The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-19

in more tightly in the contrary case
 and does not have time to discover | his mistake.
 | Scarf pins, or props" are favorite
 with craftsmen, and there are various
 ways of stealing them. The rattler is the great place for such work. Two stalls board a car and spot their mark pick out their victim. Further along the wire gets on the car and the stalls give him the tip. The car is crowded The victim is standing. So are the thieves. One of the thieves lurches as the car starts and falls forward upon the mark He has been consuming quantities of garlic. His face is thrust into that of the man wearing the costly pin.
 The garlic is too much for the gen tleman, and he instinctively turns his head away to avoid the offensive breath, Quick as flash the wire stand ing beside him reaches for the pin and captures it. The offening garlic eater straightens himself up and apologies, the wire drops off the car The gen tleman doesn't miss his pin until he reaches home, or, if he does, the stall is as innocent as lamb, and there IS no way of proving that he had any thing to do with the theft. Garlic is good friend to the pickpocket, and is used with excellent results. It is a brave man who will not turn his head to escape it, and that gives the grafter his golden opportunity.
 A newspaper will do good execution on a crowded car too. The pin may I~,a 1f tl, the edge of a paper in the hands of an innocent-loolSing passenger; or, once more, man may lurch forward against a victim-no one can be sur prised at that in a cable car or troll ley, or resent 1t. The unsteady man has been absorbed in his paer. As he plunges against the man with the val uable pin, his newspaper covers the entire shirt-front and cravat, and, un- der cover of it, delft hand lifts the prop"
 Occasionally the thing doesn't work. As a gun who was finally jailed re- marked in regard to one deal of his that fell through. we went out to work the rattlers, and spotted guy, but just as I wuz goin' to make a touch for his prop. he screwed his nut, and there was tumble, so I had to take it on lam." To translate, he was just aboutsto steal the scarf-pin, when the man turned his head and grasped the situation, and the thief had to cut and run
 Usually grafter of one sort fights shy of one of another sort The big men go from one place where a crowd is gathered to another They all know one another. If a stone-grafter finds himself in a crowd with a super getter he clears out and hunts up another part of the crowd. He knows he is a suspicious character and probably known to the police. Even if he doesn't blunder himself the super-grafter may or the victims of the super-getter may raise hue and cry, and suspicion may fall upon him. He probably has stolen property somewhere about him, and conspicuous notoriety is the last thing of which he Is desirous and he goes off where he can take his own chances and work alone.
 A very handsome woman makes eood stall if she is clever as well as good looking. The one object of a stall
 
 with nine men out of ten. handsome woman with flirting eye, will accom- pish that result as effectively as the cleverest stall scheme. Unfortunately for the wires beautiful women thieves are not plentiful, and, as a rule, the women guns are not of a type to chain a fastidious mans attention.
 One old old dodge still worked by stalls, is to walk rapily just in front of a mark and suddenly drop some thing, stop abruptly and stoop to pick the object up Of course, the man be- l hind stumbles. There is q. moment of confusion, and in that moment jewelry or money changes hands.
 Though the ordinary guns usually have their specialties and stick to them, the more famous professionals get any thing, they go after and adjust their game to the opportunity. Such thief ! often takes everything within sight, | and the man who comes in contact with | him is likely, in thief parlance, to lose his front, that is, to lose scarf-pin, | watch, charm and any money he may have in his waistcoat.
 A pickpocket sooner or later is sure | to lose his skill and have to confess himself a back number, coming down | to moll-buzzing and easy graft. Age and often dissipation tell upon nerves md self-control, and when the swift, sure touch and the steady, iron nerve | 'ails Othellos occupation is gone. But | l younger generation is constantly ris- ng to fill the vacant places, though the J guns, or old lags, as old crooks are ,alled, insist that the present day loesnt produce such artists as the old mes turned out.-From the New York Sun.