Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-16
A UNIQUE ROGUE.
system OF Taking Back in Big Stores
Responsible for New Kind of Thief.

System of Taking Back in Big Stores
Responsible for New Kind of Thief.
From the Chicago Tribune
The extent to which the system Of talk
ing back merchandise is carried in Chicago
s'ores mas peen the means of developing a
new class of shop there's" said the head
or the retail goods department In one of
the large stores. These are women who
caieiuiiy price and select goods and steal
them with the direct intention of bringing
them back and demanding the money.
'Of course the professional shoplifter who
returns goods to store which has a du-
plicate article. or even sometimes to the
store from which she took it, is not new.
The temptation is great, as 1t is the only
place where 100 per cent can be obtained on
the goods. But there is also a class of
women who, far from having any suspicion
attached to them, have instead the prestige
OF general good appearance, respecta bility
and perhaps long shopping career in their
favor.
developed a faculty of unloading merchan-
disc which from having become stale or
d2maged upon their hands might reason
ably be refused. They have also become
adopts 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 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 theving proves too much
for some of them, and the next step is to
make a small purchase and purloin two or
three duplicates at the same time. Then
the whole lot is returned, sometimes with
an altered check and sometimes with the
story that the check has been lost.
The first plan is almost sure to lead to
exposure. for the alteration is seldom clev-
erly made: but In the latter case 1t may go
through without suspicion. If this happens,
II is not long before the shoplifter Is get
ting the money on things of value; and
though she may manage 1t cleverly she is
even more apt to be caught when return
ing the goods than when she takes them.
There is usually some little weak point in
her story, or nervousness in the manner OF
telling 1t, which at first arouses suspicion
If this Is the case, steps are taken to see If
the address which is given to get the off
set check is the right one. 1t 1T is not.
then, of course, the person is watched, and
1t is only a question of time until she is
found out.
IF she is smooth enough to give her own
address the exposure Is put off little
longer. 1t 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 instance, case
which was prosecuted not long ago. The
theft was of something OF which there did
not happen to be duplicate in the stock.
"a noticeable thing is the disappearance
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 belong to a respect
able class but they are stealing simply for
the money they can get out of 1t. The wo-
man who steals what she wants Tor her-
self Is extremely rare.