Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-03-04
SOME WOMEN WHOSTEAL
THERE ARE SOME WHO MAKE A
BUSINESS OF THlEVERY,

TIL One Who Nips Pocketbooks Is the
Most Dangerous-How She Does Her
Nefarious Work-Petty Shoplifters and
What They Take-Professionals.
Always as the holiday season approaches
the big bazaars become daily more and
more thronged with women. The dangers
of loss through shoplifting increase as
Christmas and New Years approach. Thus
the proprietors avail themselves of every
safeguard against a dangerous class of Gus
toners whose mission is to plumber instead
of to purchase.
1t does not take many experienced men
to watch a big store. Half 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 a guard goes about his work noise
lessly and unobtrusively. The men are
constantly moving here and there, quietly
watching the great throngs of customers,
but doing it in such a clever fashion as to
attract absolutely no attention.
If a woman is seen to nip something, not
a word is said while she is in the store, for
UAOO ~ Jul lOouIU III SlChUluS a SCCuC
and would tend to scare 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, buying here and
there, or pretending to buy. and no one
will say a word to her. But this is merely
part of the general scheme.
Once let the shoplifter lure herself into
the dream that she is safe, and then let her
start to go away with her booty, and be-
fore she has zone a yard from the door she
has been arrested, so quick, so sudden, SO
relentless the vigilance of the bazaar de-
t%ectives.
, In the big bazaars there are four classes
of women thieves. The newest class, and
in a measure the most dangerous, is repre-
scented by the woman who nips pOcketbooks
from dry goods counters. This is the way
she works:
She selects her StOre-Onet that's she thinks
is "right," as the phrase is; that is, one in
which she thinks she can plumber with a
fair chance of getting out again uncaught
she selects her store, mingles with the
crowd, prices this and that, and in the
meantime keeps her eyes on her fellow
shoppers.
1 NEVER A YOUR PURSE DOWN.
1t is the custom of thousands of women
while buying to carry their purses in their
hand and occasionally to lay them on the
counter while examining some article they
contemplate purchasing. Here is the OPP
portunity the pocketbook 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 disappears
in the big throng. In nine cases out of ten
she is never caught.
, Never leave your p~ocketbook on a coun-
ter in these big stores, even for a moment
You may regret it if you do.
Among shoplifters there is always a
large class represented by those poor and
perhaps otherwise honest women who are
sometimes weak enough to yield to the
opportunity to steal. With this class it
is opportunity that makes the thief.
Such Il woman as this may always be
found haunting the big stores. She comes
in with the best intentions in the world.
She sees her chances. Today she nips a
handkerchief. Tomorrow a feather. Next
day a paper cutter. She throws regret and
conscience to the winds. She is poor and
her children are starving. That will be
her Requirement.
The professional shoplifter 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
order her away. The professional shop
litter usually has the front of her dress
made in such a fashion as to contain, yet
absolutely invisible. a great pocket, often
running the entire length of the skirt and
as wide as the dress goods. She is usually
accompanied by a friend, who engages the
attention of the clerk, while the shoplifter
seizes her first opportunity to steal some
thing. 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 slide it, quick as lightning,
into her yawning pocket.
Dozens of customers will be passing to
and fro, but in ~ninety-nine cases out of a
hundred no one will observe 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.
. PROFESSIONAL SHOPLIFTEES.
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 shoplifter
must be caught by the bazaar detectives or
she will perhaps escape for good with her
plumber.
There is another class of women who
steal from the big bazaars and these are
generally people high up in life, with beau.
tiful homes and all this world can give in
the way of luxury and station.
Why do such women steal? Scout the
idea OF kleptomania. There is another and
more logical reason. 1t is the fact that
they nave the fever of robbery in their
blood, and it drags them to the most pitt.
full length imaginable. A woman who is
caught in the clutches of such a desire
will haunt a big bazaar for hours, watch
ing her chance to steal some bit Of lace, a
feather or some kein of worsted. She may
have $500 in her pocket. Her jewelry may
have cost s., 900, and her husbands income
may be far beyond the dreams of avarice.
Yet she will steal. Steal a nine cent
paper cutter. Steal a fifteen cent feather.
Steal a skein of silk. Steal anything for
which opportunity Offers Some day she
will be caught. Then there will be a
scene. Disgrace, perhaps. Certainly the
brand of Chief before the world, For as