Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-05-26


 ever The thief gets so much extrs comfort out of putting his stuff into such safe hands that he disposes of it to. him at very low fgure-so low that the 'salter' can, after he has hidden if for a certain length of time, afford to turn it over to receiver, and still make money.
 ssThis practice has become so gen. eral," continued this expert in thief lore, 'that many of the rich people are preparing to meet 1t by having photo graphs made of all their valuable pos. sessions which could be stolen. One firm of photographers makes speciality of this. They take photographs of each separate piece of plate and each valuable bit of bric-a-brac, making up book of the views and preserving the negatives. Then, if one of the valuables is stolen, My Lord So-and-so simply no- tifies them of the number of the missing article in the book of views. They then make large number of cheap dupli- cates of the photographs, which are sent to the police in the various loeali- ties where the stolen article is likely to be offered for sale, and it is a part of the photographer contract to send out new sets every quarter for three years. Thus the police are kept reminded of the theft, and have before them con- stantly photographs of the things which it is their business to recover. It is plan which has worked very well in four or five instances, and the busi- ness is likely to grow"
 few moments later we stood in one of Whitechapel's busiest streets. Im- agine the smoke and glare, the crowds and cheap excitement of lower Vesey street, New York, about Christmas time, and you will have faint idea of what this street looks like every night in the year, Sundays included. Busi- ness is all done on the sidewalks, and goods of all descriptions, from stale and too claInorous fish, to secondhand clothing, are displayed in the stalls and on the carts. The whole thing is lighted garishly by torches and tenn porary gas fixtures, which flare and smoke, ftfully lighting up and anon leaving in darkness the strange scene. A heavy fog hung over the city this night, and was so slightly penetrated by these lights that the atmosphere above the street seemed as solid as the buildings on the sides. Business was apparently done in a tunnel whose roof and sides advanced and receded, re- eeded and advanced with the flashing and waning of the irregular light Men, women and children packed every inch of space not already occupied by the I -4a < salesmen's shouting and the customers pickering approached pandemonium.
 About the middle of this street my guide paused before dingy little shop. whose shutters were closely locked, and which was apparently wholly without life of any sort.
 s.These are the places which photo graphers cannot baff1e," said he, as he knocked heavily on the closed door with his stick. "Three weeks ago this place was raided, and the police found that it had been ia constant operation for something like quarter of cen tury.n
 The door was opened by watchman placed there by the police, and we en- tered small shop with shelves and boxes fitted for a business in second hand clothing. Back of that was one room, apparently living apartment for the shopleeper From this room the stairway descended to the cellar, and down it we went. Candles instant- ly revealed the character of the place. No attempt at eoncealment was made in the cellar. Three small furnaces were neatly built into the stone walls and three well-constructed crucibles were above them. In little racks hung tiny ladies' little tongs, pair of bel lows and other pharaphernalia of the melter of precious metals. The police raid was caused by the discovery that for full twenty-five years this cellar, with its blind shop above, had been the place of business of a man who, when receivers took stolen jewelry or plate to him, could in few hours convert it into bullion. Thus, all chance of Identification was instantly lost, and the thief's security doubled, while the value of the haul was but slightly de- creased.
 After we left the cellar we strolled into another lodging house-this time one in which men only were permitted to sleep The ex-detective was greeted on all sides by surely little mods and the touching of caps. This was one of the places frequented almost exclusive ly by the criminal class. We finally seated ourselves on one of the long benches and the detective called some of the loungers to him.
 :" How long have you been out, Petey?" he inquired of one?"
 "Only ten days, Mir. Thick" re- sponded the villainous-looking youth.
 What were you in for?"
 Touching gaffer, MT. Thick"
 How much did you touch him for9"
 low, e was daisy, e was. E only 'ad six bob (s1.5o), an you'd a thought ed been touched fer a 'undered. E goive me six months, e did, directly"
 Within an hour we had talked to more than a dozen professional thieves. They made no bones of their business or their records with my guide. He knew them too well.