The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-19
SCIENCE OF POCKET-P PICKING

H0W THIEVES WORK IN NEH
 21rhe Electric Cars Their Richest Field
 Of Operation.
 For the benefit of those who haven t
 thef privilege of associating with the
 elect of the pocket-p picking craft, 1t may
 sbe explained that the "rattlers are &the electric and cable cars, and that &they are a boon to the profession.
 working the rattlers' is the favorite Hpursuit of the really clever pickpocket
 stoZday, and, in the language of the
 calling game after game is put up and
 w0rked on the cars by wire and
 his stall--that is, by the man who ac-
 tually commits the theft and the com-
 Trade Or comrades who help him. It 7tAkAs certain amount of skill and NY1efVe to make a successful wire, tre-
 inendous coolness and swift and uner- &rirlg touch, but the stall is often the
 cleverer of the two. It is he who spots |MSlGNt NtWOfh, ldyo lHc plPC, liiethS' sN'S
 opportunity. There are men in the pro-
 feesion who have made World-wl rep tatations by their stall work by the
 acheries they evolve and their clever
 ness in carrying the schemes out. It
 iB considered an honor in the profession
 k0 work with one of these stalls, and
 association with him may be the pro-
 xeesional making of a young and ann
 bitious thief. More often stalls of rare
 8kill are found working with "wires" t0f their own ca.liber, and there are
 S6riia combinati of that sort that
 9rg really monumental.
 E Occasionally women assume the role
 pf stall; but as a rule, the men don't fEe to work with them. A really cleV-
 IFS woman pickpocket is diabolically Eelever but few women are what their
 feilows would call good all-around
 3tlI3ss They are at their best in the
 Sia0p sand in the work of relieving oth-
 Sr women of chatelane bags and
 Satchels, but they seldom go in for
 keAvier work.
 One woman known Ito the police as
 sssThe Woman in Black" was an artist &ju bag opening and pocket book filch- Etrg. She seldom failed. She never bun &Rled or got into trouble. At a shop Eollfter she threw piece of goods over tt}1e arms of the woman next her, apolo-
 xfxed left the counter deliberately. In ENfl4e seconds confusion, under cover of
 tl3H piece of stuff, she had opened the #W0man's bag and taken her purse. or 1ide dropped something and stopped to k6ick It tip with smiling apology for 2&Y8ttdfYe her reighbor The result was { 'tha same. She opened bags in crowd, too:alld worked the arttlers and the |E2rrias The police were hot upon her I4Yn3l time after time, but they never &Ut her and year or two ago she dis SHbxared. New York was becoming too
 f&r4n for comfort so, presumably, she A65NRflt fresh fields and pastures new.
 Finder the head of pickpockets come kiIQt yonly the guns who pick pockets, E|3tftSa long list of grafters, the prop 1lfxters, or scarf-pin stealers. the super tters who make a speciality of watch EsS. the stone grafters who are out af- R18r precious stones, particularly in the 2Bhane of studs, the wall-buzzers who WQnaen's pockets and are consd- |ZsTedS SioWVcaste in the profession. A gun I1b is literally picking pockets Is said
 
 Sf6 tict ordinarily very large 3$XV0i1en do not, as rule, carry much |x xkiBfi3y in pockets, and bags are hard to GyH&n Men don't carry their money in FS Sccessible pockets. So the dipper is a 15f11aIf card in the pack unless he hap }f33ns to be an "insider," when he is ace kHigh It is a rare genius who can, in khe slang of the craft, get an 'insider." 2He must unbutton a mans coat and l f6ke the money from an inside waist 2co8t pocket. Few pickpockets can do sfilis, and the man who can is con <sidered past master of the craft He is l& MT Pitrnan grafter-Mr Pltman be- HIT, for some occult reason. the name F8pplied to the long bank note, holders Which are the only form of pocketbook the ordinary man carries.
 N Sometimes, in place of lifting MT. | FPitman, the thief finds paper money in | ia b6pk book, and it is no astonishing 'thing for a very clever gun to lift the Epap per money, leaving the bank book re- posing peacefully in the victims pock- Iet Tt takes phenomenal skill and nerve 'Xo work the game, and the professionals |iCUk with envious admira ton upon the &6W men who are equal to it. Dayton { 36Mmy" can get an insfder, So can \ N NNindy Dick" and Walking Jim,'' but they are universal and versatile F4fliuHes, all-around clever guns. *Ehank Gamble" was an expert, too, but he bungled his last attempt and the police got him.
 5 The stone -grafter is not so lucky as he e8Was In the old days when diamond 8tptly were not relgated to war heelers, bartenders and dead-game sports. Wo- men,s jewelry is so say the guns too 4&eurely fastened, and women are too &&nSitiye to touch too quick to resent 5oGtlii1g The !chatelaine watches, which men have so often called ab- buFdly provocative of thieving are in point of fact an aggravation and a thorn in the flesh of the gun. They Eeok 50 tempting and so easy, and yet they are infinitely harder to steal than \ mans watch carried in his pocket They are securely pinned. Only a wrench can tear them away, and that means hue and cry, unless it hap pens in a very dense crowd. A woman wears the watch upon her breast, which is sensitive to slight touch, and she always resents rough or