New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-02-22

There are various degrees in stealing. run
ming from the larceny of a two-cent loaf OF
bread through the shoplifting Of 15-cent MADE
tie. hooking" a watch, lifting tray of jewels
burglarizng a safe. shortage in accounts, graft
ing" in municipal service up to and including
the footing in war of city or province But
there is one kind of stealing-a mean, snlvelnS
sort of pecuation-that does not come wlthln
the law or if it does Is not adequately punished.
These who suffer from it describe II as minute
and irritating 1t is mild but tenacious klepto-
mania and the combined action of those af-
e;.ted p,akes II as destructive as the work of an
army of grasshoppers.
The freight agent the first to speak OF
it. ~ have just discharged a messenger AT the
shed {" he remarked, 'for being the worst klhd
of a general nuisance. l have followed Sharply
for txyantv-fye years all sorts of thieves, and
the worst of them all is the thief VINO would
not acknowledge the corn. and who would De
really indignant if you called him by his right
name Memo the fellow in this case. was
glowing example and Primus one of my clerks
~ e,,,en me- a full account of the man. l feel
like firing Primus for not telling me peIore
Ner,o,s duties sent him to all sorts OF places
ona he seems to have sworn oath to h1msei1
that he would never leave without some ht'ie
menento of the visit AS he visited from TWO
hundred to three hundred places week MS
rayages were considerable. He would go TO
fruit Mace transact his business. talk with one
OF the clerks, perhaps, and then take an apple
nv n banana or handful of nuts. He would
reneat this when he went to a provision deaier .
and would take an onion, carrot, beet or
potato He would take a couple or naiis at
hardware place trifes at a notion dealer s ana
fro,, what Primus tells me- the clerks in the OF
fce saw at night he would go home with a Dig
bag of fruit vegetables, nails. notions, Sample
bottles of cod liver oil, sheets of paper tWlhe-
IN fact everything from the whole range Vi tiie
people that use this road.
.yvou,d he steal those things? No, he would
take them while he was talking, or he would
ask for them. He was persistent negsar' ne
would ask for the defective pieces OF crochelS =
so,,ed or defective notions or fancy articles,
soiled dry goods samples, everything that ne
thought he could get Turning down did no
good and he was so persistent that one Oh our
customers wrote that if he was sent out again
we couId expect them to move their freight by
another line So | discharged Memo. When L
told him he was through he whined and was
on the point of reentng. But dld not relent
quickly enough, and he became 1mpudent anu
told me that he an old man, ana dloh
intend to work much longer. but While ne was
at it for the last ten years he had not oought
a bit of fruit or a vegetable He had pam
handled everything"
But surely he is exception?
eff he was should have kept him az curl
osty No. believe that my softening toward
him was criminal Such people never REFORM
He is of the breed that sits in the country
store and eats the dried apples. that shares
anything you have with you, that begs little
here and a little there. Every dealer VIII tell
YOU what he suffers from these people, .e1ther
from the professional or the unconscious MD
bier They only take little. That is true; but
when thousands are taking a little every day
it mounts up
Yes" said Primus, who had just come In.
This week the railroad discharged one of its
men for squandering supplies, and threatened
with dismissal any one who should be caught
taking even a pen from the office.
The agent broke in: THAT reminds me OF an