The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1891-07-31
SHOPLIFTERS.
Some of Their Clever Tricks and
Ingenious Devices

kick has disappeared" said 4 dctcc-
tive to me the other day. when | re-
qucstcd his views regarding Il certain
phase of metropolitan life.
The shopliftcr's kick is the technic-
nj name for the capacious bag or
pocket She who prefers to buy" when
the clerk has his back turned has con-
cealcd under her cloak, or. rather,
scvvcd to the same on the left side, or
which men have under the left coat
tail
Ii is not by reason of an edict by
Beau McAllister that the old .'llicll'' is
going out of use, but because section
5OS of the penal code makes it a criIni-
nal ofTense for anyone to have it in his
or her possession. II iS both in SORROW
and in anger that shoplifters are parting
with it; but the cops" having got ON"
To it it had to 20, for it stood Is conclu-
sivc proof against its owner.
From several stores detectives learned
that the methods used in working
the old kick" had become 80 well
known to them and to salcsGirls that
shoPliftcrs saw the necessity of keep
in- pace with progressive age So n
more convenient contrivance was got
ten up. II is called ''hoisting kick"
This consists of a regular dress skirt,
50 far rs appearance goes, covered by
an apron ovcrsllirt. which i short. and
can be raised easily.
In the front Of the undcrSllirt is Il
wide vertical slit which is but the open
ing to the immense bag which the
undcrsllirt consists Of, it going around
the entire body and down to the heels
This was found more convenient than
the side kick" from the fact that it
neeessitated less movement and a mo
tion that aroused little suspicion
The thief would stand close to n
counter where small articles are ex-
posed generally lace or silk handlzcr-
chiefs or stockings. She would take.
one in her hands, examine it, hold ii on
the edge in front OF her. call for some
thing else, and while the salcsgirl had
her back turned would Slip il into the
slit.
As the kick" is made of paper mus
lin the stolen articles would Slip down
easily. Should the thief miss the
aperture rare occurrence. for they
are persons of ncrve-thc article would
fall on the floor and the thief would
pick it up, replace it on the counter
and claim that it was an accident,
which it really was
This worked well. until several shop
lifters using this kick were arrested
and searched, which exposed the whole
thing. and now there are few of them
in existence. so the evil-doer's genius
had again to be called into requisition.
and Il woman who was arrested in a
Sixth avenue store showed how she had
iInrroved on that STYLE
She wore a beautiful flounced dress.
covered with short apron oversllirt,
draped and caught up here and there in
such way as To form natural-loolling
puffs This went around the entire
body, and a little To the right was a
pocket, rendered absolutely invisible
by the drapcry. When searched an in
credible amount of articles of all sorts,
stolen from different stores, were found
in the underSlIirt-
a detective told me that a notorious
shopliftcr was once caught who had in
her "lliek" two pieces of lace of TWEEN
ty-fivc yards each worth tyenty-nine
dollars yard: two pairs of silk stock
ings, one silk and one lace handIler-
chief, piece of scented soap and a
Brummagcm scarfpin worth forty-eiyht
various stores in Sixth avenue And.
strange to say, it was the cheapest of
the articles that betrayed her-the cake
OF soap, valned at eighteen cents. An
other was caught with sixteen wards of
silk, valued at one hundred and twenty
dollars in her kick"
Another clever device which was
gotten mp almost contemporaneously
with the -'lxiclI'' was the elastic band
box. 1t was made like a gentleman's
hatbox, of cardboard, the cover being
held close to the box by two elastic
bands in the interior of the box. The
purloiner would place the handbook on
n counter containing articles that had
captured hen fancy, especially where
there were few salesgirls.
She would call for certain cheap ar
ticles which would cause the salesgirI
to turn her back 10 the purchaser.
The shopliftcr would then lift the cover
of the box with one hand, throw in as
many articles as she could take hold of,
and by means of the elastic bands the
cover would be instantly and automati-
cally closed, leaving no trace of the
robbery.
The contrivance was SO deceptive. bv
reason OF its innocent appearance and
-dison d'etre, so TO speak, and worked so
that il was a long time be-
lore the detectives Caught on and
many Thousand dollars worth OF arti-
les were stolen by this means before
IN arrest WAS made. The first capture
vas caused by a salesgirl at lace
counter in a Twenty-third street store.
She had not seen the shoplifter put