The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-22
THIEVES AT The PAWNSHOP.
THIRD DEGREE WORKED AT THE
SIGN OF THE THREE BALLS.

Attempts TO Dispose Of stolen Property
to Neutrality-suspicious. on Guilty
Conscience-Women Have More Nerve
Than Men show In Such Conditions.
ave don't get stuck for so much mackerel
now as in former years." said Tender
loin pawnbroker .Mackerel? That's the
three balls phrase for the give-back stun
the articles we have to return to the fly
cops. The thieves used to unload lot
Of mackerel on us, but the topnotchers
among them are becoming afraid OF the
pawnshops and dish their plumber to the
fences almost exclusively nowadays.
There's reason, OF course, The thieves
know that the pawnshops have got dis
agreeably sudden way Of connecting them
selves with the police in these days. I've
got things rugged here, for example, 30
that l can have cop from the station
frame himself in my front door within two
minutes after send In call
"Pawnbrokers and their clerks, too.
have become a heap more acute these days
in sizing up suspicious looking pledgers
There are plenty of people in pawnshops
in New York nowadays who have as good
a general idea of the mugs Of the leading
crooks as most of the Headquarters sleuths
themselves.
That's why the first rate dips and spark
grafters and such keep away from the three
balls plants. They take worse bargains in
dealing with the fences rather than run
the risk of trading with rawnbrokers.
Nevertheless, lot of loot il still offered
at pawnshops by second and third raters
and occasional thieves, and they've got
to be looked out for, We have to put them
through few degrees, if we suspect them.
to straighten them out to our own salts
faction.
when, for instance, seedy looking
duck zephyrs in here and offers to hook
a rock of value away ahead Of his frazzled
front, he's got to be sweated out. The
man who takes the rock looks it over for
long time and sizes up the seed who offers
it good deal out of the slant of his eyes.
He calls two or three of the other en-
ployees of the pawnshop into consultation
and they do lot of muttering and look
ing at the pledger. If the seed has lifted
the piece Of goods, this sort Of thing is liable
to make him begin to shift and wriggle
around, and when he does these things we
feel pretty sure that he has nailed the
boulder somewhere.
when the pledger begins to go to pieces
under the strain of the rear-of-the-shop
consultation and the furtive glances OF all
hands, the man wi tn whom he's dealing
suddenly asks him his name and address,
and this scheme nearly always works.
If the man is thief. he will do one OF two
things, demand the rock and make quick
sneak for it, or, if he's spineless crook,
he'll bolt without asking for the article
he's brought in.
"a few months ago shabby young
chap, some to the bad from drink, passed
me over a finger rock that i instantly fig
ured to be yank. 1t was worth all OF
$500, and could see at once that the band
was too large for any of the sudsed chaps
fingers. u.s.
Il fooled around and fumbled with the
glitterer for about ten minutes, standing
behind the ground glass screen. where he
couldn't see me, and occasionally bobbing
out and looking him over severely. /
fiuttered the pages of an old ledger a lot.
too, to give him the impression that / was
doing some kind of tracing back there
trembly when | suddenly asked him his
name and address. But he pulled himself
together and gave me a name and address
S'Um-let's see,' l said, then, taking a
small street directory OF New York out of
drawer and beginning to flutter the pages.
seventh street as you give, so that
THAT was enough. He was out Of the
door like a streak, l got that ring back
to its. owner. 1t had been nailed from a
guest at Tenderlon hotel by the lad,
Who had been bellboy there, and the fly
rob mn q ma nlh FL no
ring at the time it fell into my hands.
Women thieves still unload most of their
loot at the pawnshops, and they're nervier
and harder to rattle than men. That's
why so few New York pawnbrokers are
willing to accept from women they don't
know pledges that have value out OF
keeping with the manner and appearance
of the pledgers.
Il put a woman in the hot box a while ago,
and got Jared up so that felt sorry for
more than middle aged and Of very ordinary
class, of being thief. She brought in a
fine, old-fashioned brooch of amethysts
and diamonds, worth about $3.50.
"The woman was almost in tatters and
she was drink sodden So began to hand
her the questions. She stood pat, answered
all of my inquiries in order and didn't look
bit alarmed
Il figured it out that it was the drink
that was holding her up: So made a bad
break. | leaned over the counter and i
said to the tattered woman:
Was there anything else in the crib
besides this, Sophy?'
Il was right sore on myself for having
said that before I'd well finished. She lit
into me with market wife's tongue before
I'd chopped out the last word. She grabbed
the brooch from my hand, and then she
stood and walloped my ancestry in a way
that made me ashamed Of EN-.
Then, between ,lppercuts, she sprinkled
in the information that she ID had the brooch
for more than twenty years, that it had
been present to her from her dead mis-
tress when she was out at service, and that
she'd had II in pawn in New York pawnshops
that made my shop look like dog kennel
by comparison.
"She not only handed me that but she
went out and got the cop on the beat to
stand for her. She brought the cop in,
and he told me, grinning that he'd known
the woman for years and that she ALWAYS
hooked her brooch when she got ut the
bottle and always redeemed it when she
got back TO herself.
II then offered to make her a good loan
on the brooch. but she handed me another
layout of verbal swings and counters and
sauntered out with her head in the air
That was one case-nnd there have been
others-where ] had every reason to be
suspicious, and yet where was dead wrong
"We don't often make loans TO people
who are unable, ofIhand, TO name the
amount they want on n pledge. When
N f.nnyy faplS around md yyaptS Ar