The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-09-15

York-a slender, pref
A ty girl, gowned in eX-
cellcnt style and nothing peculiar about
her save the bright, alert flashes Of her
dark eyes.
''If you want to be amused and per
haps instructed, 1 advise You to watch
her." said the foorwalker, nodding i'll
the direction of the pretty girl.
why, what is going to happen? She
looks conventional enough. No one
would expect any sort of surprise from
her Who Is she:'
1.-THE cleverest woman detective III
New York. She has saved US thousands
of dollars in the two weeks she's been
with us Woe to the thief who falls un
der her eyes. There she goes after that
tall woman now Follow her. Follow
her. -
| did So and when the tall woman
went to the jewelry counter and COM
menced looking at some beautiful silver
buckles, lifting them with n loose,
careless gesture, / noticed the detective
took her place quietly beside her and
seemed engrossed III "a tray of carved
hatpins.
Wondered what had led her to sus-
pect the tall woman, by the way, for TO
my discernment she seemed stOlid, in.
nocent and commonplace. She wore
black wrap, short in the back and lit
tie longer i'll the front. She carried
small valise, as if she had just come
from out OF town Over one arm hung
lace scarf
She left the jewelry counter and paus
ed where some very fine kid gloves III
evening shades We're displayed on
low line. There was large crowd of
shoppers here, and the tall woman in Il
nearsighted way leaned across, took a
pair of gloves from the line, examined
chem auG walked dovI2 tlee counter
with item ~ her hand until els found
q salesWoman at leisure. Here rhe sat
down, and next her, very intent over
box of long white gloves, sat the detect
i've
/ followed both from counter to couu-
ter, and the excitement of the quiet
chase stole into my blood.
SIS the woman IL thief, or is she not?'
was the question from which | couid
not escape.
At length, when silk, lawn, lace and
toilet counters had been visited, the tall
door. She had been fully two hours in
the store and had made two purchases
"a bottle OF tooth powder and a curl
ing tongs Without being molested size
gained the wide vestibule, then stepped
into the sunny street.
''Ah the detective made u mistake
this timei' L thought.
But why does she still follow herr
and / started after the pair.
Not two yards from the shop the de
tective stepped up to the woman and
said quietly, rs if addressing an ac-
quaintance:
'You had better come back. Some
body wants you.
What do you mean?' and the shop
per shot look that was meant to be
surprised and proud, but in which even
could see shade of sudden terror.
You had better come back-quietly.
Do you underestimate and the detective
laid her hand upon the woman's arm.
Il won't go I'd like to know who
you are, and how you dare speak to me
so?'' painted the tall woman.
Il am Il detective. If you prefer to
make a scene, the policeman just behind
me will be only too delighted to take
you in charge if / tell him to. Now,
will you Gomez
Without word but ghastiy white
TO the lips, the woman turned and re-
traced her steps. l saw her place her
hand to her heart and there was a wild
look in her eyes.
At the door leading to the little Sc
cluded room where evening silks We're
81 oh
ished. l learned afterward that on be-
ing searched the voluminous pockets OF
the woman's skirts, her bag and her
sleeves had contained the following:
One piece OF taffeta silk valued at $40,
two silver buckles worth IS. 80, four
pairs OF kid gloves worth IS, one piece
of real lace worth S64, two hairbrush-
es, two fans and a collection of smaller
articles at various prices.
''She was professional shOplifter y
said the pretty detective when speaking
of this incident few days later. They
are easy to detect Her picture is III
the rogues' gallery, and she has the
thief's walk, the thief's eye. But other
cases come under the notice of the wom-
an detective which she alights ON only
by being watchful, as the people seem
beyond suspicion. Some of the incidents
are very sad-the woman who steals be-
cause she is poor and longs for either .
necessity or an ornament very strongly,
and who are generally both young and
pretty, tortured by the pinch OF poverty
which compels them to restrain their
natural love of pretty things. Then
there is the kleptomaniac-the woman
who steals when she has everything I.
the world she desires. who finds the ex