St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-07-05
COSTLY POCKET IN ovERC0AT.
That in Which Small Change May BE
Pot IL a Great Temptation
to Thieves.

One OF the MANIFEST pOckctS III oil
o%vercoat, whether the garment be for
spring, fall, or winter, is the little
thumb-and-tinger pocket on the out
side of the coat, and which lies just
on a line with a mans s%uspender but
tons on the right side.
And yet this little thumb-and-finger
pocket in the 100000 ~overcoats worn in
Chicago costs Chicago men $4,000 a
year, putting the figures at a low esti-
mate, says the Tribune. How and
why?
At least 10000 men within the last
few weeks have changed from winter
listers to spring ~overcoats. How
many of these men, feeling in the
thumb-and-finger pocket from force of
habit, found from five to As cents in
them? How many found quarters, and
dimes, and pennies, and car tickets?
The fact is, that of all pockets in
mans clothing, this small pocket in an
overcoat is most "eNanescent and I'M
certain in his memory. His trousers
pockets, side and back, are in constant
use; his vest pockets and the inside
pockets of his cutaway coat r essen
tial every day; his gloves and a hand
kerchief occupy the two big pockets of
his top coat OF either side. And only
when it is cold or windy or wet is man
prompted to put his small change in the
small pocket of his overcoat. And when
he has put it there in Chicago there are
< mn rorc1~c ~ <hA 1s%- 1ryh1 - no 1r11-
ing for it.
Checking overcoats at hotels, res
%taurants and theaters is a growing
custom in this city, and it would startle
even a pessimistic statistician to know
how many dimes, quarters, nickels and
pennies are distracted in a year from
these pockets. Not one man in fifty
who puts change in this pocket could
swear that he put it there. 1t is change
from a piece paid for carfare, nearly
always; if not that, it is a coin put into
that pocket with which to pay fare, and
which is forgotten when the passenger
on a a reaches finally for the change
in a trousers pocket. Not one man in
ten, no matter how methodical he may
be, ever is SURF of the contents of that
pocket, and if he reaches for a coin
there and doesn't find it, he is nearly
always satisfied. Even if he feels sure
of having put it there just before check
ing his coat, the possibility that a pick
pocket may have got it is SO plausible
that the victim cannot say anything.
For one of the easiest jobs for the
small pickpocket is furnished by this
small slit in the ordinary o%vercoat. A
crowded circus, horse show, game or
sportsmen's show, or fat stock show
are gold mines to these small workers.
Crowding in between men this small
pocket is picked without the smallest
chance of detection.
In sleeping cars and in parlor cars
dishonest porters receive many an in
voluntary tip. The passenger goes to
the station in a hurry, and his change,
for convenience. is put in this pocket
as he receives it from the street car
conductor. A dishonest porter can
pick out this change with the traveller
looking at him and there will be no
chance of detection.
Last winter a Chicago man rode to
Dearborn station in a street car, and,
owing to the cold, put the two dimes
received from a quarter into this one
d~istrusted pocket. Before he got into
the sleeping car southbound, he felt
that he would remove those dimes.
But he didn't. He hung his coat to one
of the hammock hooks, sat and read
for awhile; went into the smoking
room for five minutes, and then, COM