The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-12-20
WOMEN WHO STEAL.
The Big Shops Are Their FaT0rile HalRB
During the Busy Seasons.

Several cases Of shoplifting have been re-
ported within the past two weeks from the
large st. Louis stores. These theftS are not
always the work of criminals and are not SO
regarded by the considerate managers OF
the bazaars, who frequently allow detected
cases to pass without directing official or
public attention to them. They are recog-
nzed often as sad and humiliating cases. Of
kleptomania.
As the holiday season approaches, the big
bazaarS became daily more and more
thronged with women. The dangers of loss
through shoplfting increase as Christmas
and New Years approach. Thus, the pro-
prietors avail themselves at this season OF
every safeguard against dangerous class
of customers, whose mission is TO plumber
instead of to purchase.
1t does not take many experienced men
to watch a big store Half a dozen can do it
easily. In most instances the number of
bazaar detectives on duty at one time Is
much less than the number stated here.
Such guard goes about his work noselessly
and unobtrasively. The men are constantly
moving here and there, quietly watching
the great throngs of customers, but doing it
in such clever fashion as to attract abSo-
lutely no attention. Ii woman is seen to
nip something, not word is said while she
is in the store, for that would only result in
creating Il SCtUp. anu WOulu ltuu IL ScdIo
away trade. On the other hand, she may stay
in the bazaar an hour or more after she has
taken the handkerchief or the cloth. buy
ing here and there, or pretending to buy
and no one will say word TO her.
But this is merely a part of the general
scheme. Once let the shoplifter lure herself
into the dream that sic is safe, and then let
her start to 90 away with her booty, and be-
fore she has gone a yard from the door she
has been arrested, SO quick, so sudden, so
relentless the vigilance of the bazaar de-
tectives.
In the big bazaars there are four classes
of women thieves. The newest class, and
in measure the most dangerous, is repre-
scented by the woman who nips pocket
books from dry-goods counters This Is the
way she works:
She selects her store-one that she thinks
is right" as the phrase is; that is, one in
which she thinks she can plumber with lair
chance of getting out again uncaught-min-
giles with the crowd, prices this and that,
and in the meantime keeps her eye on her
fell0w-shoppers. 1t is the custom of thou
sands # women while buying to carry their
, purses in their hand and occasionally to lay
them Oh the counter while examining some
article they contemplate purchasing. Here
Is the opportunity the pocket-5ook thief has
waited for. No sooner Is the wOman'S head
turned than the thief brushes past and nips
the pocketbook in a twinkling, then disap-
pears in the big throng. In nine cases out Of
ten she is never caught.
Never leave your pocket-book on a counter
IN these big stores, even for moment. You
! may regret it II you do.
Among shoplifters there is always large
class represented by those poor and perhaps
otherwise honest women who are sometimes
weak enough to yield to the opportunity
that makes the thief.
Such woman as this may sometimes be
found haunting the big stores. She comes
in with the best Intentions in the world.
She sees her chances. To-day she nips a
handkerchief. Tomorrow a feather. Next
day .paper-cutter. She throws regret and
conscience to the winds. She is Door aud
her children are starving That will be her
Requirement.
The professional shoplfter is, of course,
the most dangerous of her class. Yet in the
very largest stores she is not especially
feared, from the fact that the detectives are
supposed to recognize her on sight and or
der her away. The professional Shoplifter
usually has the front of her dress made 10
such fashion as TO contain, yet absolutely
invisible. great pocket often running the
entire length OF the skirt and as wide as the
dress goods. She is usually accompanied
by friend, who engages the attention of
the clerk, while the shoplif;er seizes her
first opportunity to steal something. In
the case of dress goods or other bulky
| material the scheme of the thief is to
| first get the bolt of cloth covered with other
odds and ends lying on the counter, then
| suddenly sliding II, quick as lightning, into
| her yawnln2 pocket. Dozens OF customers
Will be passing too and fro. but in ninety
| nine cases out of hundred no one will OBJ
serve the thief. Even if some woman does
see her take the silk she will never say a
word At least not until she gets home,
when she will tell her friends at dinner
But women invariably leave the concerns of
other women severely alone. They do not
care to be mixed up in anything that savors
OF publicity. Hence the shopifter must
be caught by the bazaar detectives, or she
will perhaps escape for good with her plum
der.-St Louis Post-Dspaict.