Telegram-herald., 1890-11-29
TOLD BY A THIEF.
-Mollie Matches" Relates What
He Knows or Picking Pocksts


oace knew a plckpocket who would.
on occasion. unbosOm himself as % his
work
Il can" he said. ''get thousand pcck-
et-books before l an detected once, and
then the discovery viii occur through
the clumsiness OF one OF ny stalls
Yes. II would ssem as though my bnsi-
ness would pay, but YOU must recall the
fact that most pocket books do not con
tain much money. We open them FREE
quently and find no money at an-noth-
ing but receipts and other papers
Those we call readers We strike so
many readers that the money made in
pocket-picking is no; as great as one
might think. Thon, the expenses are
heavy. IL takes az least three men 10
10 the work, and four arc better. In
this mob, as NO term IL, Is one pick
pocket proper; the rest are helpers.
The expenses Of mob OF four
are high. II you are working on
train, and this frequently happens,
you have your railway fare IN ad-
dition 70 regular expenses. These four
AAth MAJ AZ - fO-A0NS
about fifty dollars day, the best you
can do. Then, besides, there goes twen-
ty per cent fer protection Thieves
are great proteotionists, whether pro-
teotionists are equally as great thieves or
not. II they can-aad they do more fro
auently than you would think-theY fix
things with police officials. Many time
I I've worked under actual eye OF
detective. In ovel tumble and
'squear he would In the hurry and hustle
rush in and grab the man who was
touched and hold him until the boys
and got out OF sight. Then, Of course,
he would apologize and deplorc his mis-
take in grabbing the wrong man. The
gang would be safe by then, however.
/ Well, a. say, that sort OF thing costs
twenty per cent Then, another thing.
7 Thieves lose vastly on the stuff they
take, unless IFS n oney. Watches, dia-
uaonds and similar plunder We only get
about thirty-hve or forsy cents on dol
lar for. There is another reason why
profits in thievory are not large. One
can not work forever. A mans nerve
begins to shake after about two weeks
and then he has 70 lay of until he is
himself again. OF all men on earth, q
pickpocket has to possess nerve, and
have it with him. The man who taxes
as rule passes the stuff out OF his
hands as soon as be can. If thief car
nes hot leather, that is some pocket
book inst taken, or that there is a row
about, he doesn't put IL in his pocket.
He carries it under bis vest, so that by
simply drawing in his breath 1t will fall
10 tho ground. lie does this, OF course,
and lets tho leather go in event of be-
ing taken. he viii drop the wallet as
he and the officer are walking along.
In the dark. it's easy. just drop tho
stuff, and walk over IT. I've walked
over hundreds in my time.
'sThisves don't work in the winter il
they can help IL, either, as overcoaos
and that sort Of cold weather harness.
mako is very risky.
II don't myself see any moral wrong
In robbery. It's liko any other business.
dry-Goods man, tt be can, will mako
you pay 4 thousand dollars for what
costs him one lie don't inquire what
he should get OF what you should pay.
The question never is what Is right and
bonest2 His idea Is 70 pay as little and
get as much as be can.
Sometimes thieves get reckless and
wiz turn trick FOR fun, ana just 70
demonstrate how smart they are. saw
\ man once IN a seat ahead Of nae on the
train who pa; his pockst-book in bis hip
pocket af5cr hc paid his fare. just to
show what 7 coald 10 l waited until he
sal dozing in his seat Then l began to
push Ia tAe back Of the car seat With
one knee, snd as fast as raised the scat
back l held is by wsdring M other foot
IN between it and the bottom OF the
seat lay back and pretended 20 sleep
al ibis time myself. and / worked 50
slowly and 80 steadily that my friend
never woke AZ all. When I had tho
back q the SEA: raised so high that
eould make the trip reached under and
took the Pockst-book. It took tertY-hve
minutes % get the pooket-booS, and
there wasn't any thing tn Is shen, but
the people with ne thought it was
great feat
Thieves never take = silvor watch.
It j. not vAlgable enough. In getting
watches the man who does The work
stands still With bis back 70 the psEty
wanted This sort of work viii occnr
on race traoAs and a. auy place who're
crowds are standing The stalls get
behind ths vicsim and commence crowd
ing until one wsY and another they zes
the gentleman square against ths eft
shoulder q the pic<pockst on bis lefs
arrs ae carries a 6aster er shaWl a. .
cover and when she victim r al
placed tha piexpocEst goes thrcsgA
him VITA his II ga hsad. resahiax across
hirseR - 10 - feaS covering the
riEhs arm and hand eross s4Sht wish .
duster On his eft and looking steadily
The other wav AL Tia tirae The nan
who is rohhed never sees ne fsce of
tie -san who taxss his wsach AZ al Ant
this a q great Psiat IN case "a makes
roar. A a rsle 7 nevar take shs chain
They srs mostly plssed. ard heres
no-h 'ng in them. r = easier ard : stc<-
rr - AXE the wstch .ione. The rinCs
A. onlx spranz inso she vstoh sven
ne riresa5f snd a. vo- sska tae Tseca.
ysu -an twist ths lag fr~e FER the
was,h sn8 chsin - At sssT efort - a.
thuub acd tcrs1nVsr Tee don droD
- -fnzs Tea h-inx wasch ard Rag
! hosh. bas seoarses kr1z s&ca otaes