St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-08-29
SHOPLIFTERS.
Bone OF Their Clever Tricks and
Ingenious Devices.

Every vestige Of the fashionable
kick has disappeared" said . dctec-
tive to me the other day. when re-
quested his views regarding q certain
phase Of metropolitan life.
The shoplifter's ''lzick" is the technic-
Il name for the capaciors bag or
pocket she who prefers to ''buy" when
the clerk hcs his back turned has con-
cealed under her cloak, or, rather.
eewed to the same on the left side, OK
which men have under the left coat
tail
II b not BY reason Of an etlict by
Bean McAllister that tho old ''kick" Is
going out Of use, but because section
toe Of the penal code makes it crimi-
nal ofRense for anyone to have it In his
o. her possession 1t is both in sorrow
and In anger that shoplifters arc parting
with It; but the ''cops" having got on"
70 Il It had to 60. for it stood as conclu-
sive proof against its owner.
From several stores detectives learned
that the methods used in working"
the old ''lgick" had become SO well
known TO them and to salesgirls that
shoplifters saw the necessity of keep
ing pace with \ progressive age. So o
moro convenient contrivance was got
ten up. It Is called ''hoisting kick"
This consists of . regular dress skirt,
% far g appearance goes, covered by
IN apron overslxirt, which is short, and
can BE- raised easily.
In the front Of the underskirt il o
wide vertical slit which is but the open
inR to the immense bag which the
underskirt consists Of, It going around
the entire body and down to the heels.
This WAS found more convenient than
tho side ''<icle," from the fact that It
necessitated less movement and . mo-
tion that aroused little suspicion.
The thief would stand close to Q
counter where small articles are ex-
posed, generally lace or silk handlcer-
chiefs or stockings She would take
one In her hands, examine it. hold it on
the edge In front of her. call for some
thing else, And while the salesgirl had
her back turned would slip it into the
slit
As the ''lxick" IL made Of paper mus
easily. Should the thief miss the
aperture-a rare occurrence, for they
,re persons of nerve-the article would
fall ON the floor and the thief would
nick it up, replace 1t ON the counter
and claim that it was IN 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-docr's genius
had again to be called into rcquisition,
and . woman who was arrested in .
sixth avenue store showed how she had
improved on that style.
She wore q beautiful founced dress,
covered with short apron ovcrslxirt,
draped and caught up here and there in
such . way Is to form natural-loolxing
nufte. This went around the entire
body, and little to the right was q
pocket, rendered absolutely invisible
by the drapery. When searched IN in
credible amount of articles of all sorts.
stolen from different stores, were found
IN the underskirt-
A detective told me that a notorious
shoplifter was once caught who had In
her sskick" two pieces of lace Of twen-
ty-live yards each, worth twenty-nine
dollars . yard; two pairs of silk stock
ines, ono silk and one lace handkesr-
chief. q piece Of scented soap and
6rummagem scarfpin worth forty-eight
cents, all Of which she had stolen in
various stores in Sixth avenue. And,
arrange to say, it was the cheapest of
the articles that betrayed her-the cake
Of soap. valued at eighteen cents. An
other was caught with sixteen yards Of
six. valued at one hundred and twenty
dollars, in her ''kick."
Another clever device which was
rotteu mp almost contemporaneously
nth the ''kick" was the elastic band
hox. 1t was made like q gentleman's
hafbox, Of cardboard. the cover being
held close to the box by two elastic
hands in the interior of the box. The
uurloiner would place the bandbox ON
= counter containing articles that had
captured her fancS, especially where
there were few salesgirls. ~ae
She would call for certain cheap n.
<;eles which would cause the salesgirl
Ho turn her back to the purchaser.
The shoplifter would then lift the cover
n the box with one hand, throw in as
nany articles IS she could take hold OF,
.nd by means Of the elastic bands the
covcr would be instantly and automasi-
cally closed. leaving no trace Of the
robbery.
The coutrivance was SC deceptive. by
reason Of it, innoeeutssppeafancc and