The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1892-01-07
"1 think we had best advertise for

geant ."Some of our thieves are very
sympathetic, and there Is one chance in
a thousand that your purse may have
fallen into the hands of fellow of this
description. We will try first with
something like this"
He wrote rapidly for minute, his
chubby little hand running back and
forth over the sheet, and when he |
stopped he read the following adver-
tisement:
"Lost-Ring-If the person who found plain |
gold ring, inscribed From s. p. to j. c., 49,
will return it to No. Charterhouse square, he |
will receive one guinea reward and no ques |
tions will be asked. The ring was lost on the
Strand and is valued as memento, being q
gift from q dear friend who is dead"
:'Some of the light-fngered gentry
are very tender-hearted." said Sergt
Donny when he had read the advertise
ment, which seemed to delight him.
''In case of this kind we have no ac-
curate description of the thief; there
fore, we have to resort to stratagem.
Your advertisement will appear in the
Times tomorrow, and then we shall
wait for results. Meantime, we have
nothing to do, and l am prepared to
tell you something about the thieves OF
this great city, seeing as how l have
been dealing with them these twelve
years"
was more than pleased that the in
spector had turned me over to so clever
a subordinate, and intimated pretty
strongly that I was eager to listen to
anything Mr.. Donny had to say.
This is june" began he. IF you
had come over two months later the
chances are that you would not have
been touched on the Strand to-day.
August and September are the safest
months to walk in or mix with the
crowds on the streets of London. Dur
| ing these months our pickpockets are
at the seaside, working the crowds of
fashionables who flock thither, or have
| gone to the foreign race courses. Thou
sands of them go to Paris, and hun
dreds to other places, and we are not
so busy with them at home. Yes, sir,
we have one hundred thousand of this
| evil class in London, more thieves
than you have honest people in some
of your pretty American cities 1t is
to our shame, of course, but how are
we to help it?
"a large per cent. of foreign pick
pockets have been trained in London.
We have thief training sch ools here,
lots of them. Precocious boys, who
/ have no homes, are picked off of the
streets by the observant pickpocket,
who takes them to the secret schools,
where they are trained by the Fagins
in charge of them. The little novices
ar, taught all the secrets of petty
thieving, and, after awhile, graduate
accomplished pickpockets They are
taught, also, to recognize at sight the
different people who flock to London.
They know the Frenchman from the
native, German from Russian, and
Americans are told at once. How do
they do this? Sometimes by the cut
of ones clothes, by the manner of car
ryiug jewelry. You brought your
clothes from New York, did you not?'
I acknowledged that my garments
were fresh from the shop of an Amer
, lean tailor. at which Sergt. Donny
smiled, and added that he would have
taken me for an American ION sight.
''The great headquarters of our Fa
gins" he continued, ''are the dark ant
. dismal purlieus of st. Giles, White
: chapel and the long, low wharves o
. the Thames. They are there by thou
sands, young and old and both sexes
They have societies and even saving
banks, and when one of their mum be
is in our hands the others are willin.
to put up money to get him out. | d.
3 not wonder that some tourists gre
robbed. They will go down into thes
parts of the city without proper es
cort, and the next day they are a
$ Scotland Yard, telling story of woe
/ had an amusing experience once wit
i one of this class. He was nice-looh
y ing man, indeed-was an American pre-
: fessor. He came to London, SO he sait
for the purpose of making study c
our criminal classes. did not kno,
this, of course, until after the exper
Il ence l am about to relate.
"Well, our professor went down int
d St. Giles, and while exercising eyes an
e ears he was robbed by boy scarcel
It ten years old. The little fellow was
l. shrewd pickpocket, and as 1 had ha
u some experience with him | guesse
e that he was concerned in the robber,
y for it had taken place on his grounds
!, though the professor maintained ths
e he had been robbed by man frol
It whom he was trying to obtain som
n statistical information. Accompanie
/ by the complainant went to the dal
q gerous quarter and nabbed little Bill
e before he was aware of my presenc
II "'You must discharge this child, sil
said the American. He had nothir
e to do with the theft. Why, sir,
l couldn't take anything
l. "'Just as you say answered wit
an amused smile, at the same tin
i" stealing a look at Billy.
n "The boy, who felt that l knew
1T had committed the robbery, went up
u the gentleman and thanked him pr
g; fusely for his kindness, after which
lie hurriedly departed and walked o
1t Half square from the scene of the e
a. counter l turned suddenly and ask
y the professor the time of day.
"a raoobaj for b;S watch h1,f fo his S1