The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-02-24
GIRL OF NINETEEN A SLEUTH.
How LUCKY Find" Protects Stores
and Shoppers.-Is Pretty.

Although there is always a man
at the head of the detective service
of a department store, our force con-
sists of women mainly. Men are SO
conspicuous in a department store
and cant seem to learn how to wan
der gracefully and saunter about do
ing nothing,' explained the general
manager of one of the citys biggest
according to the Philadelphia Even
stores, according to the Philadelphia
Evening Ledger.
"A store detective in many in
stances is lucky find Our best wo-
man, Miss Margaret Leighton, was a
girl at exchange two years ago. She
lost her handbag in the dressing
room, and in telling me Of her loss
I recognized in her qualities that
make a good detective. Let Miss
Leighton speak for herself
Not One Bit Like Detective.
Miss Leighton came into the office,
cool and dainty in white blouse and
skirt, and wide -brimmed straw hat.
Only 10 years old, she admitted, and
about five feet in height.
"Eight-tenths of the shoplifters
are women" she said; that is, those
who are casual offenders. With the
professionals the figures are almost
the reverse. And after a little prac-
tice it's an easy matter to catch
them. No matter how experienced
the shoplifter, she can't help looking
around to see if her neighbors are
paying attention to her. She carries
a folded .newspapY5ran empty bag,
and here are two of the cleverest ar
rangements we have found"
A Shoplifter's Box.
One was a box, evidently carefully
wrapped up in brown paper, and the
four corners of one end of the paper
were sealed with red wax. But one
side of the box opened, and the shop
litter slipped under this flap the arti-
cles desired. A more complex tool
was a large square box resting on a
fiat package. The box was easily
lifted from it's four alton and show
ed that it had only Tree sides. This
was a particularly useful receptacle
for books.
Several boxes of photographs with
histories attached are filed in this Of
flee. All weapons s-revolvers, knuc-
kles, etc.-taken from the men.
Every shoplifter who is sentenced
is kept track of and looked out for
on his release.
Steal From Customers.
II don't think our customers real
ize how much trouble we take to pro-
tect them," Miss Leighton said, for
shoplifters lift from them as we'll as
from US. At sales times the GUS
toner suffers most, and we increase
our force in this way: We station
men with haWk7Ishaw side whiskcrs
and We adVtse them to act like a
story-book, detective. They must
snoop around and eye everybody.
Women are used here in the same
fashion. They must watch everyone
leaning against the counters and act
so ostentatiously that the most casual
observer: will: discover that she is a
detective. The real ones you never
notice.
But it's the. customers own hand
bag that is the object Of our care.
II look after a well-dressed wo-
man, who carries a plump handbag,
and often arrive in time to scare off
a sneak thief.
"Of course, would not be able to
hold a man or a woman if they tried
to run away from me when asked
them to come to the office, but the
other day, when a man would not
stop, I called stop thief, and the
crowd held him for me.
Some of Them Are Smart.
Sometimes I think If the cunning,
successful sneak thief's uses were
given to another work, he or she
would land at the top in short time.
Most of the people we find are de-
generates, in some way, but many OF
them are unusually clever.
1T never pays in the end, know.
We detectives are cooperating with
the city hall men, and the cities are
sending one another photographs and
news of the movement Of the most
of the shoplifters.
"You might say the average loss
for the year is around $1,000, but I
know of one San Francisco firm
which admits it's losses amount to
2 1-2 per cent. of it's receipts. But