Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-17

ONN "AAtHS's - ~ - AS-AlAul AIN NIAS
world at large knows little of him. But
the police OF MANY cities will tell you That
he is the cleverest pickpocket of his time.
Fernandez was taken to Sing Sing
prison to serve his term on Friday last.
1t was there that he talked to a World re-
porter.
1t is very probable that you have look
ed upon pocket-picking as a despicable,
petty kind of crime unworthy the talents
of an able criminal. Pedro Fernandez
will change your mind He will tell you
that there are many men who pick pocl1-
cts and very few real pickpockets, skill
full thieves whom he calls artists. And
Fernandez is certainly ar artist.
There is nothing of the. boaster about
him.. lie hates notoriety. 1t was with
difficulty that he could be made to talk
at all. And it was not fear that held him
PACK. because no harm can come to him
from publicity now. He seeks neither to
e~xtenuate nor excuse himself.
Here are some Of the things he said:
Il was born near the City of Mexico AZ
years ago. When 1 was 5 years old my
parents moved to California. I was care
fully educated until / was IA. Then I ran
away to sea. ] made several voyages to
the Orient and to South America. l had
an Unsuitable thirst for travel and for ex-
clteinent. After a time I wearied Of q
sailors life and it's monotony. 1 made my
way to New Orleans and thence to Chi
cagO.
NOT A GOOD GAMBLER.
and l was not a very good one. In Chicago
1 fell in With some of the cleverest rosues
of the country. Thcir stories and their
life appealed to me. In the first place, the
excitement stirred my imagination, the
perfect freedom of the life, the knowledge
OF being ones own master, the having Of
plenty of money for the mere taking.
These are the things that make a man a
thief. And above all, I wanted to move
about.
I'm the beginning I stole to travel; then
] traveled to steal.
II determined to master crime in all it's
branches. to be a general practitioner, as
1t were. I speedily learned that this was
impossible, because it would take many
lifetimes.
Il found that I was naturally a pick
pocket, that / was adapted to it. made for
1T. 1t was meter, as the french say. So
l set about mastering that branch of
crime.
"A plckpocket is not made in a day. It
takes long years of practice and study to
become an artist. And while your skill is
~ ~ " " III
the police. A pickpocket generally be-
comes known before he is. an artist.
Il would not make a good burglar. In
the first place, I do not believe in violence.
l nave never carried a weapon. / have
never been a heodlum or a roistarer. I
have always felt within me the conscious
ness that ! was born a gentleman, and
while l was a thief, I could not forget a
certain code of manners.
. all forms of crime that Of picking
pockets scientifically is the safest, the
most attractive and tine most to be de-
pended upon. a. man can work wherever
he happens to be. He "a pick pockets
as easily in Germany as in England or in
Italy. He does not subject himself to
being shot. as does the burglar. And then
1t is a battle of wits: the man whom you
rob has a chance against you. You work
beneath his very eyes.
THE mechanical work of picking a
pocket is the smallest part of it. It is
the planning, the handling of a victim and
the brainwork generally that make the
artist. Sometimes certain men who are
known to carry large sun of money are
selected and a pickpocket may follow him
foq' lays in order to get his money. Blu
more often one doesn't know in the morn
ing whom he may rob before night.
Your skillful pickpocket is never at a
loss for money. IF his funds are exhaust
Co liz XII So - alIla ttiI D"' IA VII
enough for his present needs at least.
I'm business I have always been All in
dustrious man. Thc best thieves in the
country will tell you that I have always
been a hard n steady worker, and for
that reason I have PERHAPS been more
successful tina the others. I have always
used my head as we'll as my hands.
But it is not ~haphaZard work, as most
people imagine. A clever man never works
alone except on rare occasions. A gang
consists of four people. Of these one only
does the work of picking pockets. He IS
known as the tool. The others are merely
stalls. 1t is the business of the stalls to
handle the victim. to make him go this
way and that, and to cover the retreat
of the tool in case of discovery.
STALLS GET AN EQUAL SHARE.
THE work of the stalls is absolutely
necessary, but the best Of them are men
of ordinary intelligence, who could no
more succeed as pickpockets than they
could fly. Yet the proceeds of the thefts
are always divided equally among the
members Of the gang.
when the gang is organized and the
stalls carefully trained in their work-for
each tool, who is the director, of course,
works NATURALIZATION the route is
planned.
The pickpockets' season opens about
May / and closes about October l in the
north. The explanation is simple enough.
In the winter time men wear Overcoats
that are usually kept buttoned, and 1t is
difficult to get at their pockets. TIL PICK
pockets make their harvest in summer In
the winter time they do just enough
grating to use the can't phrase. to meet
their living expenses.
The route is laid out very like that
of a theatrical company. The places
chosen are those where there are gath
erings of people, conventions, fairs, ex-
positions and the like. Some men follow
CircuSaS. but the best men only work cir