Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-18
THIEVES AT DINNERS.
Detectives Now Employed in New
York to Watch Guests.
KLEPTOMANIACS OF SOCIETY.
Anonymous Letters Deserve Moro Atten-
tion Than They Receive.
PROFESSIONALS FOLLOW WEDDINGS
rcoRRKspoNpENcE OF THE pIspArcH1

| tCORREsPONDENCE OF THE DTaPATCH-1
NEW YORK, Sept 17.-Everybody ba
heard of the "Quatorzieme"-th profes
sional fourteenth person" at dinners
There were men in Paris, not so very many
years ago, who made it their business tc
serve at short notice as guests at banquet,
where the accident of 13 at table occurred
thus satisfying the superstitious by adding
one to the number. The individual thu
| called in was introduced as friend invited
| to the repast, and there was nothing abou
his appearance or demeanor which could
arouse suspicion that he was not present on
the same footing with the others.
1t seems surprising to find such custom,
in q modified form, newly introduced in
New York society. The fashionable hostess
nowadays in giving dinner commonly en-
cages detective of gentlemanlike aspect
and address to take the part of guest at hel
table. He is invited not for any supersti.
tious reason, but to protect the tableware
and other household property from being
stolen by the diners. Such articles as solid
gold spoons are extremely apt to be pock.
eted and the fact has long been notorious
that no small and costly piece of bric-a-brac
is safe in the most exclusive drawing room.
"Kleptomania" is the term charitably ap-
piled to thieving habit which is not SO
very rare among persons of good social sta.
tion.
A Neat Way of Stopping Thief.
''The other day at Newport" said Phil
Henley, chief of leading detective
agency in this city, lone of my men was
employed to look out for large reception.
He saw handsomely dressed woman de-
liberatelv take and secrete the top of a
beautiful vase. The object could have been
of no use to her, but the loss of it would
have spoiled an ornament worth $500. He
stepped up to her and said pleasantly:
a duplicate of that made?' oh, yesp she
replied, in some confusion. well, he re-
marked, Il guess that you had better put it
back, and you can get duplicate by send
ing your artist here Or course, she gave
it up at once. Nothing more was said, save
that her name was reported to the hostess,
who dropped it from her list.
"That is the way we always manage. Ex-
posure does no good in such cases The
same method is practiced at dinner where
the detective keeps quiet watch upon
them, only eating and drinking enough to
keep up appearances. One la y of my ac-
quaintance has all her most valuable bric-a-
brac fastened securely, so that the articles
cannot be removed. She has given up hav-
Ing siIver-backed brushes and other such
precious toilet appurtenances in the dress
ing rooms at her parties, because they were
stolen so frequently.
Professional Thieves at Weddings.
;S -, ~;
ETY. kleptomaniacs get in their work. At
large affairs of the kind we are sometimes
called upon to furnish as many as three
men-one to walk about in the room where
the presents are exposed, another to stand
by the diamonds, and third to remain out
side on the sidewalk for the purpose of
keeping professional thieves from entering
the house. 1t is a fact that thieves in the
regular line of business carefully watch the
announcements of swell weddings with
view to robbery.
"My observation has shown that klepto-
mania is actually a disease 1t is much
more common among women than with
men. Furthermore, it is in sense inher-
tied, and the investigation of many cases
has tended to show that longings on the
part of a mother will thus effect her unborn
child. So thoroughly am 1 convinced that
victims OF it are not responsible that al
ways try to protect them from exposure
At the same time they come under the
head of opportunity thieves"-they only
yield to the temptation when good chsnces
offer and they think thev are secure from
detection. Not long ago caught woman
of the highest social position in the act of
secreting diamond brooch at jewelers.
followed her carriage home, asked to see
her privately and obtained from her $500
check. which was the price of the article
stolen. Her husband never heard of the
t. t.susaction.
A Fact as to Anonymous Letters.
"Most decent people declare that anony-
Elous letters are unworthy of attention;
very commonly they destroy them and pay
no regard to them, knowing that they arc
most likely to be inspired BY motives of
cowardly malice. Nevertheless my expert
ence has shown that 80 per cent of all sucn
mlssives contain statements which are true
in the main. Persons who get them often
employ detectives to ferret out the writer's
The first step in this kind of work is to get
as complete as possible list OF the friends
and known enemies of the individual ad-
dressed. Next the guessing faculty must
be put in play to discover who could have a
motive for writing the communications.
Anonymous letters may be divided
roughly into several classes-nameiy, ma
liciously annoying, threatening, slandering
others, apnrising secretly of danger, advis-
ing merchants that they are being robbed
and hv hnp l..