The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-03-26
WOMEN AS THIEVES.
: QUESTION NOW IN THE REALM OF
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION.

Which Actunte the wo-Freauently the
Woman Steals Under Mans influence.
The British Medical Journal affirms
that cases of stealing 10y women who are
moro or less kleptomaniacs have become
of late SO numerous and 50 distressing that
it might be expedient 10 employ special
deterrents, such as visible policemen in
the shops which principally invite this
kind of semidelirious action. Our contem-
porary, after reflection, however, dismiss
es this suggestion as impracticable, the
shopkeepcr who rcsOrtcd TO it being nearly
certain TO lose al custom, and we rather
doubt, from the police records, whether the
otfcnse is increasing rs much as the writer
fancies. Every form of interesting crime
seems TO increase nowadays because it is
more commented ON. Women of a certain
kind have always been addicted TO shop
lifting, and their inclination has always
attracted attention, partly from its ex-
treme Inconvenience 10 shopkeepers, whose
very business compcls them TO expose their
goods TO this risk, and partly, we imagine,
because men are SO accustomed 10 trust in
the honesty of women that this particular
alteration from their usual habits eXcltes
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 snatchng 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-
tion of money less and the sense of its i'm
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 little more perfectly and be a little
less irritable when observation-disclosures I'M
der such circumstances display silent OBJ
stinacy rather than irritation-they might
obtain 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 TO do housemistress takes no
more precautions against her maids thiev-
inn
tiers and if she is shrew dilates upon ev-
cry fault possible except this one Nine
times out of ten when maid steals il is
under the influence of some man outside,
remark which experienced policemen say
is true even of the street girls, who are so
frequently charged with the offense. WON
en-, in fact, steal much less frequently than
men do.
The fact, as contrasted with the other
fact mentioned by our medical contempo-
rary-yiz, the addiction of some women
TO hoplifting-suggests an inquiry of some
intellectual interest. Is it possible that the
animus furendi, as the lawyers call it, the
actual motive for stealing, differs in the
sexes in kind rs well as i'm degree? We
have an idea that this may DC true and
that the woman's desire To thieye is ex-
cited by "a wish 10 possess the visible art-
Gle stolen, while the man 5 is aroused by
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 cxactness as regards the
thieying 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
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
forgcres, but they take things out of shops,
the reason bong that the things attract
them more than tho 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 it is
exceedingly strong in both SEXES, as all
men know who are familiar with ships.
barracks, clubs or public schools, but il is
not ungOvernabl0--thC belts of the soldiers
govern IL 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 ac-
companiod by other recognizable signs.
But we fancy that with sumo women
there is a distinct pleasure in 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 in the effort as
well as greed and something, too, Of that
oyerweening and indeed inexplicable idea
of their own claim to the portable proper
ty they want, which is so frequently ap.
parent even in women who are genuinely
respectable. London Standard
He Was English.
At luncheon the girl with yellow hair