The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-12-14
THE FEMALE RAFFLES.
Woman Jewel Thief Dreaded
Criminal-Tricks of the Trade.


"Betwixt the stupidity and forget
fulness OF the women who own jew
els and the cunning Of the thieves
who try to steal them the Police De-
partment has pretty hard time"
said clever detective recently.
women forget where they put their
jewels, and | have known them to
hide them where no self-respccting
thief ever would think OF looking for
them. No small percentage of the
reported jewel robberies simply re-
solve themselves into plain case OF
forgetfulness on the part of the own
er, who has slowed the gems away IN
some outlandish nook or Granny and
allowed the occurrence to slip her
mind. Then the Detective Bureau is
torn upside down In the effort to End
them. | am afraid you would doubt
my well-established reputation for
veraclty, If | were to tell you the
queer places where we have found
jewels supposed to have been stolen.
"But the thieves, after all, are the
ones that exercise the cunning. And
let me say right here that think tho
clCverest criminal in the world is tho
American woman jewelry thief In
the first place the foreigners can't
stand the 'gaff They give up and
squeal or confess. Your American
female thief keeps her nerve. More
over, she has daring to carry out a
plan, and the schemes she devises
will keep any detective chief awake
o. nights. American men are clever
enough, goodness knows, but they
are not In It with the women.
These women are up on every detail
OF their crimes. They even know the
law. They can tell what sentences
they will get If they are convicted.
They can try their own cases as well
as their attorneys.
II suppose you have heard Of
Annie Gleason. She was one OF the
cleverest thieves that ever made
away with jewelry. She Is doing
time now out West, but when she
was dressed up she was as fine
looking woman as you will see any
where. She had long criminal rec
ord in this country, but her cleverest
job was pulled off in England.
"She went into one of the large
jewelry shops of London one day and
asked to see some pearl necklaces.
AS she was a handsome woman and
elegantly dressed, the salesman
trotted out his best. He was still
farther impressed when his prepos-
sessing prospective customer stated
that she was the daughter of a veal
thy American mine owner and was
stopping at the time at the town
house of one of the nobility. She
looked over the collection and fin
ally picked out a necklace that was
valued at 100000. She said she
would not take 1t with her that day,
but would decide either on that or
another rope Of pearls she had ad-
mired.
Annie came back in a few days,
and she was ready for business. So
skilled was her eye that she had been
able to give orders for almost exact
duplication of the necklace she had
man again brought forth his treas
ures. He had to show a few more
this time, and while he had three or
four necklaces spread on the show
case Annie distracted his attention,
quickly substituted an imitation
necklace for the real one and stuck
the genuine one into a lump of wax
she had quietly placed on the under
side of the showcase. The salesman
had not noticed what she had done.
The duplication was so nearly per-
feet that he detected nothing wrong
about the bogus article,
"Of course, Annie gradually lost
interest in that necklace. However.
other one that she admired around
to the address she gave, but she was
not there when 1t arrived. Mean
time her confederate, a bank thief,
now doing time for a crime commit
ted in Baltimore, proceeded to fin
ish the job. He entered the shop,
slipped his hand under the showcase
and raked off the necklace, wax and
all. The strange part Of 1t all Is that
the London jewellers never discov-
cred the theft until months after
ward, and the necklace was around
Annie's neck when she was arrested
for another crime out there In Chi
cago. st Louis Republic.