Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1897-04-08
WOMEN AS THIEVES.
QUESTION NOV IN THE REALM OF
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION.


Women Steal Much Less Frequently Than
Men Do-Dinerences In the Impulses
Which Actuate the Two-Frequentiy the
Woman steals Under IA Mans Influence.
The British Medical Journal aflirms
that cases of stealing by women who are
more or less kleptomaniacs have become
of late so numerous and SO distressing that
IL might be expedient TO employ special
deterrents, such as visible policemen in
the shops which principally invite this
kind of semidclirious action. Our contem-
porary, after reflection, however, dismiss
es this suggestion as impracticable, the
shopkeeper who resorted TO il being nearly
certain TO lose all custom, and we rather
doubt, from the police records, whether the
offense is increasing as much as the writer
fancies. Every form of interesting crime
seems TO increase nowadays because IL Is
more commented on Women of certain
kind have always been addicted to shop
lifting, and their inclination has always
attracted attention, partly from its ex-
IRENE Inconvenience TO shopkeepers, whose
very business conpels them To expose their
goods TO this risk, and partly, we imagine
because men are SO accustomed TO trust i'm
the honesty of women that this particular
alteration from their usual habits excites
sense of surprise Women have much
less opportunity of stealing than men, as
they could hardly take to burglary, high
way robbery or the work of the footpad
women, we notice, being rarely accused
even of snatching jewels or purses from
other women, though they can approach
them so closely. They are, besides, we feel
sure, more honest. They feel the tempta-
ton of money less and the sense of its inn
portance and of their own trusteeship in
regard to it much more.
That is the universal opinion of the con-
tinent, where women are implicitly trust
ed with the TILL and we notice that the
practice is spreading here, so that charge
of the cash receipts OF shops is becoming
one OF the most frequent of female employ
ments. If they would get up their arith-
metic "a little more perfectly and be a little
less irritable when overhurried-men I'M
der such circumstances display Il silent OBJ
stinacy rather than irritation-they might
obtain IA monopoly of this sort of work,
greatly To their own relief, for the occupa-
ton suits them, and to that of the men,
who suffer both in health and spirits from
confinement in little glass boxes where
they can hardly stretch themselves and
from an occupation which, though most
respectable, allows no scope for energy or
for the exertion of physical strength
There are bold female swindlers, but
they generally swindle by using their ca
pacity for histrionics. The charges of en-
bezzlement alleged against women are ex-
traordinarily few while their honesty as
servants, when they must often be griev-
ously tempted, is really marvellous The
ordinary well 20 do housemistress takes no
more precautions against her maids thiev-
ing propensities than against her daugh-
ters' and if she is IA shrew dilates upon ev-
cry fault possible except this one. Nine
times out of ten when "a maid steals il is
under the influence of some man outside,
IA remark which experienced policemen say
is true even of the street girls, who are SO
frequently charged with the offense Wom-
EN-, in fact, steal much less frequently than
men do
The fact, as contrasted with the other
fact mentioned by our medical contempt
rlry-viZ, the addiction of some women
To shopliftng-suggests an inquiry of some
intellectual interest. Is it possible that the
anilnus furendi, as the lawyers call it, the
actual motive for stealing, differs in the
sexes in kind AS well as in degree? We
have an idea that this may be true and
that the woInan's desire to theve is ex
cited by a wish to possess the visible arti-
Gle stolen, while the mans is aroused by "a
craving for the pleasures or the idleness
which the article stolen will purchase. He
seeks money, in fact, while she seeks
things. Only an old and experienced re-
ceiver of stolen goods could answer the
question with any exactness as regards the
thieving classes, but among the educated
this is almost certainly the case.
Educated men embeZzle, forge and swim.
die often enough, and indeed IL takes some
education to be successful in those lines of
yillainy but they are rarely convicted of
shoplifting, while that is the special of
Tense of educated women who take to this
description of crime. The latter very rare
ly forge, which is remarkable, for, being
less controlled by commercial opinion,
they undoubtedly attach less opprobrium
to this form of crime than men do, while
they are quite as competent to commit
forgeries, but they take things out of shops,
the reason being that the things attract
them more than the abstract wish for
money does We do not mean that they are
influenced by kleptomania more than men
are There is such an impulse, and IL Is
exceedingly strong in both sexes, as all
men know VINO are FAMILIAR with ships,
barracks, clubs or public schools, but il is
not ungovernable-the belts of the soldiers
govern it very effectually-and it is CON
stantly pleaded where it does not exist.
True madness which takes that form,
though it exists, is rare and is usually &C.
companied by other recognizable signs.
But we fancy that with some women
there is distinct pleasure i'm acquiring
things without paying for them, in part
independent of their money value, to
which there Is nothing corresponding in
the minds of males. There is something
of the spirit of adventure i'm the effort as
well as greed and something, too of that
ovcrweening and indeed inexplicable idea
of their own claim to the portable proper
ty they want, which is so frequently APP
parent even in women who are genuinely
respectable London Standard