The Washington herald., 1908-02-18
GIRL TELLS OF CRIME
Annie Smith, Aged Thirteen,
Admits Being Thief.
STEALS $1,000 IN one DAY
Philadelphia Child Also Recites in
Court How She Uses Baby Half
sister when on ThieVing Trip to
New Yorh-DecInrcS She Has stolen
Hundreds Of WeII-Iined Purses.

Philadelphia, Feb 1T want 10 kiss
my mother good-by.'
That was tho end of a portion OF the
turbulent career Of thirteen-year-old
Annie Smith. asserted 20 be a pic1pocket,
when she turned as she was being taken
out Of Magistrate Germans courtroom at
the House Of Detention to-day and threw
her arms about the neck of the poor.
worn little woman who. as she told The
magistrate. "had been walking the streets
day and night for three weeks looking
for her daughter"
As the tale was told before Magistrate
German the world has been very hard on
little Annie
The girl was dressed in a brown tailor
made suit with a modssh hat. and. con-
trasted with the drawn. weeping woman
who has searched for her FOR weeks. she
was trig indeed
'They gave me dope in my coffee in
the morning and they made me smoke
it, she said to the magistrate. ."aud
man named Taylor took me 10 a house
at Eleventh and Buuonwood streets and
and
"Go on. Annie said the magistrate.
looking at her. and Annie went on with
one Of the most remarkable narratives
ever heard in that temple Of strange sor-
rows, while her little ive-year-old half
sister-a baby-which. astounding as il
may seem. was Annie's partner in ad-
venture-listened wide eyed. thumb in
mouth. without understanding and even
aided in giving testimony.
City Hard Place.
Magistrate German said when the hear
ing was over and when Annie was on her
way to the Juvenile Court to be commit
ted TO an institution. that the city was
hard place for children.
Annie. it seems. from what she said.
was early thrown into bad company.
some of whom were relatives. There
was one woman who seems to have
been Annies tutor and who took her
here and there and taught her all the
queer things that she knows And An
ME in the meantime observed and
learned things on her own account.
So. at any rate. she told Walsh. de-
tective. who asked about her doingsi
Under this woman's tutelage. If An
MES tale to the magistrate be true. she
first learned to pick pockets. She
lifted" purse containing two 500
bills from an aged lady in a depart
ment store in New York. The aged
woman cried when she founG out her
loss.
I can't bear to see people cry" said
Annie, and I told her TO drop it, but
she laughed at ne
In this adventure Annie's 1ve-year-
old StepSister was her companio0. as
she was on other similar expeditions.
and the kid" as Annie calls her. was
even taken to disreputable resorts. The
baby wore at Jo-day's hearing the
white ruftied cap and the brown coat
which were found when the Central
Station men broke into a disorderly
house on North Seventh street, and
through which the children were
traced and finally apprehended.
Detective MeetA Mother.
Walsh, a Central Station detective.
told Magistrate German that he met the
mother OF the children. who on her
search for them had been told to go
to Eighth and Buttonwood streets to
meet party who would give her in
formation. The woman had been there.
had seen no one. and had gone 70
Eighth and Market streets. where she
met the detective
Annie was arrested Saturday at Sew
enth and Vine streets in company with
Another Reduction. Get Our Price lis.