Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-08-03
A FISHY STORY.
An Account of a Detectives Cap-
 ture of @ Thief.
Gethod of Catching Pickpockets Which, Whether Practicable or Not, Was Certainly Very
 IuRenious.

They were discussing the best way to bring prisoner from the place of his arrest to headquarters at the central office not long ago, and the collar, cuff and arm grips were instanced as manual expedients, and handcuffs, nippers and pocket bludgeons thongs as mechanical aids.
 "1 know,". said detective who had been to Europe and passed some time in the society of London detectives, to New York Times reporter, Chow pick pocket was once arrested without his captor seeing his prisoners face before he got to the lookup, and without anyone putting hand on him. It hap pened this way: A detective, who was often detailed to gatherings, weddings, the houses of parliament, Westminster Abbey and other public places, often ran across wiry little man who he discov- cred had no business where he was seen and did nothing for living.
 ''Coincidenta1 with the mans visits to crowded places were complaints of lar cenies of articles that were carried in | the pockets of tails of coats and es- pecially silk handkerchiefs. The de- tective suspected the little wiry man, but he evidently had more than one confederate to pass what was stolen so I as to be clean, for the officer who was watching him and was nettled at re- l proof from his superiors for negligence in not discovering the pickpocket had him arrested twice bNsother officers and shaken down without finding any stolen goods in his possession.
 1 Strange officers were used to make fI,nr A, k1 x1- T man might not become familiar with l the principal detectives face, as he de- 1 termined to get him by hook or by crook Now I don't mean this for a l pun, but it came out that way The de- tective belonged to one of the many fishing clubs that abound in London and was familiar with tackle.
 1 Procuring four dozen unsnelled hooks of the size and strength used here for blackish, some flax thread, and a | needle, he passed an afternoon in turn. | ing the tail pockets of an old-fashionec frock coat into thief trap. The hooks were ringed, and with the needle were sewed bent out, just inside the pocket permitting the hand to enter, but pre- venting it's withdrawal. He knew of 6 book sake that would be largely at ! GSA1cu dG G40 cdSu cuO O1 the oCrdnC and made up carefully for it, so that 1 when he left home he was pleasant faced old gobe mouehe.
 ! "At the book sale he took care to be as vacuous and unmindful of his sur roundings as possible, but noted tho presence of the suspect and waited calmly for bite. It came. There wa a,tug at his coat and bitter oath, anC he knew that his mans hand was seized by the hooks, and that he would no venture to risk the agony that tearing away forcibly would infiict. So he sai'
 quietly: If you follow me our surgeon will relieve you,' and attempted to wall
 to Scotland Yard half mile away, tn trapped thief following with his ham
 in the detective's pocket.
 "But such a large crowd gathere
 that the detective had to take cab
 and he landed the man safely in the de
 tectives' office. He was held by four o
 the hooks and the barbs had to be GU
 off before they were extracted. Tn
 thief confessed and went to prison fo
 a short term, but the Scotland Tar
 authorities drowned on the detective
 method and prohibited any further ez
 periments of the sort for fear the news
 papers would denounce the expedien
 as cruel. But deadlier trap could nc
 be baited for a tclyfaker.'