Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1899-10-21

steal. His FIRST ambition, as he naive.
ly admits, was to become an expert in
all forms of crime; but he quickly re-
allied that life was much too short
for this purpose. and, finding that he
was a born piekpocket," he deter
mined to confne himself to this form
of art.
There are thousands of pickpock-
cts, Fernandez says, "but very few
artists. 1t requires many years OF
study and practice to become an artist
even when man has all the natural
Qualifications, as have"
With such an ambition and such an
equipment il is little wonder that Fer
nandez Is to-day the despair alike of
ms Fellow pickpoekets and of the DO
lice OF two continents. Fernandez.
who is delightfully."- frank about his ART
las nearly all sorts OF pickpockets are)
mas described some of his methods,
which it is to the interest of honest
FOLK to know.
Inc actual picking of pocket he
eays, is the least part OF clever pick
pockets work. The true test of his
skill is the planning of the crime and
the handling of the victim. Fernandez
works with gang of four men, includ-
ing himself. and his tours are arranged
with all the care and precision of a
travelling company OF actors, the route
taking him wherever there are fairs.
exhibitions or great gatherings of peo-
pie OF the gang, one who is known as
the tool, does the actual picking of
the pockets: the remaining three men.
VINO are known as stalls" manipulate
the victim and help and cover the
TOOL in his work. According to this
artist" ninety-nine men in every hun
dred carry their money either in their
1eft-hand trousers pocket or inside the
waistcoat The true artist can not
only tell at glance the man who is
carrying much money, but in which OF
these two receptacles he carries it. /,
the victim carries his money In his
trousers pocket one of the stalls"
brushes past him with a BEG pardon
Sir; allow me to pass" and gently
raises his left arm. At that instant the
toor turns the pocket inside out. an
nexes the money and replaces the
pocket, while the two remaining
stalls are hustling the victim on the
right side and distraeting his attention
II the money is carried in the inside
OF the waistcoat the tool takes up a
position in front Of the victim, who is
pushed hard against him By the
stalls" behind. While the man Is pro
testing against such unseemly crowd
Ing the tool" quickly unbuttons the
top buttons Of his waistcoat, slips the
pocketbook or money out, and de-
camps. Fernandez boasts that in these
cases he invariably buttons the waist
coat up again before leaving his victim.
With the pocketbook in hand, Fernan-
DEE quickly strips 1t and losses It into
another mans pocket. Fernandez SAYS
that in no single case has he ever
known a man to feel the dip into
his pocket. 1t is invariably some
stranger who sees the theft and gives
the alarm.
Fernandez considers that any day
that does not yield $500 is a bad one.
and many of his individual hauls have
been OF ten times this sum- In spite OF
his cleverness he has intimate knowl-
edge ofprison life and restrictions. He
spends these periods of enforced leisure
in perfecting an invention which he
hopes will some day relieve him from
the necessity OF picking pockets.