The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1891-01-01

L @AVhOoHA Ii nave Ao use EOf blems DO
not expose me, [ implore you, before
my friends"
Madam, neither you nor all your
friends combined have enough money
to buy those rings now You will he
| prosecuted like a common thief. we
make no distinction bet veen profess
sional shoplifters and first offenders
here" a moment later the weeping
woman entered carriage and was
taken to the police station Yesterday
morning she was fined twenty dollars
and allowed to depart. Her friends
came to the store in large numbers dur.
ing the day, protesting that she was res
| spectacle, member of an influential
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 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
lewelry stores, although the big whole
sale dry-goods establishments that sell
jewelry are compelled to exercise more
than usual vigilance in that depart
ment. Their ways of working are
pretty much alike said a superintend-
ent of fioor-walkers in one of the large
Chicago stores, '"The professional
shoplifter seldom makes a 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,
MISUNDERSTANDING women, who
would not be taken for thieves if seen
on the street Generally they are well
dressed and have a number of capacious
pockets in their skirts, into which val
liable silks can be easily dropped. Some
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.
mo; 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 surveil-
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 a word from them. In fact, /
may say that several of our lady en-
ployes are very successful detectives in
this line, ard it must be an accom-
plished thiei who eludes their .vigi-
lance. While the operations of shop
lifters 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 a 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 infiu-
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 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 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 thesstolen
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. Non-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 IF ON 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-
ton invariably follows. 1t is the only
way we can protect ourselves against
this class of criminals.
The Struggle of Life.
OF the great prizes of human life 1t is
not often the lot of the most enterpris-
ing to obtain many: they are placed on