The Colfax chronicle., 1904-08-13
UNIQUE ROGUE DEVELOPED.
City Stores Taking Back Goods Sold
Creates New Kind Of
Thief.

'The extent to which the system Of
taking back merchandise is carried in
Chicago stores has been the means of
developing new class of shop thieves"
said the head of the retail goods de-
partment in one of the large stores, to
Tribune man. These are women who
carefully price and select goods and
steal them with the direct intention of
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 temptation is
great, as it is the only place where 100
per cent. can be obtained on the goods.
But there is also class of women who,
far from having any suspicion attached
to them, have instead the prestige of
general good appearance, responsibility
and perhaps long shopping career in
their favor.
Perhaps from long practice they have
developed faculty in unloading mer-
chandise which, from having become
stale or damaged upon their hands,
might reasonably be refused. They have
also become adopts in all the little
tricks of the trade, such as buying two
articles of the same lind in which there
is some difference In cost, exchanging
the checks and price marks, and then
returning the cheaper of the two and
getting the money back through the
carelessness of the person in charge, on
the best one. Success in these smaller
lines of thieving 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 simply with the story that the
check has been lost.
The first plan is almost sure to lead
to exposure, for the alteration is sell
dom cleverly made but in the latter case
1t may go through without suspicion.
II this happens it is not long before the
SuOPliltCi ID 6CttiH6 tHC OA
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 manner of
telling it. which at first arouses suspi-
cion-~ If 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 it is not, then of course the person is
watched, and 1t is only question of time
until she is found out
'If she is smooth enough t. give her
own address the exposure is put off a
little longer. 1t is bound to come, how
ever, 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 impos-
sible to guard against which betrays
her. as. for instance, case which was
prosecuted not long ago. The theft of
something Of which there did not hap
pen to be duplicate in the stock.
"A noticeable thing is the disappear
ance OF the old and rich 'kleptomaniac,
who has a husband or relatives that pay
for what she may take. Those whom
We have most to fear nowadays also be-
long to respectable class. but they are
stealing simply for the money they can
get out of it. The woman who steals
what she wants for herself is extremely