The Republican., 1899-10-05
BICYCLE STEALING.
How Dealers in New York Are
Tricked and Robbed by Honest
Appearing Persons.


! lous tendencies make money by their
| cycling adventures. They are those
VINO make a practice of stealing bicy-
cles and selling them for what they can
get. Four or five years ago, when the
price of the cheapest wheels almost
| equaled that of the best in the market
to-day, the business of bicycle stealing
was really in its infancy. Men who had
engaged in various lines of crookedness
soon discovered that the demand for
wheels at low price furnished eXcep-
tional inducements for them to make
bicycle stealing a regular occupation,
and the tactics they employed in order
to get possession of machines were
numerous and often extremely clever.
During the last two years wheel
stealing has been carried on to great
er or less extent, but until this sum-
mer comparatively few complaints have
been heard from dealers and individ-
ual riders since 1896. The thieves have
lately started out again in great earn
estness, and their modes of operation
differ in many respects from those pur-
sued formerly. Dealers tell some Curl
GUS stories of the way they have been
robbed by honest-looking and appar-
emily respectable persons who have
come to their shops ostensibly to buy or
to rent wheels.
Last week" said a dealer on the
West side, "a young man came into my
store and asked to see a new mans BIZ
cycle. with a 24-inch frame. He said
that his own wheel did not run smooth
ly and that he desired to get another
one. He inquired my cash price for one
of the best machines in the store and
then decided that he would like to eX-
change his old wheel for the one we
were examining. Where is your
wheel?' | asked. of course 1 must see
it before | can tell how much | will be
able to allow you for it,
Its five or six doors up from here,
in repair shop said my visitor. The
repairer had one of the wheels off about
five minutes ago and was Strengthening
the front fork, which | bent little in
an accident. If you will just step in
there for moment you can see it
''The mans apparent honesty and
uncommonly frank expression of
countenance made me less suspicious
that | would be generally, but | had al,
ready had some experience with
smooth-talling individuals. and made
up my mind | would not be taken in by
them again. | was alone in the shop at
the time, but resolved. nevertheless, to
see if there was anything in the mans
game. So | agreed to step over to the
other place with him and take a look
at his wheel. When we arrived there.
instead of walking to the back of the
shop. where the repair department
was, 1 stopped purposely. about ssi1, i1,,SS Ok
at q machine which, 1 remarked, had
a very odd appearance. a few seconds
later | walked out of the shop, and as
| did so saw man rush into my store.
When | got there he was Just coming
out with new $75 bicycle and seemed
embarrassed when he met me face to
face.
81 was just seeing how easily this
wheel runs he exclaimed when | con-
fronted him. If / can dispose of my
own bike. I'll come back in day or so
and buy this one. tits daisy
Ion, yes said |, it's beautiful ma
chine. but if you had got it outside of
this door when | saw you, you bet |
would have your picture in the rogues'
gallery His explanations were pro-
fuse, but they didn't convince me of his
honest intention. The fact is that he
was watching for me to go into the
other shop, and the moment | did so
he improved his opportunity
1--WE do not fear the men thieves
nearly so much as we do the women"
said another dealer. ''If. for example,
a man comes in here to rent bicycle
and we have any doubt as to his homes
ty, we fatty refuse to let him have it.
But with women it is different. A
woman may come in all rugged out for
a spin and with her face covered with
smiles. She has been told that our
wheels are better than those in other
places and she wishes to hire one for a
couple of hours. When we inquire her
address she gives one that is a mile or
so away-too far, of course, for us to
send around there to see if it is genuine
adds that she is so and so and ex-
presses great surprise that we should
for moment doubt her sincerity We
tell her that it is against our rules to
let a wheel to anybody we don't know,
and that we can scarcely make an ex-
ception in her case. Then she tosses
her head, snaps her eyes, and declares
that the whole thing is absurd and that
she is to be deprived of a whole after
Moons pleasure on account of our
abomnable system of red tape. Under
such circumstances it is mighty hard
to deny the request, but we have to do
so. If we didn't, it would be only q
short time before our shop would be
in the hands of a receiver."-N. Y. Sun.