Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-11-16
OFFICERS GRAB 5
SHOPL|F TIERS AND
VAL LIABLE BOOTY
Three Young Girls Caught
Here Yesterday and Goods,
Alleged to Have Been StoI-
en-, Recovered,

forenoon of three girls Helen Moore,
alias Costello, Margaret Moore, alias
Costello, and Jane Mcpherson, so they
were booked at the police station.
who apparently are from IS to 10
years of age. the police nabbed three
of the most daring shoplifters ever
apprehended in the southwest and a
trio of moral degenerates seldom en-
countered outside, of penal institu-
tons where the most dangerous
criminals are confined.
1t is not an unusual thing for girls,
or BOYS. either. to wander from the
straight and narrow path of rectitude
and break the laws of the land But
for young girls to keep diaries, as
these three did, recording their wan
behring's day by day, including admis-
sions that they had stolen goods from
various stores, gotten drunk and COM
mited other acts which modesty for
bids that we print the details Of
writing the criminal history of their
lives without a blush of shame. but
| on the contrary apparently much
elated over their trail of crimes and
other evil deeds-are things which
| are seldom encountered by guardians
| of the law
| BARRIERS Cash Drawer Looted.
A complaint reached the police de-
| partment yesterday forenoon that
| three girls. who had gone into local
| barber shops for face messages. had
! robbed the cash drawer of its con.
tents. The girls We're trailed to theil
room and pl1ced under arrest. A
search of their room revealed a largo
| quantity of goods which the officers
were satisfied had not been acquired
| by the girls through legitimate pur.
| chases. The goods were taken t.
| police headquarters and the girls
placed in the city Jail.
| 1t was impossible to take a com
| plete inventory of the stolen articles
Chief Galusha's office resembled 4;
rummage sale. There were wris
| watches, purses, elastic. safety razors
massage cream, cold cream, tootl
| paste, knitted caps, hats. shoes, yarn
| books, neckties, lunch boxes, shir
| waists, stockings and other articles
| too numerous to mention. Included
| in the collection there We're persona
! effects of the girls, including diar!
and letters revealing in black ant
white their somewhat brief bu
! meteoric career as criminals, No val
uation could be placed upon the loo
yesterday. but the officers were o
| the opinion that 1t would run from
] $3.50 to $500. Some of the articles
were identified yesterday as having
come from Matson's, Mandelrs. 20
| senwald's, the Golden Rule. the Econ
omist and Penney's. Admission wa
made i'm the diary that some Sants
Fe stores had been worked" so i
is not probable that everything in TIL,
collection was lifted" from Albuquer
| que stores,
| Several local people may be i'm
plicated in the case-perhaps not di
rectly but in an indirect way. Fol
instance, 1.-THE diary makes mention o
| Mrs. - getting "a sweater from
one storekeeper and SO from anothe
party" The police are not certain i
these represent gifts or thefts.
Fondness for Pictures.
| There is one party, however, WHIT
cannot escape connection with tn,
case, although he was not concerned
| in the robberies. At least two of tn,
! girls seem 70 have possessed a pen
| chant for being photographed, ant
/ when they did SO they apparently hat
no desire to wear an overabundanc'
of clothes. In fact the indications ar,
that fig leaves are much scarcer IL
! Albuquerque than they were in thu
| Garden of Eden. as there is nothing
in the picture to indicate that thu
girls 'sewed fig leaves together, ant
made themselves aprons" as Adam
and Eve are said to have done. Thu
name of the studio from whence TIL,
works of art came is plainly in evi
| dence on the pictures.
| The diary found by the police
| which dates from July 20, tells of thu
| theft of an otto (auto). which mus
have occurred at or near Denver, a
the diary records that they STARTED
| for Cheyenne" On July "a the diar!
/ continues: Let otto burn up; go
pinched. Midget and I got away ant
| got back to Denver"
| The diary then tells how the!
Travelled from Denver to Gallup. The!
got lotto and motorcycle rides ant
stole rides on trains. On the night o
/ August / thcy stayed all night in /;
box car here and rode to Gallup Sep
/ TENDER 'in a sand car They re
| manned there until August 8, whei
the sheriff ordered them out of town
I'VE went to Albuquerque" says |
notation in the diary. but there i
4 nothing to indicate in what name
the trip was made.
Record of Their Grimes.
! Beginning with August is. down t,
November IL, there is "a record o
their doings Fere for each day. dow
to the most minute details. Their
are frequent references to playini
cards at nigh', getting "stewed," go
ing to movie shows and posing TO
artist" One of the first reference
to shoplifting in Albuquerque is date,
! October 8 and reads. Quit my job
Nell quit hers, too. Bummed an,
swiped hats Again on October
! there is a reference to "swiping hats
On October Is the girls left Albu
querque for Santa Fe, where. on tn
18th, they bummed around all da
and cleaned up on the stores ac
cording to the diary.
4 AccordinG to the police two of tn
girls are sisters and their names ar
4 Nellie Cos clio and Gertrude Costello
The name of the other girl is Jeal
Sommerv lie. She gave the name o
Jane Mcpherson when arrested. TIL
correct names of the parties wer
given by the Denver police.
~ u