The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-09-05
A STRANGE THEFT.
Men in London Reap Large Profit
from Snatching Curls.

strange ueSpOlltl VIII SudlCHcS Cui ID
of artificial hair from the coiffures
of shop window gazers, says the Lon
don Standard The thefts are ac-
complished with much deXterity, and
bring considerable profit to the per-
petrator. These curls are made of
human hair Of the finest quality,
which costs a guinea an ounce. A
curl frequently represents a value of
five pounds or six pounds.
A medical man who keeps a close
record of this queer type of theft
stated: This snatcher Of artificial
curls is obviously no monomaniac, but
is out purely to enrich himself. My
records show that previously the
thief has been daring enough to clip
hair, and not false hair either, from
the head of his victim often in broad
daylight. Montmartre, the gay quar-
ter of Paris, was the scene of ex-
ploits of this kind in 1910, the cul-
prit being a mad Englishman who
had a mania for cutting off women's
hair. Earlier in the same year wo-
men and girls in Berlin were terror
lied by a young Hungarian named
Fodor, who was victim of the same
mental abnormality.
Hundreds of Victims.
"Fodor's victims numbered hum
dreds. He often contented himself
with stealing small quantities of hair,
but he more often secured thick
tresses, the loss of which caused
much embarrassment His skill in
stealing hair was extraordinary, and
he frequently victimized as many as
dozen persons successively. To
catch the perpetrator large force OF
detectives secured the streets OF the
capital. After he was arrested just
outside the Kaiser's palace, in the
act of severing a schoolgirls long
plaits, his lodging was found stack
ed with hair of all hues, bound with
different colored ribbons, to which
were attached cards classifying them
in color and texture. Many tresses
had strange inscriptions attached to
them.
I'm July, 1900, Seconda Reverb,
an Italian kitchen porter, who earn
ed for himself the name Jack Clip
per- was sentenced at Marlborough
street police court to four months
Imprisonment and recommended for
deportation for having cut piece
out of the back of the dress of a
theater attendant while on the top OF
an omnibus proceeding from Charlng
Cross; he had also cut the tail of 4
woman's coat on an omnibus in Re-
gent street, and when arrested had
four pieces of material, which had
evidently been cut from other wo-
mems coats, in his pockets.
Dress Slashing Epidemic.
IAN epidemic of. dress slashing
disturbed tube and elevated railway
users in New York in the summer OF
1909, when hundreds of cases of mu-
tilation to dresses and coats were re-
ported within month. The perpe-
traitor was never discovered. Many
people suggested it was the work OF
an unscrupulous dressmaking or tall
oring firm to increase trade, but no
proof of this was Forthcoming, and
monomania was ultimately accepted
as the only reasonable explanation.
Men with mania for ink sling
ing are perpetually annoying women
in the streets, and many beautiful
dresses have been ruined in this way.
In June of 1905 and November,
1907. there was a great outbreak OF
ink throwing in Bond street, Oxford
street and Regent street, and only
in May of this year the terror reap
peared in the west end, the sufferer
being a Hanover square lady who had
a ten-guinea dress spoilt. Not long
before that lady's seventeen-guinea
ermine stole was ruined in this way.
I'm January of this year a new oc-
cupation was disclosed at Marlbor-
ough street police court, when man
confessed that he chewed up bread
and dripping which he threw on
ladies' dresses, and was often well
paid for wiping them clean by un-
suspecting women. This man had
previously been charged with throw
ing green paint over lady's dress
at Earle's court station, almost COW
ering her from the shoulder to the
waist.
I'm all probability" concluded the
doctor, these men canot be classed
as lunatics. There are thousands of
people in London who are apparently
cane on all subjects but one These