Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-06-09

win MS myers is almost wonderful In
iIdctioh or tine ne can unbutton your
coat. extract your wallet from an inside
poehe, ana button Your coat again. while
YOU bilssfully puff on Your cigar on the
rear platform and tell the man nov, ~
you that II has been a hot day Cases re
OF everyday occurrence where some man
ma, mas lost ms watch, pin and pocketbook in
..ie shsht pause he made to give polite
stranger light for his cigar
X
Perhaps the woman dip when she ;s
good one. is more dangerous than the
clever man. She has more nerve than
he has. and will go to far greater lengths
to fleece her victim. Then. too. she nos
sesses an advantage in that she is not as
quickly suspected as the male dip" She
Is usually made up as pretty young
miss, with just that touch of simplicity
10 her attire to suggest the country girl
IN town TO see the celebration. She usu-
ally works alone. as the female dips
are too wise to trust one another Her
methods are along the lines OF the male
worker. She minsles with the crowds
and deftly robs the polite strangers who
are clearing the way for her The simple
looking dress she wears is really a most
remarka Bile affair 1t is undermined with
secret pockets and hiding places of the
most original nature. and even when
caught it takes the most thorough search
of the experienced police matron to find
the goods on her
Unlike the male dip the woman pro-
fessional is always ready to lend her tai
ents to other lines. She is strong on the
confidence game. and will often assist
some con man in a case where the
wiles of pretty woman are required to
lure the ''come-on." She is also more to
be trusted than the male 'd:p''-that is,
Wnen she assists a man: but woe be to
the woman crook WHO trusts her
The p.ckpockets require few tools in
their profession but there have been
many quee: things invented by members
of the profession. who hoped to make the
calling easier. One of these consisted of
third or false arm. the adoption of
which allowed the dip to apparently
have both of his hands in sight while he
was going through your pockets at the
same time. Another peculiar invention
not now in use, consisted of rubber ar
rangement so concealed in the sleeve
that the dip; by touching a rubber
sleeve to his shoulder. thus having his
hand empty in an instant should the
victim feel suspicious.
As rule. though tools are not much
in favor with the dip" He depends
upon his hands, and when he finds it
Impossible to pull off a stunt with them
he brings into play wonderful very thin
bladed knife. The blade of this knife IS
hardly deeper than womans hat pin.
with 1t the dip can rip your coat and
vest from the bottom to the collar with
out even scratching your skin. This
knife is used only when it is found i'm
poss.bl to get the victims wallet with
the hands.
mere have been many instances where
the dip has gotten decidedly the worst
or 1t In selecting some likely looking man
Tor victim. His feelings can be mag
ined when, after travelling perhaps q
thousand miles to a convention and after
rObbnS the portly man next to him in
the car, he finds that the pocketbook con-
tains Just two dollars. One of the most
ADEPT dips of the present decade is
now serving a five-year sentence in the
Walla Walla. Wash. penitentiary. because
he picked out plain-clotheS detective for
stock broker and tried to work him. .
Inc detective got him Just as he was get
ting away with a poc.ctbook conta ming
ND cents. His pal was captured too. and
they are both doing time He offered
the detective thousand dollars to let
him off. but was refused There was no
doubt that this dip had stolen thou-
sands OF dollars without ever being az
trying to rob detective of 90 cents.
They still tell tale in the police cir
cles OF Chicago of how pickpocket got
ahead of two confidence men in a game
that netted him thousands
This pickpocket was one of tho ohio
lights" in his profession and ALWAYS
carried thousands on his person. He
was in Butte. Mont, after a most suc-
cessful season with the crowds at tho
races at Emeryville. Cal. He had rooms
in the best hotel in the city and was
known by every one from the chief
clerk to the bartender as the best
natured and most generous cattle rails
er that had ever floated into Montana
from Texas.
Two wise confidence men from Chi
cage spotted the supposed cattle rails
er and soon made his acquaintance.
Over several bottles of wine one after
noon an invitation was extended and
accepted for the cattleman to go with
them to Chicago and witness a prize
fight at their expense. They showed