Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-05-22
The Old Time Kick Supplanted by
the Hosting Kick" which
Also Passes Away.
The Hand Satehel. the Connemars
Cloak and the Bandbox were
Made Use of.
A Pretty Clever Pennyweighter is
Caught in the Act of Licking
Up Diamonds.

Iue OlucT udS WueA requested HlS FleWs
regarding certain phase of metropolitan
life.
The ghoplifter's kick is the technica
name of the capacious bag or pocket she
who prefers to ''buy' when the clerk has
cloak, or rather sewed to the same on the
left side, or which men have under theil
coat tail
1t is not by reason of an edict of Beau
McAlister that the old kick" is going
out of use, but because section sos of the
Penal Code makes it criminal offense fo1
any one to have it in his or, her possession
1t is both In sorrow and In anger that
shoplifters are parting with it; but the
cops having got on" to 1T and it had to
go, for it stood as conclusive proof against
| its owner.
From several store detectives | learned
that the methods used in working" the
old 'kicks" had become SO well known
to them and to salesgirls that shoplifters
saw the necessity of keeping pace with a
| progressive age. So a more convenient
contrivance was gotten up. 1t is called a
"hoisting kick" This consists of a regu-
lar dress skirt, so far as appearance goes,
covered by an apron overskirt, which is
short and can be raised easily
In the front of the underskirt is a wide
vertical slit which is but the opening 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 the side ''kick, "
from the fact that it necessitated less
movement and no motion that aroused sus-
picion. The thief would stand close to
counter where small articles are exposed,
generally lace or silk handkerchiefs or
stockings. She would take one in her
hands, examine it, hold il on edge in front
of her, call for something else, and while
the sales girl had her back turned would
slip it into the slit. As the kick is
made of paper muslin the stolen articles
slip down easily. Should the thief miss
the aperture-a rare occurrence, for thev
are persons of nerve-the article would
fall on the floor and the thief would pick
it up, replace on the counter and claim
| that it was an accident, which In reality it
| 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 evildoer's genius had
again to be called into requisition, and a
woman who was arrested in a Sixth
avenue store showed how she improved on
that style. She wore beautiful founced
dress, covered with a short apron over
skirt, draped and aaug at up here and
there in such a way as to form natural
looking puffs. This went around the en-
tire body, and little to the right was a
pocket rendered absolutely invisible by the
drapery. When searched an increditabIe
amount of articles of all sorts, stolen from
different stores, were found In the under
skirt.
A detective told me that a notorious
shoplifter was once caught who had in her
''kick" two pieces of lace of twenty five
yards each, worth 500 a yard; two pairs of
silk stockings, one silk and one lace
| handkerchief, piece of scented soap and
a Brammagem scarfpin worth fo1ty-eight
cerhs, all of which she had stolen in vari-
Gus stores In Sixth avenue. And, strange
to say, it was the cheapest of the articles
that betrayed her-the cake of soap,
valued at eighteen cents. Another was
caught with sixteen yards of silk, valued
at 1920, in her kick
! Another clever device which was gotten
up almost contemporaneously with the
''kick' was the elastic bandbox. 1t was
made like gentleman's hat box, of card
|
box. The purloiner would place the band
| box on counter containing articles that
had captured her fancy, especially where
there were few salesgirls. She would call
for certain cheap articles which would
cause the salesgfrl to turn her back to the
purchaser. The shoplifter would then lift
the cover of the box with one hand, throw
| in as many articles as she could get hold
of, and by means of the elastic bands the
| cover would be instantly and automatic.
ally closed, leaving no trace of the rob-
| berry.
! This contrivance was so deceptive by
reason of its innocent appearance and
raison d'etre, so to speak, and worked so
admirably that it was a long time before
the detectives Caught on" and many
thousand dollars worth of articles were
| stolen by this means before an arrest was
made. The first capture was caused by a
salesgirl at lace counter in a Twenty
third street store. She had not seen the
shoplifter put anything into the band-box,
but had been attracted by the singular
manner in which the cover was closed
apparently of itself. She notified the floor
walker. The woman was called into a
private room, accused and searched, and in
the bandbox were articles enough to start
a miniature country fancy goods store.
| Among other things she had thirteen
scarfs, an inkstand, a cigar holder and a
dice box, stolen from different stores
which showed that her tastes extended
over wide field.
Well, the band5ox has had brill, mt
but comparatively brief career, and few
arrests were caused by its use, but those
that were made occurred within a few
days, and the workers of the contrivance
saw that the game was up and gave up
the ghost. There is no record of any hay-
ing been used recently.
This was in time succeeded by SIM
| pier trick. one that has long been worked
| with success, because it creates no suspic-
ion 1t is the satchel game. Although
store detectives say 1t is comparatively
| dormant now, it was extensively worked
during the holidays, and will be in full
| blast the present season. These are used
for stealing pocketbooks as well as goods.
They are, In appearance, like ordinary
hand satchels, but they open and close by
means of a spring. The thief's right
hand presses a button, and the left. which
is always uneloved, does the rest. 1t is
by this means that pocketbooks are often.
est stolen in crowded dry goods stores, and
this has served to make trouble for many
salesgirls.
The pickpoeket for such he or she Isl
generally works with a confederate She
first espies a woman with pocketbook in
her hand-and they are legion She will
follow that woman In the generally graft
fed expectation that she will ere long de-
posit it on the counter where she stops to
examine goods. The thief will crowd near
and snatch the pocketoook in twinkling
at the first opportunity and pass it to the
confederate who disappears and has not
been noticed near. The real thief can re-
main beside the victim with safety, as.
should she be arrested, nothing can be
found on her
A short time ago one Of the cleversst
satehel workers, well known at head
quarters as The Madame was caught
In Sixth avenue store with stolen pocket
books. She dropped them on the floor
when accused. They we're recovered. and
as it was doubtful if case could be made
against her she was let &C. She came
again shortly sftervard and stole a
pocketbook containing a large amount of
money belonging to the wife Of director
| of tLs uudsou River railroad who shrf1nk