The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-03-24
WAYS OF THE SHOPLIFrTER.
How Women Can Avoid Being Robbed
by Professional Thieves.

NEW lCTh
II am ready to believe" said the man
ager of one of the large dry-goods stores in
the city yesterday. that about ten persons
out of every one hundred in this city would
steal If they thought they would not be
caught at 1t, and that about five out Of
the one hundred will take any good chance
to steal, and run the risk of being caught
His remark was part of conversation
with a THbunc reporter regarding such
thieves AS infest the dry-goods and notion
stores in Fourteenth street. Sixth avenue
and Twenty-third street. There has been
a great deal Of trouble in the the stores
latciy on ACCOUNT of the pickpockets and
ShO-ifters. Hundreds of articles which
are not bought and paid for disappear ev-
cry day from the counters in the stores,
and the managers cannot tell If the articles
are stolen by strangers or by employees,
In many cases Arrests by the detectives
in the stores are frequently made, bat the
managers 90 not want 10 nave the
detectives, and many shoplifters
who are caught with stolen property in
their possession are let go when they say
they are respectable persons, and that they
took the things by mistake. Many Pre- fes-
siOnal thieves are ordered 10 leave the
stores by the detectives every day. in some
of the stores several sharp cash girls and
salcswomen are paid extra salaries for
are suspicious. These amateur detectives
are frequently of more service than man
watched are women. When hey see a
woman take an article from one Of The
counters they follow the thief until they
meet the regular detective in the Store.
Then there is an exchange OF slgnels, and
the detective politely asks the woman TO
step to the office. In nine cases CIT OF ten
the woman makes some lame excuse, re-
turns the stolen article and is allowed to
so. If she has a "shoplifters bag she is
sent to the Central Office under arrest be-
cause there is no reason to doubt that she
is professional thief
The ''shoplifter's bag Is an extra skirt
with a large compartment for the recep-
ton of stolen articles. 1t is worn under
the ordinary dress skirt, which conceals it
from view. a woman who was taken to
the central office q few days. ago from one
of the Sixth-avenue stores had two hun
dred yards of China silk in the compart-
ment of her extra skirt.
"Just now" said a detective in one of
the stores yesterday, Eve are having a
great deal OF trouble on account of the
raids made by pocketbook thieves. These
thieves understand human nature, and
woman nature in particular, and they
probably are women. They steal pocket
books out of pockets, out of satchels and
from the counters and they do their work
so quickly and skillfully that the detectives
have not been able TO catch them a wo-
man who comes into the store with a
satchel almost invariably carries her
pocketbook in the satchel, and, because she
is woman, she carries the satchel so as to
show the fancy device on the flap. That is,
she has the satchel in such position that
If the clasp is unfastened the flap opens
away from her and not toward her. A
clever thief who meets her in tho crowd
pocketboolI without her knowledge. There
have been number of such thefts in the
store. and in every case the thief has
thrown away the pocketbook after taking
the money. In few cases the thief has
actually returned the pocketbook minus
the cash, to the satchel from which it was
stolen. If the women would only carry
their satchels with the flaps coward them
there would be less danger but if we speak
to them about il they feel insulted. Many
women carry their purses carelessly i'm the
outside pockets OF their Jackets when they
are shopping. and thus offer temptation TO
the thieves. 1t is no wonder that they are
robbed Other women who usually carry
their pocketbooks in their hands frequently
lay the pocketboolIs counters Gn front
of them while they are trying on hats.
Then they see hat few feet away which
they want to look at, and they forget about
their pocketbooks until they have been
stolen by thieves on the watch. Sometimes
IL is the satchel which Is left on the coun-
ter. and thief comes along and takes tire
satchel The trick of changing satchelS Is
resorted to by some Of the thieves"
The sidewalks i'm front of several of the
stores recently became the haunts Of young
thieves, who snatched Satchels or pocket
books out of the hands of women who were
entering or leaving the stores Being fleet
of foot. the thieves managed to- escape ar
rest. sometimes running into tho stores 2 d
losing, them selves in the crowds but In
spector Mclaughlin sent detectives from
stne central office TO patrol the sidewalks.
and the thieves were captured and sent 10
prison. Lately there have been few thefts
of that kind in the shopping district