The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1908-05-14
The Shoplifter.
copyright, 1901

I
aud female. but especially the latter.
He was man that never forgot a
face. He also had a large stock of in
tuition. This last often aided him In
spotting guilty parties and bringing
them to Justice In England shoplift-
ing means certain imprisonment when
detected and an arrest made by a reg
ular police officer.
Inspector Hammond had the run of
twenty large retail establishments. but
was known only to the managers. All
complaints came directly to him, aud
at any hour in the day convenient to
him he was at liberty to stroll through
the stores and mingle with the GUS
toners. Sometimes a salesman could
give him a description Of the suspect
ed party, but oftener than not he had
only his intuition to guide him. In
time he came to be 90 dreaded that
shoplifting babe fair to be a lost art.
but there was always daring man
or woman ready to pit wits against
his. After making hundreds Of ar
rests and winning fame for himself be
met his Waterloo.
In one Of the big London department
stores. after . period Of ninety days in
which not case Of thievery had been
reported. q shoplifter suddenly began
plying her art It was judged from the
arst that she was . woman. She
Gifted" cloaks, furs, untrimmed hats,
gloves, petticoats, handkerchiefs and
other things Of female wear. and she
did it 90 deftly that the inspector had
an admiration for her. Her shoplift-
ing extended to other stores and to
jewelry Establishments. She went the
rounds Of ten or twelve Of them.
The first description Of the suspected
party was that of good looking, mid
die aged woman, we'll dressed and
seeming to have plenty Of money. The
second was that of a woman fifty
years old and dressed in mourning.
The third was that Of young woman
of thirty. evidently living in some sub
urban town. There were three or four
other descriptions. and none of them
exactly agreed as to color of hair and
eyes. The inspector smiled over them
and made up his mind that he had got
hold of a cute thief. He believed that
all the descriptions applied to the one
woman. That they varied so much was
owing to the fact that she was go good
at disguise. He believed the first de-
scription to lie correct one and that
the woman must return to it sooner or
later.
The inspector owed much Of his sue
cess to his disguise. He never visited
an establishment twice in the same
makeup. II he was man about town
one day. he was farmer the next. IL
he was a mechanic asking for a pound
Of nails one day. he was an old woman
looking for cheap handkerchiefs the
next It was these DISCUSSES that
struck terror to the hearts Of the aver
age shoplifters. They never could tell
that the person at their elbow, q man
or woman. was not the dreaded Ham.
mond.
He expected trouble from the woman
Of DISCUSSES. and he had 1t In plenty.
She piled her trade right under his
nose. She got the goods and got away
time after time. In one store she was
credited with forty acts Of thievery.
Hammond gave up all other cases to
follow her trail. For three long months
she succeeded In evading him. One of
her DISCUSSES during that interval was
the habiliments Of a man. She was
youngish man, a middle aged man and
an old man by turns.
A French detective came over on an
old case that Hammond had followed
unsuccessfully. He had the records Of
1t In an old notebook in trunk in the
garnet In Kensington. He had a wife.
but no children. and lived in a moder-
ate, modest way. His natural DISPOSE
ton was secretive. and it was seldom
that even his wife could draw any
thing out of him about his cases. She
had to go to the newspapers for most
of her information. The doings of the
crafty snoplifter and Hammond's Ill
success in making an arrest had been
duly chronicled, but very little talk had
passed at home.
The Frenchman called at the yard
and let it be known what he wanted,
and the Inspector went home in the
middle Of the afternoon to get the
notebook. He found his wife absent
and let himself in with his latchkey.
In the garnet of the house were three
or four old chests and trunks. together
with other rubbish, and none of the
receptacles was locked. The man drew
one of the trunks to the middle of the
floor and began his search. After a
quarter Of an hour he discovered that
he had got hold Of the wrong trunk
and therefore dragged out another
The first thing his eyes rested on after
lifting the cover was lot of the stuff
he knew had been stolen. He at once
examined the two other boxes and
found them literally TANNED full Of
plumber.
No man can tell what his feelings