The Dickinson press., 1909-03-06
THE THIEVES Of JAPAN.
ingenious Rascals, Among the
CIeverest In the World.
ONE OF THEIR FOXY TRICKS.

The Method BY Which They stsai the
Shoes on the Wemsn's Feet In the
Public strssts-How Z Missr's Money
Ghost Was earsd and Looted.
An Englishman entered a first class
ear Of one of the railroad trains that
run between Tokyo and Yokohama.
He was a little red In the face and ap-
parently ruffled in temper. He had
lust discovered that his pocket had
been picked in the station, and he ex-
claimed bitterly against thieves In gen.
eral and Japanese thieves IN particu-
hr.
AntAmerican who had been engaged
In Yokohama for q number Of years
noticed the Englishman's quandary.
Turning round to me, he said: "Our
English friend seems d bit excited. II
he growls at having his pocket picked,
what would he say If he had the shoes
stolen of his feetT"
'.That Is clearly an impossibflity." l
laughed.
II don't know about that" he re4
turned. 1T may not happen with our
western style Of shoes, button and
lace; but, all the same, I have heard
and I know it to be q fact that the
sandals Of japanese have been stolen
Of their feet"
'sWell, how is it done?" I asked
every simply" he answered. "sup-
pose q Japanese woman who has q
particularly fine pair Of lacquered
clogs is one of a great crowd that is
watching a passing procession or a. re-
ligious celebration Of priests in front
Of a temple. Along comes an expert
pickpocket-or pickfoot, I don't know
which you want to call him. His
keen eyes, fastened on the ground, dis
cover those desirable clogs There
upon he makes up his mind that he
wants them.
1.-THE first thing she knows the OWL
er Of the clogs feels an unpleasant
sensation in her left foot. Naturally
she wants to stop it, and quite me-
chemically and almost absently she
slips her right foot out Of its clog
and begins to scratch that uncomforta-
BILE spot in her left foot with her toes.
She feels relieved. Forgetting all
about the incident, she becomes alb
sorbed In the spectacle again. Soon
the irritation crosses 0ver to a sim
liar spot in her right foot. Absently,
once more, she slides her left foot out
Of its clog and begins to soothe the
troublesome spot with her toes"
''The. thief was responsible for the
irritation and walked of with the
clogs" I said.
Certainly. The rascal caused the
trouble with q bit Of straw or wire,"
he returned.
"But one would think that the mo
ment the foot Of the victim touched
the ground its clog would be missed
and the thief would run the chance
Of being caught before the second
could be stolen"
"Oh, that is one of the cleverest
parts Of the trick" explained my
friend. 1.-THE thief comes supplied
with a pair Of cheap wooden clogs
costing but a few sen, and the owner
Of the lacquered footgear goes away
with them and notices the diff
ference, at least not until It is too
late to profit from the knowledge"
"Are Japanese thieves SO very clev.
er, them" I asked.
"Oh, veryr!' he returned. Some
time ago 1 heard Of one Of them who
used to. carry a handful of watch rings
to ft into the stems of all sorts Of
watches that he might come by dis
honestly. Once he lifted a watch In
q train, and the owner. missing It, but
not knowing who the thief was, set
up a shout and had a policeman sum-
moned. The police, to satisfy the vic
tim, insisted that every n in the
train show hts watch. When the turn
Of the. thief came he drew out Of his
pocket the stolen timepiece, and fts
original possessor, not recognizing It
on account Of the changed ring, missed
an easy chance to regain his property.
at was the same fellow, I believe
he continued, "who managed by the
expenditure of a little money to have
himself enrolled under different names
In the various lists Of different towns.
When arrested he gave one Of these
various names to the authorities. The
police, on looking up the record Of the
name given, were unable to find any
black marks against it. Thus he al.
ways managed to escape with a light
punishment for his first ofense, com
mitted I don't know how many times.
But l don't know that any of these
fellows were as clever as another thief
I heard about. You know many Of the
Japanese sleep on a sort Of bed made
up on the floor, called a feuton. Well