Pueblo chieftain., 1921-11-14
BY FREDERIC !. HAsKIN

New York City, Nov. 11.-At this
season of the year, New York depart
ment stores increase the size OF their
detective forces In order to combat
the evergrowing number of thought
full persons who begin their shoplift-
ing early. From now until after
Christmas. shoplifting will proceed at
bold and furious pace. The Wom-
ems Court will be kept busy hearing
the cases of light-fingcred ladies'
caught ut inopportune moments.
while the large Fifth Avenue stores
will lose thousands of dollars worth
of goods to others. who Will success
| fully get away with 1t.
This is always the case. Tho an
nual depredations OF shoplifters arc
regarded as an inevitable calamity
which no mercantile establishment
| however rcsourcefui. can hope to es-
cape And this year the stores anti
cipate greater difficulties from THIS
source than ever before because OF tho
styles in sleeves.
| You may have observed that tho
new feminine sleeve is a voluminous'
dropping. bell-shaped aiiair. poss,s
ing tremendous possibilities FOR iadies
who are clever with their fingers II
| is going to be extremely easy 10 hioe
stuff in the recesses of IA sleeve whlcn
trails obiigingly all over the counter
when the wearer puts her hano uowh-
We saw 1t done only the other uay;
A plump agile hand. accompanied
by one of these dangling sleeves
gIided quickly along a counter SoH-
erred with feminine lingerie. tncn
paused for several seconds while inc
fingers examined the texture OF tne
i SILK. When the hand moved II was IN
swift upward flight, presumably 10
adjust a slight discrepancy III e"e
/ owners lace collar.
..There. YOU see how easy II Is. SAID
tho saicsgirl who had given the DEM
onstration. as she removed a PINK rif.
unnergarment from her sls9ss. Aou
d,dr.'t see me do that even tho yoc
y,re watching. and think how mns'.
simpler II would be to stun NY sleeve
| in the confusion OF Christmas crowd
| That's why we've got to DC SO par
ticular and insist upon customers !.
| keeping their arms off the counters.
| The interesting information was cor
| roi.orntcd by one of the store det.c
tives. a tall. sleek faced individual %n9
so well looked his part that ono Oh
not see how any shoplifter conll ta.i
| to notice and avoid him.
| There's no doubt but that the new
STYLES are all in favor of the shop
| litter" he said. But. of course, wcfe
| gonna watch 'em. And then we've got
our own system. They don't get away
with as much as they used TO-.
| We pressed for details. BY what
| ASfutc InPtnOuS arc thoFhAts'H
vented from running off with the
storc?" we inquired
| "Oh. we get to know lot of the
professionals by their looks, the DC
tectivc replied. "And there, usually
somethin about them to excite suspie-
ion. One thing and another.
I But YOUR system?" We persisted.
We'll, there's the storc aislcs. for In
stance. Notice how wide the aislcs arc
in this store? That amt for beauty
and II amt for comfort. It's because
the likht-fingered Lizzies don't Ike
lthcm. They prefer tho narrow. crowd
cd aisles where they amt SO likely to
be seem
| This was all the information we
could drag forth. Tho System" It
seemed, was n secret formula which
had to be carefully guarded. II the
shoplifters once got wise to II, It would
| be useless. To make up for his in
ability to crafty our curiosity in this
respect. however. our friend showed
an eager Willingness to discuss other
important matters. He gave us. In
| elaborate detail, his private views on
the Disarmament Conference; dwclt
upon the careiessness with which the
malls were handled. and explained the
most dramatic plays In the late World
Series. Finally. when he had talked
| himself into good humor and VIC
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 Lcmaire was in the news
| papers, so there can't be no harm In
| tellin' that Mind. don't say 1t hap
ucncd in this store, but 1t shows tho
| kind of schemes every store Is con-
stantly havip' put over on it,"
Not long ago. 1t seems, n certain
Astore became aware that it was losing