Arizona republican., 1921-11-20
ENTER THE SHOPLIFTER

professionals by their looks" the de- tectiye replied. And there's usually somethin' about them to excite sus- picion. One thing and another"
 But your system?" we persisted.
 Well, there's the store aisles, for instance. Notice how wide the aisles are in this store? That ain't for because the light fingered Lizzies don't like them. They prefer the narrow, crowded aisles where they ain't so likely to be seen."
 This was all the information we could drag forth. The system" it seemed. was a secret formula which had to be carefully guarded. If the shopliIters once got wise to it, 1t would be useless. To make up for his inability to gratify our curiosity in this respect, however, our friend showed an eager willingness to dis cuss other important matters He gave us, in elaborate detail, his pri- vate views on the disarmament con- ference; dwelt upon the carelessness with which the mails were handled, and explained the most dramatic plays in the late world series. Final | ly, when he had talked Himself into ] a good humor and we were nearly in a state of coma, he allowed himself | to be steered gingerly back to the subject of his own secret activities.
 Let me see." he said cautiously, stroking his long jaw, 'the case of Gabrielle Lemaire was in the news papers, so there cant be no harm in | tellin' that Mind, don't say 1t hap pened in this store, but it shows the kind of schemes every store is con Stantly havin' put over on it"
 l Not long ago, it seems, a certain store became aware that it was los l ing a good deal of valuable merchan- 1 disc to an extremely clever woman. l She was attractive and fashionably 1 dressed, and always made a favorable I impression upon the sales force. Representing herself to be the pos sessor of a charge account, the num- Der of which she gave, she would order goods sent to her supposed ad- dress and then, at the last moment, l decide to take a few packages with | her, because she could not wait to have them sent"
 The goods. later delivered to the l true owner of the charge account, were immediately returned, so. that the store was not long ignorant Of the fact that it had been defrauded. I The case was referred to the store l detectives, who at once became con- cerned with one question: How did | the young woman know the numbers l of other persons charge accounts? | Undoubtedly, she must have an ac- complice working in the store.
 How Thieves Were Caught
 It was a customer who finally | brought the accomplice to light. One day. when this lady was amazed to 1 receive a number of unrequested 1 packages from a second store she | Ia faI
 q am sorry" that gentleman re- piled to her compliant. Tt is the first case of the kind we have had here, i although I understand it has hap | pened a good many times in a neigh boring house. The suspect that one of their employees is involved, since only some one connected with the store could know the numbers of so many different accounts.
 "Oh," cried the lady, thinking rap idly, I'll bet it is that nice looking, friendly clerk, who wears such ar
 tistic ties. I gave him the number of my account at your store by mis-
 take the other day, and then changed it to the correct number at his store explaining mymistake."
 An investigation proved that the
 lady was correct in her suspicion
 The young man in question had been | 5upplg iilS HIS dllTaCllNe NlAt
 with names. addresses and numbers
 of various charge accounts and di-
 recting her shoplifting efforts. For
 six months the scheme had worked
 beautifully. and might have contin-
 ued to do so, had he not made a fatal
 slip by sending her to the other store
 Both the clerk and his wife are now
 serving a term in BlackwelFs island
 Most shoplifters, according to the
 aforementioned store detective, con-
 fine their thefts to feminine lingerie
 and silk stockings. probably because
 these articles can be crumpled with
 out injury and are easily concealed
 Jewelry of all kinds is also highly fa-
 Vored by the shoplifting .sisterhood
 One woman, apprehended during the
 Christmas rush season of last year
 had nine strings of beads concealed
 about her person, each of which was
 worth about Sl5. Another woman arrested for taking an expensive um. brella. told with great gusto how z
 few days before she had calmly walked out of a store with an un- paid-for suit on. the pockets of whicl , contained a bracelet and a silvel ? vanity case lifted" from the jewelry
 counter.
 One of the most irritating thing!
 about the professional shoplifter says our friend the detective. is he
 usually brilliant histornic ability