The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-10

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An American lady, of good social
standing and with ample means to
maintain her position, has recently been
convicted of shoplifting in London and
sentenced to three months imprison-
ment. Her attorneys set up as a de-
Tense the plea of kleptomania, which
was swept aside by the English jury
and a verdict of guilty rendered. 1t is
true that medical experts testified as
to her mental condition, that it was
such that she was not responsible, but
this irresponsible condition only ex-
tended to the one thing-that of shop
| lifting. Charity, not hard sense, will
give the lady the benefit of the doubt.
There is an easy and sensible explain
alton of this kleptomania. 1t is that it
is the souvenir collecting fad. An ar
ticle in a recent issue of the New York
Times tells of tie souvenir fad. In
part it is as follows:
! 1t was after the play, and numerous
! theater parties were strolling into the
! gorgeous and fower-scented restaur-
ant. The lights were softened by silken
shades of crimson and orange, and
sweet melodies from a judiciously re-
strained orchestra enhanced the ami
nation of the scene.
This is my first visit to the W"
exclaimed a young woman as she sank
gracefully into a seat at one of the
cosy tete-a-tete tables.
'Indeed?" smilingly responded her
male escort, then we must make this
souvenir night"
"a souvenir night?'' interrogatively,
Il i
tomary for the manager of this hotel
to"
ooh, no, not at ALL interrupted the
man, laughing softly. They do not
give away anything here. I meant that
1 would steal souvenir for you"
Then perceiving the startled look in the
maiden's eyes. he hastily continued: Il
see you are not one of the petty larceny
faddists, and l confess / am glad of it.
Most of my girl friends have joined the
ranks of souvenir collectors, and I am
ashamed to tell the number of times
have committed petty thefts in order
to keep. up my reputation for gal
lantry."
Petty thefts?" murmured the young
woman, inquiringly.
Eyes, I have stolen spoons oyster
forks. cups and saucers, individual pep
pers and salts, boquet holders, cham
payne glasses, butter plates, nutpicks
and lots of other things on just such
occasions as this, simply to win a
smile or word of approval from some
pretty girl who insisted on having a
souvenir of the place"
Noting the shocked expression on his
companions face, the young man con-
tinued:
"Of course, not being one of the fad
dists, you think that such pilferings
are awful. but what is fellow to do
when nearly all of the girls have the
collecting mania?"
The article quoted from goes on to
say that it is a part of the fad scheme
for the young woman who accumulates
collection of stolen souvenirs to deco
rate each article with a bit of ribbon
upon which is described the place and
date of the event commemorated. For
instance, dainty china plate might be
ticketed, waldorf, theater party, Oct.
- a quaint silver salt shaker, ''Sa-
voy, dinner party, Sept. - cup and
saucer neatly tied together by a pink
ribbon, Hotel Netherland, March :"
and a silver plated oyster fork marked
"Astor" would recall a delightful down.
town luncheon at the Astor House.
LII the lang udSe Oh society, THIS may
be called fad scheme" but in the
language of the law it is known as
stealing. 1t is no doubt all very cute,
all very Jolly" but when the faddist
is discovered in the act of putting the
scheme in practice the guilty parties
are terribly shocked, for then it becomes
plain what they have been doing.
1t may be that the American lady
just sentenced by an English court to |
Imprisonment for shoplifting was |
merely a souvenir faddist exploiting in !
some new and novel lines A condition |
of society that breeds thievery as a |
means of amusing its members and
relieving them from ennui is much in |
need of reforming If it doesn't come |
from within, the courts should intro