Judsonia weekly advance., 1917-07-25
MANY NEW TRICKS
Ingenuity Shown by ShopIifters
 AStounds Storekeepers.
RGttomIess Vanity Box Among Devices of Thieves.


 Each year the shoplifters spring new and uncanny tricks on the watch ful detective and astute statesmen in the big department stores and shops, carrying out so deftly their light tin- gered art, that, as expressed by Il man. ager of one of the largest of these stores, they make Aladdin's wonder full lamp seem like a 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 1t is not often the shoplifter gets away with the spells.
 One reads 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 new one, but the amount of damage it does is astonishing. It 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. It is poor shop
 
 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 vaIu- able enough to be desirable, and when it is next held to the widows face 1t is possible that a ring is inside 1t, to be passed temporarily to the mouth for concealment.
 However, there is nothing uncanny about the handkerchief trick. It 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 whie the mate to the hand examining the goods is under cover of raincdat or huff.
 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- bearing under the woman's cloak while to all appearances both of her hands were in plain view. The ar- ticles were moving as if by magic, and the trick was not discovered until he invited the young person to go with him to the managers office.
 This same 1oorwalker added that the most ingenious trick he had stum- bled across was the vanity box trick, adding that the majority of shop filters who work in department stores are women and that nowadays every woman carries a vanity box of some description. It may be as small as a 25-cent piece or as large as a silver dollar.
 The shoplifteY 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 jeweiry, and when the Oppor- tunuity arrives moves it over the ar ticle and it is sucked into the case.