Evening star., 1923-03-18

furs. She had Informed her male
confederates OF the lady's habits and
they had outftted one Of their men in a
Pourboir uniform. supplied him with
a pad of receipts bearing the Pour
boir name, and sent him early in the
morning, before the firm would be
likely to disturb a wealthy client. The
thieves knew that madam was an
early riser and would be on hand to
give up her furs.
No one was arrested, and not a skin
was recovered.
This trick is accomplished in a much
simpler way where numbers of per-
haps minor victims are to be robbed.
The thieves get a girl employed in
the bookkeeping department of some
great store which deals in fura She
gets from the books the names and
addresses of people who have bought
furs from the firm and are in the
habit of sending them back every
spring for storage. Her confederates
equip themselves with the drivers
uniforms Of this firm and a pad Of
receipts got up in imitation of q
genuine receipt which the girl has
stolen for them.
These men then start out early in
the spring and watch the houses OF
their victims. AS soon as the mis-
tress is seen going out, they call, say
they have come from the great store
for madam's furs and show a receipt
on which is scrawled what looks like
an order. If husband or child answers.
they pretend that the lady of the
house telephoned yesterday. If a
maid answers, they say madam must
have stepped into the store a few
days before and left the order. In
some cases they fail to get the furs
of course, but in the majority Of in
stances the innocents hand them over,
impressed by the uniform and the re-
ceipt book. Just this misfortune be-
fell a friend of the writer's two sea-
sons ago, and he is still hearing about
it from an irate wife.
= X /; x
DCT similar fraud devices are also
ID aimed at the great fur dealers.
where the trick must be more refined
and finely executed, but where the
A celebrated case Of this kind, which
received some publicity at the time it
happened, may still be of interest.
One afternoon q beautifully dressed
woman, neither too young nor too old
for the part she had to play, alighted
before Blanks from a beautifully
appointed Limousine and was ushered
inside the big main door by a bowling
footman. She went Immediately to
the fur department and began trying
on wraps Of the costliest furs. Her
fine feathers impressed the men who
attended her: tho price Of the coats
she was trying on made them hold
breaths, and Q kind OF theatric tall
ness which she affected impressed
them as the authentic grand manner.
She put on and took OF half a
dozen costly wraps with glorious nom
chalance, quickly selected the one she
wanted and said:
Send It to me tomorrow, please.
Mrs. ]. Baxter De Grand, the Willows,
Marksville, L. I. Charge it to my
account"
And out she sailed as unrufied as
q stenoErapher with q freshly applied
permanent wave.
The coat was wrapped In tissue and
ribbons, laid out in q box ana intrust-
ed to the delivery man for transfer
to the homo Of this wealthy and scin-
xHtor< unefatv ~opnap vhoaA mama
was in the newspapers twice a week,
whose charities were numberless,
whose husband was known to be pos
sessed Of bottomless pockets. No one
gave the matter a second thought
save the salesman who had made a
fat commission, which he received and
pocketed at the end Of the week.
But just after the first of the fol-
lowing month came the detonation.