Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1917-08-24
Many new TRICKS
Ingenuity Shown by Shoplifters
Astounds StorekeeperS.
Handkerchief, Dummy Hand and the
BottomIess Vanity Box Among
Devices of Thieves

Each year the shoplifters spring
new and uncanny tricks on the watch
full detective and astute statesmen in
the big department stores and shops,
carrying out so deftly their light fin
gered art, that, as expressed by man
ager Of one Of the largest of these
stores, "they make Aladdin's wonder
full lamp seem like spluttering oil
dip of the early centuries"
Shoplifting, according to an ex-
change, has long since developed into
a study with the heads of the large
establishments, and so carefully have
they diagnosed the cases that come
under their observation that it is not
often the shoplifter gets away with
the spoils.
One reads q great deal about the
house detectives employed by the big
shops, but except in a few cases no
such person is employed to watch
shoplifters, this business being the in
dividual duty of each employee. While
they are waiting on the customer they
are at the same time exercising untir-
ing vigilance.
The handkerchief trick is not q new
one, but the amount Of damage 1t
does is astonishing. 1t is worked in
various ways. The most successful
operator is usually dressed In widows
weeds. This makes it look more nat
ural for the handkerchief to be con-
tinually In evidence. 1t is poor shop
litter now who does not dress the
part. The handkerchief, kept in the
hand all the time by the bereaved
woman, Is carelessly dropped on any
thing in sight small enough and valu-
able enough to be desirable, and when
1t is next held to the widows face II
is possible that a ring is inside it, to
be passed temporarily to the mouth
for cOncealment.
However, there Is nothing uncanny
about the handkerchief trick. 1t is
the false hand trick that almost con-
vinces one that witchcraft Is not
thing of the past. When the sales
girl sees two hands in plain view, and
yet is conscious that articles are dis
appearing from her counter, she can
not believe her eyes. But it is all very
simple, as the gloved hand resting
on the counter Is a false one while
the mate to the hand examining the.
goods Is under cover Of q raincoat OF
mufr. purloluing everything in sight
worth carrying of.
A floor walker who could write vol.
umeS on such tricks says that he
worked on a case Of this kind for sew.
eral days without success, when one
morning he was looking down from
one Of the small galleries in the store
and saw the various articles disap-
pearing under the woman's cloak
while to all appearances both of her
hands were in plain view. The ar
ticies were moving as If by magic, and
the trick was not discovered until he
invited the young person to 60 with
him to the managers office.
This same floorwalker added that
the most ingenious trick he had STUN.
bled across was the vanity box trick,
adding that the majority Of shop
lifters who work in department stores
are women and that nowadays every
woman carries a vanity box Of some
description. 1t may be as small as a
25-cent piece or as large as a silver
dollar.
The shoplifter variety is Of the
larger kind, bottomless and fitted with
q rubber ball attached to an ornamen-
tai button on the lid of the box, which
when pressed expands the ball. caus-
ing suction. The owner Of this device
when at work at the jewelry counter,
places the vanity box on the show
case while she looks at rings or other
small jewelry, and when the oppOr
tunuity arrives moves it over the ar
ticle and 1t is sucked into the case.