The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1909-01-27
ETHIEVESOF lAPAN.
ingenious RssoaIs, Among the
CIeverest In the World.
ONE OF THEIR Foxy TRICKS.

/
Tho Method BY Which They Steal che
Shoes OF Tho Women's Feet In the
Public Streets How a Mlse's Money
Ghost Was Barred and Looted.
An EhglIshman entered a first class
car of one of the railroad trains that
run between Tokyo and Yokohama.
Ho was little red in the face and mp
parently rufled 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 I'm particu-
lar.
An American who had been engaged
In yokohama for n number of years
noticed the Englishman's quandary.
Turning round to me. he said: our
English friend seems a bit excited. II
he growls 4 I. having his pocket picked,
what would he say II he had the shoes
stolen OF his fGetf"
"That is clearly an impossibility," i
laughed.
II don't know about that" he re-
turned. ut may not happen with our
western style of shoes, button and
lace; but, nil tho same, l have hea
and know 1t to be fact that the
sandals of Japanese have been stolen
of their feet"
"Well, how is 1t ,done1'' asked.
Every simply" he answered. Sup.
pose q japanese woman who has a
particularly 6ne pair of lecquered
clogs Is one OF great crowd that is
watching passing procession or a re-
iigious celebration of priests In front
of a temple. Along comes an expert
pickpocket--or pfckfoot, / don't know
| which you want to Gull him. His
keen eyes, fastened on the ground, dis.
cover those desirable clogs. There.
upon he makes up his mind that he
wants them.
@Tho first thing she knows the own
err of the clogs feels nm unpleasant
sensation in her left foot. Naturally
she wants to stop 1t, and quite me-
Chemically and almost absently she
slips her right foot out of It's clog
and begins to scratch that uncomforta-
bic spot IN her left foot with her toes.
She feels relieved. Forgetting nll
about the incident, she becomes abb
sorbed In the spectacle again. Soon
the irritation crosses over to a SIM
liar spot in her right foot Absently,
once more, she slides her left foot out
/ of It's clog and begins to soothe the
troublesome spot with hor toes"
"The thief was responsible for the
Irritation and walked of With the
clogs" l said.
certainly. The rascal caused the
trouble with 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 ruin the chance
of being caught before tho second
could be stolen"
"Oh, that is ono of the cleyerost
parts Of the trick" explained my
friend. ''The thief comes supplied
with n pair of cheap wooden clogs
costing but a few sen. and the owner
of tho lacquered footgGar goes away
/ with them and never notices the diff
ference, at !east not until 1t is too
late to profit from the knowledge"
"Are Japanese thieves so very Glow
er, then7" | asked.
"Oh, veryW he returned. Some
time ago 1 heard OF one Of them who
used to carry handful of watch rings
to at into the stems of all sorts of
watches that he might come by dis
honestly. Once he lifted watch in
a train, and the owner, missing 1t, but
not knowing who the thief was, set
up shout and had policeman sum
moned. The police, to satisfy the VIC
tim, insisted that every one in the
train show his watch. When the turn
| of the thief came he drcw out of his
pocket thu stolen timeplece, and Its
original pnssessor, not recognizing It
| on account of the changed ring, missed
an easy chance to regain his property.
cit was the same fellow, believe"
he continued, "who managed by the
expenditure of little money to have
himself enrolled under different names
In the various lists of different towns.
| When arrested he gave one of these
various flames to the authorities. The
police, on looking up the record Of the
name given, were unable to find any
black marks against 1t. Thus he al.
ways uhuuBOu pONShCupe Will u lISht
punishment for his first offense, com
mitted 1 don't know how many tines
I "But don't know that any of these
fellows were as clever as another thief
heard about. You know many of the
Japanese sleep on n sort of bed made
up on the floor, called feuton. Well,
an old Japanese missr kept his money
In the house, concealed in small
chest of drawers. In the daytime he
never took his eyes of his treasure
and Mt night he had his feuton pushed
tightly against 1t, SO no robber could
get at his money without awakening
him.
"For long time q gang of thieves
had been puE9linR their brains to fnd
way of stealing the hoard without
being detected. Well, ON certain
night one of them entered the house
and gently, little by little, pulled the
bed on which the miseF lay away from
the chest of drawers. Then he quickly
emptied the drawers of their cur.
rcncy, showed the bed back to it's orig.
lnal position and made his escape.
Several days passed before the un.
fortunate miser detected his loss."--
Chicago News.
A wise skopti,Ism IS the first attrI
butte Of good lc.-Shnkespcare.