The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1895-05-15
PICKPOCKRT AT NIG8.
little MARY FISHER ARRESTED
IN NEW YORK.

Unconcerned story Of Her Experiences.
Detective Savage of the New York
Central park squad recently arrested III
the monkey house i'll Central park a
9-year-old pickpocIlet,
As he was watching the crowd in the
monkey house his attention was attract
ed by the actions Of small girl apDar
emily not more than or years old.
She was neatly dressed and carried
over her arm a canvas bag such as chill
Clren use for carrying schOolbOOks. As
fhe detective watched her he saw that
she was paying q good deal more atten-
tiOn to the women who were standing
around her than to the animals i'll the
cages. He thought that he saw one OF
her hands feeling for a pocket in the
dress of a woman who stood beside her
After fumbling around this woman's
skirt for a minute she walked over to
another part of the house and talked
earnestly with a girl apparently about
her own age. Savage had forgotten the
incident when, half an hour later, he
heard a woman turn upon little girl
who stood beside her and eXclaim:
"You little wretch, what is your
hand doing in my pocket?'
It was the girl he had noticed earlier.
AS she freed her hand from the woman's
grasp she made some explanation which
the detective didn t hear. The woman
apparently thought that she had made a
mistake, for, after scowling at the girl,
she walked out of the house. By this
time Savage felt certain that the girl
was pickpocket So he watched her
closely She wiggled around in the
crowd and went through half dozen
pockets without finding anything,
In one or two cases the women whose
pockets were being searched felt the
fugging at their skirts and looked down,
to find only a schoolgirl who had APP
parently rubbed against them. The girl
succeeded in getting one pocketboOk out,
SO that the detective could see the top
OF it,, but at that moment the woman
who owned it moved and the little pick
pocket was forced to let it go. Savage
followed the girl until he finally saw
her put her hand into the pocket Of Miss
BuIing. She drew out a knife and
slipped it into the schoolbag which she
carried. Then she pretended to look at
the monkeys The detective arrested
her and asked Miss Buling if she had
not lost something from her pocket. To
her surprise the detective pulled out of
the schoolgirls bag Miss Billings pearl
handled knife.
The girl said that she was Mary
Fisher, and that she was years old
She admitted stealing the knife and
talked about her experiences as pick
pocket in very nnCOncerned way.
II didn't intend to steal that knife
at all Mary Robinson, who was with
me. told me to do it. 1 told her that it
would be stealing, and that if [ did
take the knife would just sharpen my
pencil with it and put it back. When
che policeman arrested me, Mary ran
away"
GLOW did Mary Robinson know that
the knife was in this woman's pocket?'
E'Why, she knew, =" said Mary. "She
went around and sounded the pockets
and knew what was in them, and then
she told me to take the things.
Mary said at first that she had been
picking pockets in the monkey house at
Central park for the past three weeks,
and later she asserted that she had never
picked pocket before. She said that
Mary Robinson, who is about her own
age, had taught her how to do it.
Mary showed me a prayer book and
I
that she had got in church l told her
80 put them back, ard she asked me
why. I said, It's stealing, and she
said, Nav, it isn't; it's findings, and
findings is keepingS. l didn't know
that. Then Mary told me that we could
get findings up to the park. She told me
how 20 do it. She said for me to get
close to a woman, and while the woman
was looking at the monkeys to put my
hand in her pocket, and that was find
ings. II the woman looked around, Mary
told me to look hard at the monkeys and
pretend not to notice her. "
IN addition to Miss Buling's knife the
ds5active found in Mays schoolbag a
pocizetbOOE containing l3 cents, half a
dozen postage stamps and some small
Catholic medals When no one turned
up tie claim the pOcketbook, Mary assert
ed that it was hers, and that her mother
had given it to her for a birthday pres
enJ.
Il have seen a good many Of them at
work, /" said Detective Savage, ''but I
never saw an old timer who was slicker
at her business than this little girl She