Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-21
WITH STOLEN GOODS

Probably less stolen property drifts to
the Washington pawn shops than In some
of the large commercial cities' said a
Washington pawnbroker. but all of us
have occasional experiences with thieves
There are various methods employed by
pawnbrokers and their employees to reach
a determination as to articles offered as
pledges which they suspect have been sto-
len. When, for instance a man comes in
here and offers as a pledge a piece of jew
elry, the value OF which seems incom-
patfble with his exterior, we have a little
way or two Of sweating him out that soon
convinces us Of his honesty or the lack of
1t. In the first place. we subject him to
rather long delay while we examine, be-
hind the counter, in position in which We
can't be seen, the article that he has sub
mltted Tor loan. If the man has stolen
the article We have under examination. he
Is more than liable to begin to shift and
wrtggle about neryously and thus indicate
his suspicion that We are taking certain
measures to have him apprehended. Some
of the thieves, however, are. crafty enough
to stand this test, being pretty confident
that pawnbrokers are not going to take
chance on sending for the police unless
they have the most excellent reason for
believing that their customers are abso-
lutely crooked. But great majority or
them, when we daily around the back or
front of the shop with the article they have
offered, go to pieces under the strain. This,
of course, is never infallible test as to
mans honesty, for good many per-
fectly honest men are bound to exhibit
more nervousness or fmpatience in pawn
shops than anywhere else.
IF. however. the man appears to be quite
unduly nervous and impatient, we ask him,
suddenly, his name and address before max
ing him any sort Of offer ON the article
he has submitted, and this scheme nearly
always works. If the man is thief, he
will do of two things. Demand the
tfcle and get out with great abruptness, or
simply bolt without waiting for the piece
Of property he has offered to pawn. They
are not often so ratified, however, as to
bolt without taking with them the article
that they have come in to pawn, for the
| reason that they know perfectly well that
we have no right whatever to hold their
property in the absence of positive proof
that the stuff has been stolen, and this, Of
course, we seldom or never have, unless
we get hold of articles for which police
alarms have been sent out All the same.
the unnerved thieves who bolt for 1t when
they feel that they are under suspicion do
bob up occasionally.
Zone Of them, a co.ored lad, who ap-
peared to be somewhat the worse for drink.
left a $500 diamond ring in my hands in
that way a little more than a year ago.
began putting him through the third de-
gree as soon as he passed the jewel over
to me, for 1 was convinced that he had
stolen 1t. He looked pretty shaky by the
time got to the point where 1 asked him
his name and address before making him
any offer on the ring. but he pulled HIM
self together and contrived to give me a
name and address
LETS see.' 1 said. then, taking a small
street directory of the city from my pocket
and beginning to scan the pages. There's
no such number on 4th street southeast,
and
THAT settled it. He was out of the door
like a streak. AS a matter of fact, there
was such a number on 4th street southeast.
but that is another Of the little tests to
which We are compelled to subject persons
whom we suspect of being thieves. If
they're all right, they'll come right back
and Indignantly repudaate our statement
that there's no such address. and tell us
that We don't know what we are talking
about. But If they're thieves, whether
they've offered a correct address mere
ly mentioned an address at random the
demand their piece of loot, or like this
colored lad. bolt for 1t. 1t was very easy
to trace the ring which the black boy had
left in my hands. 1t had been stolen from
ployed as a bell boy. The boy was appre-
hended later and sent away. If. instead of
collapsing, he had demanded the ring when
l began questioning him. I'd have been
bound to give it to him unless I knew posi-
lively at the time that the police were
searching for the piece of jewelry, and he
could have taken it to some place, perhaps.
where less care is used in dealing with sus-
pected ones and probably have disposed Of
it. But If the crooks were all crafty
enough to do these things just right there
be no criminal courts nor penttenttaries
nor, for the matter of that, any protection
for honest men.
I'VE rarely make loans to persons who
are unable, offhand, to name the figure
that they want on property that they sub
NIT as pledges The man who is unable
to reply direct to the pawnbroker's Ques-
ton How much? may be set down a
thief in most instances. The fellow who
feels around and wants to find out what
a pawnbroker Is willing to loan on an ar
ticle may, in most cases, be accepted as not
knowing the value of the article he is at
tempting to pledge. and it Is always fair
presumption that If he doesn't know the
value Of 1t he hasn't come by 1t in a
straight way. 1t is always up to the man
with the goods to name the figure that he
expects to receive his stuff in a pawn
shop. Last fall, during the races, a fellow
with shifty eye came In here with very
valuable sapphire scarf pin, surrounded by
diamonds. 1 asked him. with only glance
at the pin, what he wanted on it.
about &c. he replied. and then added
the question: What's it worth, anyhow?
plainly showing that he didn't know the
difference between the fine piece of jewelry
and something that he might have got out
of a nickel package of lemon drops.
".About six hundred said 1. and for a
second or so I thought the man was going
to fall down, he looked amazed.
"'Well.' he said. after ne had recovered
himself, you can let me have two three
hundred on it, can't your
"I'n see I told him. and he was so
plainly a thief, and clumsy one. at that
that I put the machinery in motion to have
an officer sent around to the shop imme-
diately. He reached the place within three
or four minutes, while I kept the thief in
conversation. He was a detective who
knew what was doing, and as soon as he
saw the pin he recognized 1t as one that
had been nabbed from a drunken man re-
turning from the races ON the day before
the loser, of the piece Of jewelry had re-
ported it's loss that morning. The detective
had the steel cuffs on the fellow VINO mad
tried to pawn the pin with me for about
six dollars, in something less than jigtime.
Singing in the Army.
There is evidently difference of opin-
ion among army officers to the value or
utility of singing part Of the rountine