have
| frequently caused the arrest Of per-
| sons on word from them. In fact,
may say that several Of our lady en-
ployes are very successful detectives in
this line, and it must be an accom-
| plished thief who eludes their vigil
lance. While the operations Of shop
filters are very similar, their conduct
when caught differs in almost every
case. Some of them indulge in mock
Mysteries and create a scene that gives
their arrest great deal of publicity.
These are generally professionals.
Others fall in faint and are carried to
the searching-room. Quite a number
pretend that they are under the influ-
ence of morphine or some other opiate,
and say that they did not know what
they were doing. Occasionally we get
one who assumes an air of dignity that
would do credit to queen, and who
fairly boils with Indignation when told
of the charges against her. But
we seldom make a mistake, and gen.
orally recover the stolen goods. One
week we caused the arrest of three wom-
en-. One of them was evidently an
old worker at the business, for on the
way to my Office she slipped the stolen
goods from her dress and threw them in
waste paper basket Of course, in
that case, we could do nothing, for the
articles were not found on her person.
Such cases are very rare, as our en-
ployes generally watch the fair thieves
so closely that they can not dispose of
the plunder."
"What do they do with the stolen
goods?"
THAT depends upon the character of
the thief. Professionals have regular
places to sell what they steal Pawn
brokers get most of the stuff taken by
that class. professionals steal
only what they want to wear, and many
women get enough in that way to dress
themselves handsomely. They will take
any thing from pair of shoes to trim
mings for hat or dress. We make it
a rule to prosecute every person de-
tected in stealing, no matter who it is.
Neither tears nor money will shield
anybody caught shoplifting in this
house. We are first careful to make no
arrests without conclusive evidence of
guilt, and with that at hand prosecu-
tion invariably follows. 1t is the only
way we can protect ourselves against
this class of criminals"