Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-16
NEW YORK GOSSIP
Surveillance of the Police and
the Fences"
ANSWER TO A PROBLEM
SILVER PLATE IS QUICKLY MELT
ED UP OCCASIONALLY.
Specialists and Experts in Receiving
the Plumber and
Loot.
ANSWER TO A PROBLEM
Special Correspondence of rhe Ereninc Star


1t would scarcely be correct to say that
the large number of fences in and around
greater New York are under the actual
protection Of the police, but it is strictly
exact to state that all of them are under
the constant surveillance of the police au-
thorities. No effort Is ever made to break
the FENCES up and put them out of busi-
ness by the police unless the circum-
stances are exceptional-unless, in fact,
the proprietors are found to be guilty Of
ble-dealing with the police.
The fences are really Of the greatest
possible aid to the police of this commu-
nifty. 1t is to them that the detectives first
repair when sent in quest of reported
stolen goods. The headquarters detectives
recover hundreds OF thousands of dollars
worth or loot every year from them. The
proprietors, often shrewd thieves them
selves who have retired from active thiev-
cry TO go into the more profitable business
of buying up the loot of their active fell
low-workers in the under world of the
powers that prey, rarely make any attempt
to secrete their purchased plumber from the
detectives. 1t Is when the police catch the
proprietor In the act Of holding OUT
them. as the concealing of hunted for plum
der is called, that the fence" proprietor
Immediately finds himself in trouble that
has no end In that case he Is raided, ar
rested, bounded from pillar to post rail-
roaded to prison a receiver of stolen
goods more often than not, and forever de-
barred from again starting in business in
New York a barterer with thieves Thus
1t happens that 1t is only once in great
while that fence" proprietor will take
the chance of trying to deceive the police.
Those, however who act in good faith in
their dealings with the police authorities,
and who manifest a proper willingness, not
to say eagerness to show the detectives all
of their most recently purchased loot, are
never interfered with, and go on from year
to year doing business at their old stands.
1t will be wondered how, if the fences"
are on such close giving-up terms with the
police, the proprietors of them contrive to
make such fine thing out of their business
for it is a known fact that many of the
proprietors Of New York fences" are very
wealthy men. There IS no problem in this
1t is all a matter of the fence" proprietors
being too quick for the police in the dispo-
sition of the plumber which they purchase
usually at about one-twentieth It's actual
value, from the thieves.
"The First Question"
The detectives touring the fences" in
search of reported stolen articles simply
inquire of the proprietors:
Have you got this stuff?"
They make it point of sort of unwrit-
ten honor not to ask such a question as
this:
Did you have this stuff and get rid OF
When the first question is put to the pro-
prietOr he will, in nine cases out of ten,
produce the plumber If he has it in his pos
session. If. however. he has really had
the loot in his possession, and disposed of
1T before the arrival of the police, he is
not called upon to reveal that fact to the
police. He feels, as they (the police) feel,
that if the fence proprietor actually has
not the reported stolen goods in his pos
session at the moment the inquiry is put
to him it is the business Of the police to
look farther and not ask him any more
questions. This is the rule established by
long usage and custom. proprietor may
have sent away only few minutes before
thou sands of dollars worth of goods OF
which the headquarters detectives are in
search. but when they arrive and ask him
If he has the stuff he is not required to
state whether 1t ever did come into his
possession. He simply replies that he
hasn't the loot, and then the police go on
about their business to trace the plumber
as best they may, so that the amount of
loot he has to surrender is in very small
proportion to the amount that he gets rid
of at large profits. Inasmuch too, as the
preprietorS drive the most tnconce1vably
sharp bargains with the thieves. getting
from them the stuff for which they have
risked their liberty and lives for little or
nothing. 1t is no very great setback for
them when they are obliged to surrender
occasional patches of loot to the police.
Quick Transactions.
The modern fence" proprietor Is fully
alive to the Importance Of quick transac-
lions, especially when he is operating In a
city in which the police are SO quickly on
the trail Of stolen goods as they are in
New York. When a thief brings to the
fence" for instance, a quantity OF silver
plate, the fence man does not, in these
days, tuck 1t away on a shelf to await
leisurely disposition, for he knows that at
any hour the detectives are liable to drop
around and ask him II he has the plate in
his possession In such case he almost
always makes a hasty trip to some other
city with the stolen goods neatly tucked
away in his baggage. and gets rid of 1t in
bargains with dealers with whom he is on
close business terms. These dealers, by the
way are, Of course nothing but a sort of
second hand fences themselves, but they
are. nevertheless, nearly all the owners of
legitimate business establishments. who.
however do not find 1t incumbent upon
them to inquire too closely us to the char
acter of the persons from whom they pur-
chase secondhand goods.
If the fence proprietor finds II incon-
venient to make hurried trip out Of the
city to dispose Of the silver plate. he puts
it in the melting pot just as soon as he
gets it, so that by the time the detectives
arrive with their inquiries the silver plate
is converted into bar silver. Nor is he re-
ouired by the detectives. In such melting
pot case to state that he has converted the
silver plate into bar silver. The bar silver
may be in plain view of the detectives while
thav ara asking their questions. but when