The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-02-15
THE KLEPT0MANIAC
IN SOCIETY.

Here's a state of thingsi Society wo-
men, says the New York Herald,
suspect one another of being klepto-
maniacs. Wherever they gather to-
gether they are so sure of the presence
of a wolf in sleeps clothing that host
esses lock up their jewel cases when
women guests are expected, and the
guests themselves, wary of one an
other, hide their furs and other valu-
ables in dark corners of the dressing
room.
1t isn't the servants they distrust,
but one another, and the doubt as to
the culprits keeps them in a state of
suspense. OF course, no one of their
set would really steal-steal is too
vulgar a name-but if one of the elect
happens to fancy something which is
at hand and surreptitiously walks off
with it the loser does not find balm
in calling the offender a kleptoma-
MAC.
The note of alarm was sounded early
in the winter when at an afternoon
card party a woman lost her fur coat.
She was among the last of the guests
to depart, and when she went to the
dressing room the maid put her into
a coat which she supposed to be hers.
Being busy talking with some of the
other guests, she didn't notice the diff
ference until she was alone in her car
riage, and then suddenly she realized
that the coat felt queer. On inspection
she discovered that though it was like
it, it wasn't her coat, and she was driv-
en- directly back to the house, where
she told her hostess that some one had
gone off with her coat by mistake. The
hostess sympathized, and at once tried
to help the woman think who out of the
fifty guests present might be the own
er of the coat. Several names were
mentioned as possibilities, when the
hostess suggested that the other wom-
an had probably discovered her mis-
take, and would come to her at once
to rectify it, so the first woman must
not be disturbed, but go home and wait
for the thing to straighten itself out.
But 1T didn't straighten itself out that
day or the next, and the guest found
herself with coat on her hands which
not only did not fit, but was vastly in
ferior to hers. Inquiry and even search
among the fifty guests led to nothing
speculation as to who the offender
could be. They all talked about it,
and the hostess talked most of all,
bewailing the fact that so unfortunate
thing should have taken place in her
house.
The woman racked her brains, and
finally hit upon the idea of going to
her furrier about it. She asked him
if there was any possible way he could
identify the coat. 1t bore no outward
sign of the maker but his expert eye
recognized it as one of his. He made
similar coats, he said, for dozens of
women, and this was a model for two
years before, but there would be no
difficulty in placing it, for, to avoid
confusion in the workroom while the
garments were in the process of MAX
ing, he required the skins selected to
be marked on the smooth side with the
purchasers name. AS the marking was
done in ink, it was only necessary to
rip open the lining to settle the mat
ter. This was done, and the name of
the hostess of the card party was re-
vealed.
Later, when accused of it, the hostess
confessed she had a mania for taking
things which appealed to her, and she
had long preferred her friends coat to
her own. She was so repentant and
begged so hard not to be exposed that
the woman has kept silence ever since,
to the mystification of the card play
ers, who see her these days in her own
coat.
In the most fashionable town near
New York a hostess recently discov-
cred a guest alone in her dressing
room with a jewel case, which she had
taken from the table, open in her hand.
The guest put it down with some COM
ment on how beautiful the workman
ship was, and the hostess thought
nothing about it. until some weeks aft
erward, when she was looking for a
ring which she rarely wore. 1t could
not be found; the servants denied any
knowledge of it, and.the awful thought
occurred to her that it had been taken
by the woman she had seen with the
case in her hands. Weeks passed be-
fore she made up her mind what to
do, and finally she went to the woman
and asked for her ring. The woman
broke down and confessed she had
taken not only that, but other trinkets.
The hostess recovered her property,
but she did not keep still. She thought
If there was person with such a pro-
pensity it should be known and then
persons would know where they were
or where she was. So she nosed it
abroad, with the result that some per-
sons continue to entertain the klepto-
maniac and others do not
Women who recognize this fact say
little, but they take the precaution
when they remove their costly furs. to
hide them behind cushions, or back of
bookshelves or anywhere out of sight
of the covetous. AS for their card
cases or purses, the wise never put
them down but tuck them into their
gorgeous silver or gold danplipO no erS