Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-20

The number Of pickpockets brought
before city magistrates daily by CEN
trail office detectives Is increasing at
an alarming rate, not only in Man
| haitian, but i'm Brooklyn While the
metropolis has always been more or
less overrun with the nifty CROOKS
| 1t is said on good authority that there
| never was time when so many or
| the '1ight-fingered gentry" have been
nabbed and brought before the bar OF
| Justice.
Every morning there are from thirty
to forty I'm line in the police courts,
| but, strange to say, only very small
percentage of the offenders are held.
This is because the hands OF the mag
istrates are tied by the law which
requires that a pickpocket be actually
caught in the act of ''prigging'
chain or pocketbook before a case can
I be established against him.
Every crosstown car, every subway
or elevated railroad train carries on
each trip five or six of the light
fingered crooks, who know every de-
tective on the force. The detectives
are nearly all portly, well-fed men,
well dressed, wear diamond pins IN
their Colored scarfs and diamond
rings. men of heavy weight, large feet
and florid compilations. They carry
swagger of their regulation stride ana
can be signaled a mile off by sharp
eyed crooks.
1t Is only natural. then, that the lat
ter are not caught red-handed, but
nevertheless they are taken in If only
on the strength that their pictures
are in the rogues' gallery and they
are known to be old offenders The
only technical charge that can be
made against them is that Of dis
orderly conduct and in the majority
of cases there is no ground even for
this charge. Consequently the great
majority are set at liberty few
hours after their arrest and find them
selves free to resume their nefarious
business.
There is little doubt but that the
majority of pickpockets in New York
are systematically educated for their
calling. The existence of pickpocket
schools In the past is shown by ref
erence to the court records and that
there are such institutions of learning
for pickpockets scattered around the
greater city now is apparent to those
who even have a casual interest in
the ways of the willy dips" New
York is Americas center for pick
pocket colleges. There are two very
good reasons for this. The metropolis
immigrants and it is the town where
the money is" Men who have stud
led the problem declare that by far
the greater number of pickpockets in
the United States are the offspring
Of the lowest class of foreign immi- |
grants. Those who follow this trade
do not select small villages. They go
with the crowds. They seek the places
where persons live and move and have |
their being. They are ever on the
alert for the thick roll, the fat purse
and the headlight diamond or real gold
watch.
For many years the police in both
Manhattan and Brooklyn have denied
the existence of the sO-called schools
where children and youth are instruct
ed in the picking of pockets. The
Pinkerton detectives, who have a gen.
eral knowledge everywhere, declare
that such places really do exist, and,
in fact, are increasing rapidly Not
long ago several societies devoted to
the protection of children and the
suppression of crime and vice applied !
to District Attorney Jerome for special
officers to go into the lower east side
and break up the pickpocket gangs. |
The district attorney assigned to this |
duty two Of the men on his staff, |
Detective Daniel j. Reardon being In |
charge. The authority to make ar
rests was given to Reardon, as he was
born and reared on the east side and |
knew it thoroughly.
In a little more than a month he
arrested 1876 pickpockets, securing con-
victiOns I'm court of all but sixteen OF |
the number. Reardon also raided and |
broke up a number of Joints which,
he declared, were nothing less than
schools for pickpockets and shoplift-
ers. Some of these were operated as
cheap saloons, others as billiard rooms
and still others as restaurants or cof- !
fee houses. Boys and girls were found |
there under actual instruction in the
art Of taking pocketbooks, money |
rolls watches and diamonds from the |
person. The instructors, as rule, |
were old hands at the business Of
picking pockets, who had quit the |
work themselves because frequent ar |