The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-10-31

family and had never been guilty of
stealing before, and begged the firm to
withdraw the charges. Their plead
ings were in vain and an hour later the
woman sat among a common lot Of Of
tenders at the armory.
This scene, with slight variations, is
enacted almost every day in some of
the large dry-goods stores in the cities.
Shoplifters seldom invade exclusive
jewelry stores, although the big whole
sale dry-goods establishments that sell
jowelry are compelled to exercise more
than usual vigilance in that depart
ment. Their ways of working arc
pretty much alike" said a superintend-
ent of floor-walkors in one of the large
Chicago stores. 'The professional
shoplifter seldom makes q purchase.
She goes from one counter to another,
generally choosing 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-loo women, who
would not BIO taken for thieves If seen
on the 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 arc largo 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.
mo; our own employees look after
them. We have three young men here
who know every professional shoplifter
in the city, and when ono comes in she
is Immediately put under close surveil-
lance. They seldom escape with stolen
goods. Some of our salesladies are
quito as expert in detecting these
women as tho young mon, and we have
frequently caused the arrest of per-
sons on word from them. In fact, /
may say that several of our lady en-
ploycs are very successful detectives in
this line, and it must be an accom-
plished thief who cludes their vigil
lance. While the operations Vi shop
liftcrs are very similar, their conduct
when caught differs in almost every
case. Some Of them indulge in mock
Mysteries and create a sccne that gives
their arrest a great deal of publicity.
These are generally professionals.
Others fall in faint and arc carried to
the searching-room. Quite number
pretend that they are under the influ-
enco of morphine or some other opiate,
and say that they did not know what
they were doing. Occasionally we get
ono who assumes an air of dignity that
would do credit to a queen, and who
fairly boils with Indignation when told
of the charges against her. But
we seldom make a mistake, and gem
orally recover tho stolen goods. Ono
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 ana threw them in
waste paper basket. Of course, in
that case, we could do nothing, for the
articles we're not found on her person.
Such cases arc very rare, as our en-
ployes generally watch the fair thieves
SO closely that they can not dispose of
tho plumber"
"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 tho stuff ia ken by
that class. Non-profcssionals 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 a pair of shoes to trim
mings for hat or dress. We make It
a rule to prosecute every person de-
tectcd in stealing, no matter who it is.
Neither tears nor money will shield
anybody caught shoplifting in this
house. We arc first careful to make no
arrests without conclusive evidence of
guilt, and with that at hand prosecu-
ton invariably follows. 1t is the only
way wo can protect ourselves against
this class of criminals"