The Portland daily press., 1897-12-18

Least seventy-Five Per Cent of Them
Come to Grief-LadyIike Girls Who a ct
as Detectives In the Big Stores.
IN. Y. SUM-
This is che busiest season of all seasons
among professional "h'isters.' They
spell themselves holsters, but they
call themselves ''h listers" very much as
Cockneys pronounce "oysters." Other
persons call them snoplifters. These
I'll 'isters'' have reduced the art of shop
lifting to science, but they are not one
whit more scientific In their business
than the detectives are in catching them.
As soon as the shops become crowded
with throngs who go to investigate, ad.
mire and buy their Christmas offerings
shoplifters also turn out en- masse. Ex-
perienoe soon teaches them that they can
do their most tableSwork at this sea q.
son. Goods are displayed temptingly,
| salespeople and shoppers alike are too
busy to notice anybody else, and the coast
seems clear to those who do not believe
with philosophers that the thief steals
from himself, the swindler swindles him
SELF
Capt. George W. McClusky. Chief of
the Police Department. Detective Bureau,
knows enough about. shoplifters and their
art to fill ten books. They are sharp, but
he Is sharper, and he could teach the
average "h lister" things about the bust
ness that she never dreamed of. The
feminine pronoun is used because the
great majority of shoplifters are women.
When a Sun reporter dropped in at Police
Headquarters to talk to Capt. McCIusky
about shoplifters he'd just been having a
little seance with one. &
"Shoplifters are pretty bad lot, can
tell you, he said, when the reporter s
errand had boon stated. "They can be
divided into two great classes, profession
ais and amateurs. There are SO many
amateurs abroad just before the Christ
mas holidays that many persons get the
impression that New York is overrun
with professional shoplifters. The ANA
tears arc clumsy lot and generally ges
caught and hence this impression.
"How many professional h'isters' do
the police concede there are roaming
around this city2"
'That is q broad question and it is i'm
possible to answer it in round mum bers.
The number of really clever profession
ais, however, is limited They are subdi-
vided into two classes, clouters and PEN
nyweighters. These people have more
ways of stealing than they have fingers
and toes. Last week we nabbed the clev-
crest clouter that has ever been taken in
the East. I mean May Murray known
to the police In every city as Big May
the most notorious shoplifter in the coun-
try. We have been after her for years,
but she was a sharp bird and hard to
bag, because she always worked with a
companion, and whenever the detectives
got on the track of them they would take
a cable car, elevated train, or cab, and
manage to lose themselves. Well we got
her at last. Detectives Aloncie and Carey
ran across her and her companion, Flos-
sic Maitland, just as they were engaging
a cab at Madison square. The men also
engaged hanson and followed them.
The women drove to Waverley place and
went into a turner's establishment.
They stayed there not longer than
quarter of an hour, and then drove to
another turner's near by on Broadway.
There they stayed about rs minutes.
came out, got into the cab and ordered
the man on the box to drive to a certain
address uptown. One of the detectives
jumped in the cab with them and sung
out Headquarters Immediately Big
May tried to get something from under
meath her skirts, but the detective
fastened her limbs so that she was help
less.
when their cab was searched two fur
jackets worth $500 were found under the
seat; they were the spoils from the first
shop visited. When their pedigrees had
been taken the women were sent upstairs
to Matron Travers to be searched. Moth
ing was found on Flossie, but 42-inch
sealskn coat was found concealed be-
meath Big Mary's skirt. 1t was olouted
from the last shop visited and was worth
$780,"
Just what do you mean by 'clouter'
and 'clouting9' " asked the reporter.
well, man couldn't be 'clouter,
responded Capt. MoClusky with laugh,
because 1t takes skirts to conceal q
olouting paraphernalia. Big May had
fastened around her waist q band. At
tached to this on each side was piece
of strong elastic. These elastic bands
were crossed in front and fastened to her
stockings, believe. Anyway, they did
not interfere in the least with her walk
ing While Flossie engaged the attent ton
of the clerks, pretending to want to make
a purchase Big May threw what she
wanted on the floor and stood over it.