The sun., 1908-05-24
THE PlCKpocREPs ANCESTRY
Churches and Theatres Formerly HIS Favor
Ito Places OF Operations.


Ito Places Of Operations
The pickpochet. though he has had many
names. has always been prominent men,
bcr Of tho criminal fraternity. In the days
Of Queen Bess and her Stuart SUCCESSORS
purses were carried at the side hanging
down from the girdle, and the connection
being easily out they formed tempting
booty Nor the -cutpurses.' as they were
commonly called.
The skilful rasoas who did the trick,
says the London Globe we're also known
as "foiets.' or @nips," while the purse was
-bung" and the knife with which 1t was cut
was called a -cuttle.' Cutie" comes from
q Latin word for q knife. from which same
root is derived the modern outlass. The
anip's' knife was short. strong and crooked.
and on his thumb the operator wore horn
thimble.
The piokpockets OF these times did not
lack for impudence. Churches and theatres
seem to have been favorite places for the
operation Of the fraternity. A divine Of
Charles rs time in the course of sermon
took occasion to remark upon the impudence
Of those thieyes who burst cut purses in
prayer time in the Kings Chappell, his
majestic being present and under the cloth
Of state" The middle walk of old st.
Pauls Cathedral was another favorite
resort Of pickpockets. Up and down the
splendid nave Of the fine old church, which
perished in the great fire Of London, passed
q constant stream Of people No regard
whatever was paid to the sacred character
Of the building
At the theatres. where the accommoda-
ton was very rough and the people stood
or sat crowded together, the light fingered
n
business. When one Of these gentry was
caught in the act IL was customary to
tie him to q post on the stage 80 that all
might see and be familiar with his face.
thieves detected in their vilany were
publicly whipped and then driven out of
the place.
There was no lack of boldness on the part
of English thieves, whether they worked"
In the streets of London or infested the high
ways-@high lawyers" these were called--in
the open country; but few Of these rascals
equalled in impudence pickpocket who was
caught in the famous fair of st. Germain
at Paris in 1893.
This gentleman, in all the bravery Of the
most fashionable attire, came into the fair
at night attended by four lackeys dressed
in handsome liveries. But notwithstand-
ing his sartorial splendor the knave was de-
tected in the practice OF pocket picking;
his "lackeys' drew their swords in his de-
fence, but in vain, Tor This early memDer
Of the swell mob" was taken and delivered
into the hands Of Justice, which. says the
narrator. rather grimly, lis here sudden
and no jest
In the time Of Queen Anne and the
Georges the London pickpooket was known
as oliver The hanging purse had gone
out o. fashion and could therefore no longer
be cut. The picspocket had to resort to the
moro delicate operation OF searching the
victims pocket for the purse or other pos
sble plundor. and this was aptly termed
diving" light fingered character in the
aBe1gar's Opera" WIS called Jimmy Diver.
Gay describes tho diving process:
Here dives the skulkine thief with practsd siegh,
And unfet fingers make thy pocket light:
Where's now thy watch' With all Its trinketS, hown
And thy late snuffhox Is no more thy own.
But II the rascal were caught then he was
DRAGGED to the pump and well soused.
The "diver" in later days has been known,
with equal appropriateness as the dip or
"dipper." Some forty years or so ago the
we'll known Vance rsed to sing once pop
ular song called THE Chickaleary Bloke,"
and in this the hero says:
on to Paris shall 60 to show a thing or two
To the dipping blokes wot hangs about the cafes.
Names change, but the pickpocket re-
mains and pursues his business with a skill
and dexterity which IL directed into more
honorable channels would assuredly earn
an ad6uuate az we'll as q safe reward.