The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-27
JEWELS TEMPT WOMEN.
SCHEMES WHEREBY THEY TRY TO
STEAL DIAMONDS.

Petty PiIferers Allowed to Go on
With Their BOOty-HOw Innocent
People Can BE Made to Help the
Acknowledgement Attempts Made
10 Outvvit c. o. ID. Messengers Car
rying Jewels.
From the Chicago Tribune.
IAN through December we employ de-
tectives,' said the manager of one Of the
largest jewelry stores on State street.
zone of these detectives stands by the
door. There is always something about
his dress and general demeanor which
tells his calling, so the professional shop
lifters give US a wide berth Amateurs
there are who try TO get away with the
goods, but usually they are easily scared,
and replace the missing articles at once
when they are made aware that their
movements have been watched. When a
piece of jewelry is missed under circum-
stances which indicate that it has been
stolen, detective saunters up to the
customer suspected and pretends to
search for the missing ring or chain or
bracelet, or whatever it may be. It
was here a moment ago, madam he
says; it must have caught in your dress
or in the lace on your sleeve. Please
look and see.' Then he moves away, and,
as a rule, the woman produces the piece
of jewelry. expressing surprise that it
should have been found about her. Oc-
casionally, however, the suspected per-
son denies all knowledge as to the where
abouts of the lost article. In this case,
If the facts warrant it, a bill for the full
value of the jewel is presented to her,
and the choice of paying the bill or pro-
ducing the stolen goods is offered.
"A fashionablye attired, attractive
looking woman recently secreted dia-
monds worth several hundred dollars in
her muff. The detective gave her the
usual opportunity to replace them I'M
noticed, but she insisted that she knew
nothing about them. A bill was handed
TO her for the amount of the jewels, but
she refused to pay attention to it. The
detective got a cab, handed her into it,
ana accompanied her to her home, tell
ing her that he would wait in the hall
until she either found the diamonds or
gave him check for their value. This
lady was the wife of a man well known
in business circles. He called at the
store next day, seemed much agitated,
and begged that the matter be kept
quiet, stating his belief that his wife
was entirely ignorant about the dia-
monds being in her possession.
Lots OF small things are stolen in the
manager.
Ihese are hat pins and other little
lrlnkets worth dollar or two, sometimes
only % cents. They are too insignif-
cant for us to bother about. Were we
to raise an alarm or say much about
such petty thefts it would probably cause
us 70 lose the sale of goods worth hun
at such and such store the other day
one woman would say to another. They
accused such nice-looking lady of
stealing, and 1 believe she was perfectly
innocent of
would come into the store again. When
the detective sees these hat-pin and
in a quiet way that the house does not
want their custom, and they take the
hint and depart No attempt is ever
made to recover the smaller articles.
The sharpers who play for the big
stakes resort to all sorts of ingenious
devices to get possession of the goods >"
said the manager of another large bus
mess house to a reporter. "One evening
a gentleman of fine appearance entered
the store. He had driven up In private
carriage with a coachman in livery. lie
looked at diamond necklaces, and ear
rings, examined them closely, called for
a magnitying glass to look at the stones,
lection. Finally he picked out the par
ticular diamonds he wanted and ordered
them sent to his hotel, where he would
give a check for them. He was an ele-
Sant looking man of fine address and
bearing, but the fact that he gave US
np references, made 20 few inquiries
quickly made a selection in a matter
that most men would take day or two
to deliberate about made me suspicious.
/ determined to take those diamonds my
self to the hotel. The gentleman re-
ceiVed me in a sumptuously FURNISHED
apartment and his manner was courtesy
itself as he asked me to be seated.
My wife is in the next room, he said,
Il want to give her little surprise. Excuse
me while l take the diamonds into her. I'll
only keep you waiting a few minutes.
ms o. thar the
are not to go out of my hands until they
are paid for l replied.
(" oh! Very well, them he said, care
lessly. IN put them in that drawer there,
lock the drawer and give you the key,
while 1 go into the other room for the
i cannot let the diamonds go out of
my hands / replied again He looked
somewhat disconnected at this, and then
his manner changed abruptly and all his
"Tli lock them in that drawer and
give YOU the key whether you like it or
not he said, angrily. :! am accustomed
to having my own way.
II had a loaded pistol with me, and in
a second l had ii leveled at him, warm
ing him that any more talk like that or
any attempt to touch the diamonds, would
fix him so that he wouldn't ever see his
- You've got a thief in room No so-and-
So / said to the hotel clerk few min
utes later, and / related what had &C
Cured He was slow to believe me, because
the man had given Inem DIE uIdIl on
Denver house, and they had let him have
5000 or 500 on it. / went with him up to
the room, and even in that brief time the
rascal had disappeared. 1t turned OUT
that he had no wife with him at all.
examined the bureau in which he was so
anxious that I should deposit the dia-
monds, and found that he had made a
hole in the wall against which the bureau
stood and a corresponding hole in tho
back of the drawer. As the bureau was
placed against the wall which separated
the two rooms he occupied it would have
been easy for him to get the diamonds
into the other room while / held the key
of the drawer In my hand. The full value
of the diamonds he had selected was near
ly $S,000.
1--WE were unwittingly the participators
in a peculiar transaction just a few
weeks ago" the manager continued. "A
man selected jewelry to the amount of
$50 and gave us a certificate of deposit
on a certain bank, but the man who
bought the jewelry had forged some one
else's name on the certificate. His meth
Cd of procedure was unique. He adver-
tised for young man to do his collecting.
He informed the young fellow who an
swered the advertisement that he must
deposit $50 in the bank as security and
give him the certificate of deposit. You
won't lose the money, he told the young
man, it will be right there in the bank for
you unless you do something crooked. [
only require this of you in order to pro-