The St. Mary banner., 1904-09-10
DEVELOPMENT OF UNIQUE
ROGUE.
System Of Taking Back in Dig STORED


"The extent to which the system CT
taking back merchandise is carried il
| Chicago stores has been the means of
developing new class of shopl
thieves" said the head of the retail
good department in one of the largel
stores. These are WOmea who care.
| fully price and select goods and steal
| them with the direct intention oil
| bringing them back and demanding |
| the money.
"Of course. the professional shop |
| litter who returns goods to a store
which has a duplicate article, or even
sometimes to the store from which
she took it. is not new The tempta.
ton is great, as it is the only place
where 100 percent can be obtained on
the goods. But there is also class
of women who. far from having any
suspicion attached to them. have in.
stead the prestige of general good ap
perance, esDectability and perhaps o
long shopping career in their favor. \
Perhaps from long practice they
have developed faculty of UNLOAD.
ing merchandise which from having
become stale or dana ged upon their
hands might reasonably be refused
They have also become adents in all
the little tricks of the trade, such as
buying two articles of the same kind
in which there IS some difference in
cost, exchanging the checks and price
marks and then returning the cheap
er Of the two and getting the money
back through the carelessness Of the
person in charge on the best one,
Success II these smaller lines Of
thiev1ng proves too much for some OF
them, and the next step is to make
small purchase and purloin two or
three duplicates at the same time
Then the whole lot is returned, some.
times with an altered check and some
times with the story that the check
has been lost.
The first plan is almost sure to
lead to exposure. for the alteration Is
seldom cleverly made: but In the lat
ter case it may go through without
suspicion. If this happens, 1t Is not
long before the shonlifter is getting
the money on things of value. and
though she may manage it cleverly
she is even more apt to be caught
when returning the goods than when
she takes them. There Is usually
some little weak point In her story, or
nervousness in the manneg Of telling
it, which at first arouses suspicion. II
this is the case. steps are taken to see
If the address which is given to get
the Offset check is the right one If
1t is not, then, of course, the person is
watched. and it is only question OF
time until she is found out.
III she Is smooth enough to give
her own address the exposure is put =.
OF little longer It is bound to
come, however. from the fact that
when she has succeeded once. this
class Of thief loses all caution and
thinks she has easy money. 1t is
usually something impossible to guard
against which betrays her, as, for in.
stance, q case which was prosecuted
not long ago. The theft was of some
thing Of which there did not happen
10 be duplicate in the stock.
"A noticeable thing is the disap
pearance OF the old and rich. 'klepto-
who has husband or rela.
ives that pay fer what she may take.
Those whom we have most to fear
nowadays also belong to a respectable
lass, but they are stealing simply for
he money they can get out OF It. The
who steals what she wants for
lerself is extremely rare."-Chicago
Tribune.