Year: 1868

The late Mr.. De Quincy wrote curious and
elaborate paper on Murder considered as one
OF the Fine Arts" Had he lived half a CEN
tury later, he might might have extended his
inquiries SO as to include pocket picking in that
Category for an art it certainly has become
our artistic pick pocket is a gentlcmanly look
ing fellow, wears neat boots and gloves, always
has a new looking hat, and is altogether the
last man you would suspect Of any sinister de-
signs on your pockets. He lives in tirSt-class
hotels and boarding houses, often frequenting
the same house for years, totally unsupported
and remarkable only for his quiet and gentle
manly demeanOr.


he carefully chooses four companions, equal
ly respectable in appearance, to form what is
| called mob, each one producing a certain sum
| to make bank, to be used in case one Of them
falls (taken by the pOlice), in order to provide
bail or pay his counsel fees. They then fire.
quent railway stations, public meetings, or any
place where they can find a crowd A victim
IS quietly selected as probable find. Two of
the mob then place themselves in front of him,
and two remain behind, occupying, as it were,
| the angles of square of which the victim is
the centre. These are called the front and
back stalls. The unfortunate victim is then
famed; that Is, his pockets are softly padded
to find out the one in which he keeps his wal
let; the sign is passed to the operator, who is
termed the wire, who immediately proceeds to
work. He does not place his hand in the pock-
ct, that is a fatal error; but with the two first
fingers be gently draws up the lining of the
pocket to the opening, and with it the wallet,
1 and the trick is done. This system is called
reefng. The wallet is quickly passed to one of
the back stalls, who quietly, though quickly,
levants


The most dangerous place for money is un-
doubtedly the pocket of the pants. Again, one
of the front stalls passes his arm before your
face to touch the other front stall on the should
er, only to say How are you ?" but the wire
from behind has your diamond pin in his pos
session. Ii possible, they return the empty
wallet to the pocket to avoid detection in its
possession, or the dangerous necessity of throw
ing it away. For instance two gentlemen sit.
ting at one end of car get into angry alterca
tiOn, high words ensue, the attention of the
other passengers is attracted to their dispute
and the young lady who sat next to that nice
looking young man at the other end of the cal
finds, on arriving at Stewards, that her purse
is empty. The angry gentleman and the nice
looking man are simply confederates. This
they term wedding A correspondent of a
newspaper lately lost $500 in this way while
riding i'll Fourth avenue car.


Plckpockets are necessarily very migratory
in their habits, finding long residence in one





make any estimate of their numbers in New
York. They prefer locality for the scene OF
their operations that has numerous lines of raj
to enable them to separate in various directions
as soon as they have good swag, and to NEE
again in some other town. These men stanC
by one another in trouble, and are strictly
square in their mutual transactions. A curl
Gus instance of "hOnor among thieves i
found in the following annecdOte: The eide
Matthews and Theodore Hook on one occasion
went together to the theatre while ascending
the staircase, Matthews pIayfully took a bundl
of papers from Hooks pocket when he wa
touched from the shoulder from behind by
gentlemanly looking man, who handed him hi
own pOcket-bOOk, apologizing for taking it b.
: saying, " didn't know you was one of us,
and pertinently adding, :" but what fool yo
must be to carry it there" Pickpockets, how
ever, never save money, for they are bite
with a mania for gambling, and, strange to say
, are generally unsuccessful at it. Their lar
guage is most peculiar, only to be understoo
! by themselves. Their depredations on tn
: public amount to very large sum in the cours
of the year, considerable portion Of which
never recovered from the general inability c
the victims to give any description that Nigh
lead to Identification, they never, if possible, a
lowing you to have full view of their face
". L. Tribune.