The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-31
The Lady and Her Shopping Bag
The Indianapolis Pursesnatche His
Pocket Woman

crowded with shoppers and women. for the
most part, have large sums OF money upon
them.
bags snatched has nobody to blame but her
self, for every time she carries one she
makes tempting offer to the first thief
she meets. have found that many of the
men who do this kind of work are those
who at the time are hungry and destitute.
1t is certainly very tempting offer for a
hungry man to satisfy his appetite when
he sees a woman coming sauntering down
the street carelessly carrying one of these
shopping bags that contains her pocket
book.
''The reason that you hear so much COM
plant of this kind of thieving from the
larger cities is that the streets and stores
in such places are more crowded all the
time than the local stores and streets are.
Take this city for instance. Only very
shrewd criminal can snatch a bag and get
away, for the instant the woman discovers
her loss and spreads the alarm four or five
men will be on the track of the thief. OF
course, if she does not at once discover her
loss, as has sometimes happened, he will
have every chance to escape detection,
and in this way get free.
IF. however, she detects him Immediately
he has to run at a pretty good clip to get
away. In the larger cities the crowds on
the streets are so dense that If the thief
can get three or four steps ahead he is
''The principal trouble that we have in
this city is with the holdup men, who lie
late from shopping. They will generally be
encountered with a load of bundles and
carrying their wrist bags loosely. little
thinking of the da niger they are walking into.
The highwayman has simply to step from
his hiding place. give the wrist bag one
hard jerk and dodge down the first alley,
when ne Is safe.
"In q city of this size a detective can
very readily detect pickpockets with little
trouble from their actions In the first
place. they generally go in pairs. and will
l1x air To ripyhf in x1ha he
is the most dense and jostle each other.
I'm the miXup that follows somebody is
the loser. Now. a detective, during the
holiday rush, never gets in the crowd. but
watches from the edge Of it. There is al
ways more than one of them and they get
at each end and watch all maneuvering
from there If they see anybody beginning
the joStling game they know what is uD,
and Will so right 10 where it is, and there
the pickpocket viii be found.
THEY OBSERVE WARNINGS.
II Will say that the people of Indian
apois are much shrewder than those of the
average city, for they pay attention to the
warnings given them by the police. During
the holidays when we tell them To look out
for pickpoekets they do so and take the
precautions that we tell them to. i'm doing
this they save themselves often from losses.
and the number of hand bags that are
snatched from women is remarkably small
when the number of them that are carried
is taken into consideration.
''Of course, women lose more money by
having it snatched than men do, for the
simple reason that they do not have as
convenient a way 10 carry their purses As
n general thing men-are never robbed while
shopping. and. if sober. man seldom has
his pocket picked; but once in while. even
with all of the shrewdness that the aver
age man displays, he Will be touched.
The detective, however, will rest easy
far the wrist bag snatcher is con-
cerned, for there Will be no more OF that