The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-11-20
In New York
By PAUL HARRISON

New York.-Gotham stores ex-
 pect to hire many thousanos oL
 extra employees during the Christ
 mas rush. They'll hire, also, some
 hundreds of eagle-eyed detectives.
 For this is not only. the shopping'
 but the shoplifting, season. I've been talking to a woman who works for the protective as- sociation maintained by score or the largest stores here, and those
 in half a dozen other cities. It
 keeps case histories of all the
 counter thieves, professional ana
 amateur, who've ever been caugnS.
 And two of it's employees are sole-
 ly occupied in answering inquiries
 telephoned by stores where sus-
 poets have been detained.
 In spite of all possible vigilance,
 New York shoplifters get away
 with about $1,000,000 worth of
 merchandise each year, and most
 of it under cover of the pre-Christ-
 mas crowds. The noon hour IS Q
 boom time for this seasonal occu-
 patton. That's when many poor
 clerk, dazzled by the prodigality
 she has witnessed from behind her
 own counter, has her meager
 lunch and then wanders into some other store to felch a pair Of stock ings, scarf, or maybe some per- fume.
 Husbands Pay
 Late afternoon, when the pig pest crowds are milling in the aisles, brings out the major ol- lenders. The poor steal because thev're unable to pay, the rich be- cause they just don't want to pay. Tn Manhattan, I'm told, there are several cases of kleptomania who are the wives of well-to-do busi- nessmen. Store agents recognize these women as they enter ana follow them through the depart ments, carefully recording every item that's "stolen". Bills are sent 1 to the husbands, who pay without protest. Professional shoplifters usually have all sorts of capacious inner pockets sewed in their winter coats. and they get away with amazingly bulky objects-bolts or silk. gowns and hats. Some or them solicit orders for merchant disc. then go out and hook 1t. Dresses are stolen by trying on
 new one, donning the old one over it, and then walking out with l "So sorry, but I just don't see any | thing I care to buy.
 Fur coat thieves have an unu- varying technique; they pretend dissatisfaction with the ones they have tried on, and the salesgiri | finally has to go to the stockroom | for some other little numbers that | madam may like. As soon as the | clerk is out of sight, madam dons a new coat, leaves her old one, ana walks out. r-.,, | New Racket Recently new racket mas sprung up that's giving merchants a jittery headache. A woman | goes to store and buys an article I-say a fine scarf. She takes II, with the bill of sale, and goes away, A week or more later she tucks the scarf in sleeve ana | returns to the counter where they are sold. Fumbles with merchan- disc and conducts herself in a gen.
 orally suspicious manner until
 she's sure somebody's watching her, Then she procedes to steal her own scarf.
 A detective follows her to the door, waits until she has reached the sidewalk, and then leads her
 back to the managers office. They find the scarf, examine it, and look at her accusingly. She's defiant, lhysterical, and denies everything, | If they're inclined to be lenlent she becomes insulting. She IS turned over to the police and for-
 mally charged with larceny. Then she calls in a lawyer and gives him her receipt for the
 scarf's purchase. He takes 1t to the store management, along with the news that his client has been unjustly accused, sorely wronged.
 and almost irreparably damaged in character. Of course, cash settlement might assuage her tor
 tured feelings. .... Sometimes it works; frequentiy if doesn't. It never works If there's the slightest stain on the record of
 a suspect.