The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-12-03
GIRL THIEF-CATCHERs.
How tho Big Stores Detect Won
on Who Stoal.
An Interesting Description OF tho Moth
DDS or Feminine Shoplifters-Tho
Painful Ordeal OF Searching
tho Culprlts.

cases OF 1t to look after, and, believe
me, it's the most disagreeable function
Of position like mine" So said the
youngest partner and floor manager of
a big Twenty-third street store where
women buy everything they need, from
shoes to hairpins.
TITS always u disagreeable duty for n
man to have to accuse woman of any
SIM" continued the young gentleman,
who knows all about woman and her
clothes, to Il New York Journal report
er, Every disagreeable. Yet we cannot
trust the task to female employee.
Why? Oh, for a variety Of reasons, prin-
ctpally because women will brazcn out
thing before q woman to the bitter
end, and then because one cannot trust
any woman to take abuse from another
OF her sex without rescnting it, losing
her head, and either mussing up the
whole job, or in rare cases getting into
a personal encounter.
"Of course we have women watching
our customers and our goods, plenty of
them. Every salcslady is sort of ex-
officio policeman in big store, natural
ly, but then we have others who do
nothing else than keep their eyes on
y.
don't we use men? For very good
reason. If we kept lot of male de-
tectivcs around we should have one
hundred complaints II day about men
staring at ladies, or following them, or
something of the sort. and most of them
would come from the fair ones who, if
they got n chance. would purloin half
dozen pairs OF gloves or bit of lace in
n moment"
Use girls, then, eh?"
"Ies; we have bright girls for the
watching and good strong, healthy,
woman to search such ladies as object
to exhibiting the contents of their par
cells AID pocllctboolls when called into
the star chamber. But always ofliciate
us u sort of non-oflicial judge on the
case, and I'd rather do anything else in
the world. OF course, we could hand
every shoplifter caught over to the po-
lice, but we rarely adopt such course
1t would occasion too much publicity
and possibly other disagreeablc re-
suits"
"Why?"
"BecauSe most women who steal
aren't really responsible, and because
when confronted with evidence abso-
Lutte of their guilt, they'll always re-
store the purloined goods, weep and
never come into the store again"
do you make many mistakes?"
1--WE never make the mistake of ac-
cusing shoplifter wrongfully, because
we never have a woman brought ND on
that charge unless she has actually
been seen to take something. wrong
accusation would be n very serious af-
fair, and the firm had much better lose
lot of property a year by theft than
to have mistake made in that direc-
ton. I've been here five years in my
present position, and never had to talk
to lady whose ideas of the ownership
OF property were lax in all that time I'M
less the eliminating evidence was I'M
mistakablc."
'tlow do you draw the line between
l:leptomania and real larceny?"
Its hard to draw the line between
kleptomania and 4 real larccnous de-
sign where women arc concerned. I've
been constant student of the mental
conditions and methods of the fair sex
Tor years, and instead Of becoming hard
ened, I've developed a great deal of
sympathy for women who steal.
I'VE all know, of course, that woman,
in the aggregate, is n creature of i'm
pulse and intuition. We'll, widen the
natural belief of man n bit, and it's al
most impossible to decide as to the line
OF dcmarkation between kleptomania
and larceny. Women's ideas of right
and wrong and all that haven't fixed
boundaries drawn by the mathematician
~ correct hand of reason like n mans.
us it the vicious who steal most?"
MY ideas are borne out by the statis-
ties of our larceny court 1t isn't I'M
educated, vicious and generally de-
PRAYED women who do the greatest
amount of stealing from store counters.
It's the refined, rcasonably-wcll raised,
even the luXuriously- bred but financial
ly embarrassed ladies who. once covct-
ing an article of dress, must be careful
~ watched for their own sakcs as we'll
as ours. OF course we aren't in the
business as ethical and moral reformcrs
solely, and we watch 'cm more for our
own than for their sallcs"
What do they do when detected?"
"Oh, they generally get indignant
and try to leave the place in an as
sumcd huff but when they are in
formed that an interview is necessary
as an alternative to an immediate ar
rest, they always submit. The inter-
view is generally an ordeal for all pres
ent. It's only n question of time when
the accused is dissolved in tears and
hysteria, ordinarily, but there are often
lot of preliminariest to be gone through
which man with experience can alb
breviate by what the surgeons would
term heroic treatment at the incep-
ton
Most of the shoplifters l have ever
Ind intnruieIyc xvitl, dam. a.. -.