Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-07-22
NEwsBoY PIcKPocKETs.
Two Experiences With Thieves. With
an Interval Of Thirty Years.
Nxn,I.S i

an jnIcTVdi OF ItluIy ISdi %
New York SUM-
zone of my earliest experiences in
this city" said a New Yorker of now
thirty odd years standing, was with a
newsboy who tried to pick my pocket;
and among my latest experiences has
been one precisely similar; this last eX-
perience showing, suppose, that l am
getting old and SO have come to be re-
garded as an easy mark again, as l
must have been considered when I was
young and new to the town. The meth
DDS employed by the two boys, working
thirty years apart. were .dentically the
same, the boy in each case attempting
the comparatively simple and easy
pocketpicking task of extracting money
from the outside change pocket of an
overcoat.
"To do this the boy carries his news
papers. to the casual eye. held out In
front of him quite in the ordinary way;
but he actually holds them with the
left hand only, carrying the right hand
under the papers out of sight and APP
parently helping to support them. but
wholly free. Offering his papers to
customer thus the newsboy piekpocket
advances them closer and closer to the
customer with an appearance simply OF
|importuning him to buy, until he gets
the papers close to the mans coat and
over the change pocket. Under the pa
pers thus advanced he puts forth quick,
out of sight, his right hand, with which
to rifle the pocket, IL you leave 1t I'M
protected, tho he may lose a chance by
bungling himself. and so give you
chance.
.This last boy that tried me was a
novice and a bungler, who did just
| that; and felt the pressure of his fin
gers on the coat plainly before he got
into the pocket at all; and I turned on
h M. but not angrily, nor even threat
eningly, but with a sort of reproachful
| and regretful exclamation. Besides be-
J ing chagrined for myself at having been
picked out as easy 1t really seemed a
pity that this youngstcr should have
| deliberately set out, at he seemed TO
have done. on the wrong road; to FOL
low way that, In the nature of things,
could lead to one end only; and am
sure that the boy knew how I felt.
81 don't mean that he figured 1t all
out as exactly as have tried to tell 1t
to you, but he certainly did know in
general sort of way. He started back
with a shamed face. AMI at the same
time with a scared sort of look, as tho
/ he thought / might get after him, after
| all: but when he realized that was
| lust soft-hearted and sorry, and wasn't
going to do anything about 1t, why, tho
| / stood and gazed at him for moment
| he. after his first momentary look OF
shamefacedness and alarm, ignored me
completely, and simply went on Offer
ing his papers to the passersby as tho
III had never existed.
| "He had had good shaking up from
| his failure with me and my discovery
| Of him. and what with his wonder after
| that about how it was going to come
ont: but he was ratified for moment
only. He was a novice, but he was
coming on. The moral Of all this is
| that, while the great bulk OF the news
bows are independent, self-reliant ca
pable little chaps, who are strictly on
| the level, there are among them, more's
| the pity, some who will pick pocket
liz they get a chance: and when you
meet a boy who insists upon working
his papers up close against you, over
your outside change pocket. why OF him
YOU want to fight shy