Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1901-06-26
A LONDON CRIMINAL.
THE FOG THIEF AND HOW HE PLIES
HIS PECULIAR TRADE.

He Operates Boldly Both In the Citv |
and ON the Thames-Carries on His
Plupder From Vans and CABS
shrouded In the dense Gloom.
Thousands Of thieves bong for fog
with a great longing. Incredible as 1t
may seem, property worth tens OF thou
sands Of pounds Is every year stolen
from vans and lorries alone In London
streets. Quite nine-tenths Of this prop
erty disappears during fogs.
The leaders of the fog thief gangs
usually have some little capital to
start with. One of them affects to be
carriage contractor on small scale.
He takes very quiet premises that have
a high boarding round and that are
not overlooked. If he has plenty Of
cellarage, all the better He has at
least one smart trap and horse and
two and sometimes three rOgues to go
with it.
1t is during the late foggy afternoons
and early evenings of winter that the
hauls are made. Streets with ware
houses-and not shops that are lighted
brilliantly and early-on each side and
that are often congested with traffic
are mostly chosen. The small and
smart though dingy and inconspicuous
looking trap plunges into the thick OF
the traffic. 1t soon, in the gloom and
murk, places itself Immediately behind
a van or lorry piled with packages of
various kinds.
The men in the quick trap are all on
the alert. One Of them, man chosen
for his immense physical strength. goes
to the head Of the pony on some pre-
text. He soon has package down
from the van in front. He is provided
with sharp cutting instruments, and be
has a powerful piece Of strap with
hook at one end. If there is boy sit
ting behind the van, the men In the
trap contrive to get him down by d.
verting his attention. Even with a
view to distracting the possible atten-
ton of carriers, the thieves generally
get up an alteration, or barney"
among themselves or with others. They
are men of colossal impudence and
powers of abuse, and all attention be-
comes riveted upon them. In one case
not far from Harrington street last De-
cember they carried off one parcel OF
furs worth f7O0, the wan boy being
temporarily blinded, as alleged, by a
lad with the thieves blowing some
snuff into his face from a pea shooter
and then disappearing.
One of the most notorious Of these
fog thieves was 1.-THE young fellow
who crept along the back Of a pony to
its head, American Jockey fashion, and
hooked what he could from out Of the
van in front.
The great hauls of these men are
when they follow cabs and private car
riages from a railway station. In such
cases they generally use two traps and
horses. A cab is marked that has ap
parently valuable luggage on the top
This Is followed till some dark street
| is reached where the way Is narrow Of
congested: then the driver Of one Of
the traps. that has a very swift pony
harnessed to II. deliberately drives
across the head Of the cab or carriage
horse.
OF course there is an angry alterca
ton, and while this Is going on th'
thieves on the other trap have got int
the immediate rear Of the luggage Ia
den vehicle. One Of the thieves goe'
| along his horses back aud lifts the lug
| gage down.
One of the hauls effected last white
IN this way was worth $4,000 and wa
the property of Mr.. de Silva. an A'gen
tina millionaire. The robbery took Dlac'
not far from st. Pancras' church jus
before the shops were lighted up.
Az the summer sun brings FORT
myriads Of living creatures. so Goes
Thames fog bring out upon the darl
and apparently deserted river a vas
horde of thieves. At least a dom Q
the wharf and lighter owners COR 2lai
of losing from their respective whirve
as much as from one to six huI'dre
pounds worth of coal alone every veal
The reader can learn at any :ivel
side house frequented by tugboa' me
| mat tlere are SCOIcSs htCIuhy S>OA'~ y v
tugs on the river that have Live
bought a pennyworth Of coal for ss'ea
numbers of years. The Thames p"uc
would tell that same reader that :1e
have retired on completeness who hav
been reported to have made their W.T. 81
fortune out of coal stolen with 'H
punity on ,he river.
The police are helpless over the vas
expanse If river and il the labyrinth
Inc back washes. If they raid ore
the pirate boats In the gloom and carl
ness. the spoil is turned out to tn
bottom Of the river in trice. Ii tht
sort of thing can be done to such Il
extent with a commodity like coal.
may be Imagined what befalis othe
valuable property on wharves or
i. lighters.
The fraudulent picker up ct tt
river b.esses the fog. The picker u
Is nan who notices that cettai
bnrges with valuable cargoes are Nv 20
ed In such a way that, IL they broh
loose. they would entail vast expens
The picker up sees that these barge