Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-10-09
Attending Funerals to Steal.

81 saw not long ago." said a city
undeTtaksr 10 New York Tri5uH,
man, IAN account Of the surprise o
4 reporter on finding that he had
been talking sumo time 10 a deiec
tive in plain clothes at n funeral ser.
vice. who was there not 10 mourn,
butto watch tina. none OF the brie-a-
rrsc was stolen. Now the presence
& such an officer in the house i no,
only uot unusual, but it saves under.
takers and their assistants a world-oi
trouble anil anxiety; for generally
when things are missed from the
house after a funeral the losers are
more apt TO blame the undertaker's
assistants for il than anybody else,
thsugh | have yet to see the in
stance where the theft was really
brought home to one connected
with OR craft,
but the fact that things are often
stolen from the house OF mourning.
as We call Il, cannot be denied, and
the larger the house aud tue more
friends that are invited TO the ser
vice the greater the temptation 70
Thieves, the greater their Opportun-
ity aud The less the chances Of de-
lection. There are plenty Of peopIe,
both honest and dishonest, who
make ii their business TO watch the
papers l0r funeral announcements,
and present themselves at the house
with all the ISSUANCE OF the Oldest
friends OF the family.
.sIOu have, perhaps. taken notice
at sOme funeral in your own family
or in one with which you were inti-
mately acquainted. that people come
in AMI l-ok at the dead, with evil
dent SORROW and sympathy for you,
ami yet for the life Of you you could
not remember having seen them
before. II is way people have in
this county, and the sharpers know
Il and take advantage Of il to push
their way in aud sch over the corpse,
or perhaps rake their way upstairs,
and To- keeping one sharp eye al
the time on the other people in the
house and the other on the goods and
chattegs manage very successfully 10
put half a dozen small things, like a
hair brush, a hand glass, vase. 4
niece Of lacquer work, or silver toilet
article. into the clpaciOus pockets
they carry under their voluminous
skirt. ..r
"rben, again, / have known Io-
men-afier the chief mOurners bad
gone away TO the cemetery with
The body aud those left behind vere
overcome with grief-step up TO the
flowers that had been sent Ia for the
occasion and deliberately make up
choice bouquets for themselves IL
any one had the ooldness to object,
or even 10 ask the reason why the
women's ewes will I'LL with te,ars
and the plea Of "a mementO OF our
dear friend, you know" will be
made so naturally that no one who
had not seen the thing done scores
Of times could doubt their Sincerity.
once interfered seriously In such a
case, but got no thanks for il, as
the woman | interrupted made r
scene, anu the people in the house
would rather have jet her take 50
worth Of flowers than have had
sum = lAlllA1 AaEAN1s
s-Other people are not So easy
going. however, ard L remember
on,, occasion when a husbsnJ found
that a diamond earring had bssn
stolen from the ear OF the body in
the coffin. He suspeoted woman
dressed in Eit9wis weeds, WHO had
bent over TIE dead person AMI ktssed
the body in 4 storm Of sObs which
shook the mourner 30 that her long
velI fell around her face and dow %
on the coffin. Nobody knew her,
tut everybody thought that some
one e,se did, and 30 she was allowed
70 sob unmOlested and then retire.
5 ~ weeping, into rear room.
when the husband missed the
ear--ing he told me he suspected
the weeping woman, and he and ]
sci out to find her. We came upon
her upi 10 the bed-nOoms, still slb-
hing. and charged her with the
theft. Sine was a cool one, tell
YOU. SIe gave the jewel mp with
out a word, and wnen the husband
Missed in her car his command 10
get out Of the house as quickly and
as quietly rs possible. she gave one
hard, but not loud, laugh, and then
ciapped her handkerchief TO her
face aud went down stairs and out
on the front door, smiling and sob
bling a. politely and naturally a.
uosSible.r .sst