The Washington times., 1919-11-02
astonishing Exploits ofaNation-
ization of Hghly-SkilIed Pro
Led by a Criminal Genius Whose
Achievements Outmatch Any in
NOUeLs or in the Motion

W INC uciNefy man.
she was asked to come to the
store at once. There she was con-
fronted with the stores driver. :
who had delivered packages that
day In her neighborhood. He was
not the man, she said, to whom she
had paid the $3.50. 1t was a man
not In the usual uniform of the
stores drivers. but he had said
quite casually that he was a "spe-
cial delivery" man, and so she had
not questioned his lack of uniform
at any rate he had the package
containing her suit and a sales
check which he had left with her
as a receipt. 1t all seemed per-
fectly legitimate.
The customer produced the s.re-
ceipt" left by the collector. and in
IT the manager recognized at once
the missing auditing slip.
1t was very mysterious-but not
the first time just such incidents
had occurred. Not only in the case
OF c. o. ID. packages, but with par
TALLY paid packages, and pack
ages wholly paid for and left only
to be delivered to the customer,
had thousands upon thousands of
dollars worth of goods disappeared
from this store The checking
system was elaborate-as is to be
seen in tracing the progress of this
$3.50 suit. through the store, but
the system was being beaten. With
c. o. d. packages, sometimes they
were collected for just as this one
had been and sometimes they dis
appeared entirely-carried away
and sold to the fences" who have
been described on these pages be-
fore.
The bureau of investigation,
which really was the stores police
department. had worked persistent
ly to discover. the leak. but so far
had failed. But accidents will
sometimes happen-and in this
case one had happened which the
thieves had not reckoned with.
The customer remembered that
when she was returning to the suit
department to reclaim her suit and
take II home with her she had met
the little srrand girl carrying the
very package she was after. She
related the incident Where she
had seen the little girl was In q
part of the store far of the route
she should have taken to the de-
livery room.
Mr.. Browne, the chief Of the
bureau of investigation, sent for
the errand girl. With great dis
play Of portentous seriousness he
sat her in a chair in the centre OF
his office and seated around her a
ring of his store detectives. The
little girl was frightened. When
Mr.. Browne began firing accusing
questions at her, she weakened
then broke down. Between sobs In
a torrent Of tears she confessed
that she had stolen the package.
After taking it through the various
checking posts to the delivery de-
partment she had gone through
only the motions of depositing the
package in the c. o. d. routing bin
while the receiving clerk .as busy
with another incoming package she
had slipped past him, with the
package under her arm, into the
store again.
OF course, an errand girl could
go wherever she wished in the big
store carrying packages without
being questioned. She went
straight to a corner of the store in
the mems department where she
knew a man would always be
lounging, waiting to receive pack
ages from her or other errand girls.
Always, she said, there was a man
waiting there. Different ones
came and went, each staying but
to be noticed, but always someone
was on the watch. There was a
sign by which she recognized them.
She had turned over her package
to the man waiting at the rendez-
vous and he had carried II, win
the auditing slip, out Of the store.
That was all she had to do with IL.
She was expected, she said, 10
steal in this way at least one pack
age every other day. There were
many other errand girls and sales
girls in the store who had been
taught to do the same thing, she
added.
The word taught" caught the
ear of the shrewd Mr.. Browne.
What did she mean by saying she
and the other girls had been
taught" he asked her.
It was then the master criminals
school of crime for children was
disclosed. The little girl declared
that she had gone to school, in
house where there was a real
school room in which she and
others Of her age were taught how
to beat" the checking systems OF
the big stores.
While this little girl was left
with her tears in the custody of
r,otro1 Mr. BROWNE theN store de-