Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-21
WITH DEFT FINGERS
Shoplifters Do a Good Deal Of Bust
ness in This City.
As 4 RULE THEY ARE WOMEN
A Small Fraction of the Cases Ever
Come to Light.
TALK WITH A DETECTIVE
IS 4 RULE THEY ARE WOMEN
TALK WITH A DETECTIVE

There is great deal more shoplifting in
Washington than is ever told about in type,
AS may be supposed, the proprietors Of
Washington stores do not love shoplifters,
on the other hand, they dislike scandal 1t
is their policy to simply warn the discoV-
cred shoplifters to perpetually absent them
selves from their establishments in future
on pain of exposure. Such warnings serve
In nine cases out of ten. The amateur or
professional shoplifters who will return to
establishments whence they have once been
warned-return even without any dishonest
purpose-are exceedingly few and scat
tered La addition, they are of the exceed
fngly unwise sort, for they the ones,
generally speaking. who are exposed. The
professionals don't much care, of course
but the amateurs do No establishment
ever warns a shepl!fter the second time.
When 1t is reflected that exposure means
for the 'fmpulsive' amateur shoplifter a
| lifetime of misery. OF real martyrdOm. sup
posing the circumstances are such that tho
| exposed shoplifter must continue to live
in the community in which the exposure is
made. il seems odd that Once-warned shop
| filters will venture a second risk. Yet this
does happen. The professionals take u
| chance on identification, and il doesn't hurt
them SO much when they are utppcd.
Whether the thing deliberately dubbed
'kleptomania' be a nervous disease, or
simply resonant phrase where with to
mantle A prediSpoSitiOn for theft. the fact
remains that in every large community
there are many persons who have it bad;
many more than are ever heard about in
such connection. 1t is 10 reflection upon
the gentler sex to say that most OF the at
fiCted are women, for the women comprise
the vast body of shoppers. Just what SINH
lar numbers of men would do In the way
of aggregating things that didn't belong
to them if they We're to spend several hours
a week in shopping is one of those matters
upon which no light can be shed for want
of test. Even so, there are plenty OF
male shoplifteTs, but they are mostly pro-
fessionalS, crooks by training and natural
selection.
Woman's Field.
There are few amateur male shoplifters
OF the "impulsive'' or 'kIeptomaniac' type.
This field is dominated 10y women. Some
of them are perfectly well known to many
Washington merchants. and carefully
shielded in accordance with arrangements
with relatives 1t might seem peculiar that
a certain young Washington woman is per
mitted to furtively or boldly pick up any
thing she wants. when she imagines She Is
not observed, and get away without paying
for it. But the Washington merchants
who have been aware of the young wo-
mans weakness for some time past fully
understand that her mother will make.
good" for every article lifted by the
do ghter. AS the mother is influential and
a swagger customer. they permit the young
woman to go along on her queer course.
If this young woman were to follow
similar bent In New York, say. she would
put in plenty of time on Blackwelfs Island,
if not at more rigid feminine reformatory
Institutions, and nothing could save her.
The amateur shopliftcrs are not SO much
to be feared as the professionals Amateur
shOplifterS almost always do their work
| with extreme clumsiness. while the profes-
| SIGNALS are becoming more expert and
| adroit all the time. Statesmen and saleSwo-
1JN.a11 Gf9 W a o. c a a
| take care of the ''impulSiVeS. but il takes
Argus-eyed floor walkers, and even regular
| detectives. to guard against the profession
ais. II is said that none of the large Wash
| ington shopping emporiums employs detec-
tives to look out for Shopifters the year
around: but most of them engage the ser
vices of such detectives during the holiday
season. and save considerable money there
by. Most OF these detectives are women
They mingle with the shoppers. and look
like shoppers themselves. One of them. a
shrewd-eyed woman, still on the comfort
able side of forty, is now Standing by, as
the sea phrase goes, for her holiday tour of
watching in one of WaShlngton'S large de-
partment stores. She is said TO put IN most
of her time, with the exception of the holt
day season, as a ''spotter'' on car lines IN
various cities, but she looks quite blank
when asked about this.
Earns Her Salary.
Although L was paid pretty well. 1 be-
lieve that l saved the establishment that
employed me during the last holiday sea-
son many times the amount of my sals ry'
said this Shrewd-eyed woman to a Star re-
porter the other afternoon. 1T was my
first tour of duty in that establishment. In
engaging me, the proprietors told me that
at the close of the previous holiday season.
when the poSt-hoiday inventory II stock
was taken. a great many articles. mostly
of the smaller, though expensive, sort had
been missed from departments managed
bV emDlOVeS in whom they had b,a
est confidence, and that they mad therefore
concluded that there had been plenty of
shoplifting in the establishment during the
pdSy season Nothing so startling about
that assumption / told them for | had
served a couple of holiday periods of watch
ing for shOpllfterS in other cities. | believe
they were glad they engaged me when the
holiday season was over. | caught forty
two women and seven men in the act of
fting, and yet there was scandal Not
an arrest was made. 1 don't include in this
number the scores of persons whose actions
indicated that they would have picked %
things II they had had the nerve-tha fur
tive lockers around who, when just
upon the point of taking some ar
to instnctively feel that 1 was watch
ing them for a purpose | so much
preferred TO see them thus bereft Of nerve
before actually taking anything! The
thieves, or kieptomaniacS or whichever
you elect to call them-the former term is
the more exact, in my opinion-were simply
required To dlSSofSe, and were then permit
ted to go their ways, with the warning that
if they showed their countenances in The
establishment again they would be arrested
out OF hand There were a few more or
less exciting and hysterical scenes back in
the office. but in every case the liftcrs
broke down, gave up their spoils, begged
for leniency, and got 1t.
Amateur Thieves.
by the way, allow me to digress long
enough to say that. in my Opinion there
is a genesis to shoplfting. as we'll as TO
most other habits. You may know that
there are many women who, in travelling,
think nothing of capturing a silver spoon.
or knife, or fork. or napkin ring, from
all the hotels or restaurants at which they
receive entertainment. There are even Wo-
men who appropriate towel from every
hotel room in which they may pass
night In travelling. They think nothing of
these things, and when they return To
their homes they laugh quite merrilv as
they show their spoils Do you know what
l think Of such a woman? / think she is
thief, and l haven't the slightest doubt
in the world that such woman would
steal from store counters at a favorable
opportunity.