The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-06-09
CROOKS EASILY SCARED.
Robbers Who Flee at a Look-Flat
Thieves and Their Maneuvers.

New York SUM-
In all grades of crooks there are Ger
tain peculiarities which are very
marked said an old police detective.
how DO detectives 90 into a crowd of
people and arrest twenty or thirty pro-
Iesslonal pickpOckets in the course Of a
few hours?
There is a popular idea that they
are familiar with their faces. They are
to a certain extent, but it's the way the
plcKpocket acts in a crowd. rather than
his face, which tells the trained detect
I've his character.
FlckpOckets are very easily scared
on. If man who has been marked by
crooks gives the least sign that he sus-
poets what is going on they will drop
MIN like hot cake. I have seen them
mark out man and follow him until
the man happened to turn around and
look one Of them squarely in the face.
Then have seen them drop that man
instantly, although I was morally Ger
tain that he hadn't the faintest suspi-
clon that anything was wrong.
The pIckpocket is afraid Of his own
SHADOW. If he is on a street car and
any one gets on that car who he thinks
KNOWS him he viii leave the car at
once, even If he has no intention of
dong anything wrong. He is afraid Of
people becoming too familiar with his
lace. Then again he figures that If
anything happens on that car. he viii
be held responsible for it, whether he is
innocent or guilty.
The same peculiarities mark the
highWayman, commonly called the
strong-arm man. Here in New York
the strong-arm man usually follows his
victim home and attacks him on dark
street Most Of his victims are drunken
men, because he can the more easily
sneak up behind them and lay them out
with a club. without being seen.
strong-arm man viii run like a
whipped dog If his victim happens to
turn around and get a look at him.
He's too cowardly to kill a man. and
ne won't attack a man who has had a
look at him, as he knows that that man
may Identify him later on.
The fiat thief is the easiest man of
them all to avoid. Just make a rule
never to leave fiat alone The fiat
inner never gets in a fiat, unless he is
quite sure that il is empty. although
mere nave been exceptions to this rule.
he VIII mdneUveT for DAYS some
times before lac makes an attempt at q
place, and a person who is at all OBJ
serving ought 10 know that something
Is wrong. Look out for your place if
you have had men coming to the door
inquirtng for people that you never
heard OF.
Too many peddlers is another sign
Of danger, but the surest sign that your
place is planted is when your door
bel rings a number Of times in a week
and when you press the button to open
the door no one responds.
That means that the thief is trying
TO find out whether you are at home.
When the door opens he knows that
you are, and ne takes his departure. If
you don't answer his ring he win ring
again and usually the third and fourth
time
Then he viii come up stairs and ring
the bell Of the apartment a number of
times. Getting no response he Will omen
the door, and it won't take him long
TO get everything worth having out.
The sooner the people get away
from the notion that locks and chains
Will keep the tLieF out Of the fat the
better Cor them. Fifteen or twenty
minutes at the outside is all that an ex-
pert wants 20 get in any place. 1t
doesn't matter how he does il. il is
enough that he does. The burglar
alarm will keep them out but the lock
never