Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1909-03-05
The THIEVES OF JAPAN
Ingenious RascaIs, Among the
CIeverest In the World.
ONE OF THEIR FOXY TRICKS.
The Method by Which Tney Steal the
Shoes OF the Women's Feet In the
Public Streets-How Miser's Money
Chest Was Barred ard Looted.

Chest Was Barred and Looted.
An Engiishman entered a first class
.ar of one Of the railroad trains that
-un between Tokyo and Yokohama.
/ lie was a little red in the face and ap.
aarently RULED in temper lie had
Just discovered that his pocket had
oeen picked In the station, and he ex-
.laimed bitterly against thieves in gem
,ral and Japanese thieves IN particu-
ar.
An American who had been engaged
IN Yokohama for number of years
noticed the Englishman's quandary-
Turning round to me, he said: Our
+ English friend seems a bit excited. II
ne growls at having his pocket picked,
wnat would he say if he had the shoes
stolen off his feet?
THAT is clearly an impossibility,,' /
laughed.
81 don't know about that" he re-
/ turned. 1T may not happen vita our
western style of shoes, button and
ACE; but, all the same, | have heard
4 and | know it to be a fact that the
sandals of japanese have been stolen
off their feet"
"Well. how is it doneT' 1 asked.
.yery simply" he answered. Sup
pose a Japanese woman who has
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 temple. Along comes an expert
pickpocket-or pickfoot, l 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.
"The first thing she knows the OWL
er of the clogs feels an unpleasant
sensation ia her left foot. Naturally
she wants to stop it, and quite me-
chanically and almost absently she
slips her right foot out Of its clog
and begins to scratch that uncomforta-
bic spot in her left foot with her toes.
She feels relieved. Forgetting all
about the incident, she becomes abb
sorbed in the spectacle again; Soon
the irritation crosses over to- n sim
liar spot in her right foot. Absently.
once more, she slides her left foot out
Of its clog ard begins to soothe the
troublesome spot with her toes
THE thief was responsible for the
irritation and walked of with the
Clogs l said.
certainly. The rascal caused the
trouble with biz 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"
ooh, that is one Of the cleverest
parts Of the trick" explained my
friend. "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 never notices the diff
ference. at least not until il is too
late to profit from the knowledge"
Are JapGnese thieves SO very clev-
er, then?7 l asked.
"Oh. very" he returned. Some
time ago I heard Of one Of them who
used to carry a handful of watch rings
to fit 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 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 one in the
train show his watch. When the turn
of the thief came he drew out of his
pocket the stolen timepiece, and its
original possessor, not recognizing it |
on account Of the changed ring, missed |
an easy chance to regain his property. I
ut was the same fellow, | believe
he continued "who managed by the 1
expenditure of a little money TO have I
himself enrolled under different names |
in the various lists of different towns. |
When arrested he gave one of these |
various names 10 tia 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 offense, COM
nitted | don't know how many times.
"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 a sort of bed made
Up ON the floor, called feuton. Well,
IN old japanese miser kept his money
n the house, concealed in a small
hest OF drawers. In the daytime he
lever took his eyes off his treasure.
md at night be had bis feuton pushed
lightly against it. so no robber could
ret at his money without awakening
lin.
"For long time gang Of thieves
lad been pulling their brains to find
way of stealing the hoard without
icing detected. Well. on certain
light ono of them entered tie house
nd gently. little by little. pulled the
ed on which the miser lay away from