Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1898-10-29
BRIGHT GIRL DETECTIVES.
They Keep II Sharp watch for Pilfersrs
In Dry-Go0ds Stores.

"Go after her! She's cot stuff! Go
after hertz whispered the salcswoman,
eXcitedly.
The girl detective took the alarm and
hurried to overtake n handsomely dress
ed young woman who was Just leaving
the store. When she reached her side,
however, Instead of ~sternly demanding
the stolen goods the detective, like the
detected, went into spasms of laughter.
Its too ridiculous" said the sup
posed thief. 81 looked right at Miss b.,
spoke purposely to a woman next to me
that she might hear. and she never
knew me ut all. Now, I'm certain that
No. 81 wont recognize me either when
she comes in and I'll be abe to catch her
at some of her tricks"
we have to resort to all sorts of dis
guises to get even with the shoplifters,"
the other girl detective said to the n.
I. SIM reporter. They get so that
they know us and are careful to be on
their good behavior when we're around,
so we change our dresses, hats and
coats and the way we fix our hair in or
der to fool them. Often we stand right
close to them in the crowd and they
don't ]recOniZc us"
1--WE are always dressed as if we had
Just come in from the street" said Eer
companion, "and no one ever takes us
TO be connected with the store at all. |
fixed myself up as IN Old woman once,
with spectacIes, grizzly hair, y scoop
bonnet and an old shawl and hobbled
along for several squares behind two
women whom we suspected Of taking
things, but whom we had no real evil
dence against. Sure enough they took
the things TO Il certain fence in Ludlow
street, which some time after the police
raided. Several articles belonging to
the stock here were found among the
stolen goods that they hadn't been able
TO sell.
"We're instructed to be very particu~
lar about making arrests" she went on.
"The superintendent says he would
rather have Il hundred guilty people 90
UNPUBLISHED than have one innocent per-
son accused; he sides, if falsely accused,
the parties could sue the house for heavy
damages. We never accuse any one,
no matter how much we may suspect,
until we actually see something stolen.
I've been detective in this store nearly
ten years and I've got so that | can tell
n shoplifter almost at first glance. /
Judge from the uneasy way they roll
their eyes around, from the motion of
their fingers and the way they move
their hands. They assume various dis
guises. Nearly all the professionals
that we arrest have pawn tickets some
where about them and they try TO get
rid of these in all sorts OF ways so that
we won't get hold of them. One girl
chewed up n pawn ticket and swallowed
it and was chewing up another when we
found out what she was up TO. Another
girl had two rings in her mouth which
She had taken from the jeweIry coun-
ter.
There are lots of people who take
things without a good excuse-women
ard men who want to dress up to the
mark and haven't got the money to
reach it. Two girls were caught here
not long ago just loaded up with rib
bons and lace, fancy pins, buckles,
gloves and such things. The way in
which they had slowed away stuff in
their stocking and various other hiding
places was a caution. Among the odd
articles found in the stocking Of one girl
was a bottle of whisky. 1t was crammed
in and then tied tight to keep it from
slipping. A bottle of cologne was fixed
in the same way. These girls said they
had stolen ribbon before and promised
that if we would let them off they would
tell us of companions of theirs who they
knew did the same thing. They said
that they belonged to respectable PEG.
pie. / went to the address they gave
a few days later and found that the
family was respectable"