SHOP-LIFTERS.
_Who they are and how they are made--Their Methods of Operating and upon
whom--The Fashionable Kleptomaniac and her opposite--The Modern Devices
of Female Thieves._
Many persons contend that certain kinds of criminals inherit their
law-breaking propensities. There are others, less charitably disposed,
perhaps, who strenuously insist that all criminals, without exception,
are simply born with a natural desire to be bad, and would not be
otherwise if they could; that they are prone and susceptible to the
worst influences because they incline that way. There are others, again,
who as strongly and vigorously urge that felons, of whatever grade,
class or character, are made so by circumstances, in which poverty,
idleness, inability to obtain work, temptation, and a thousand other
things, conspire to be either the direct or indirect causes of the
individual falling from the straight path and entering the crooked path
of crime. But, from whatever motive, by whatever temptation, whether
forced or led, certain it is that both male and female criminals have
some peculiar ideas of crime, entertained, perhaps, for reasons only
known to themselves. The chances of escape from detection are, no doubt,
seriously weighed and carefully considered by the persons bent upon
committing felony as a mode of livelihood, and, undoubtedly, some
special line is selected, as the particular branch of the profession to
be followed, in accordance with the physical and mental fitness of the
man or woman to succeed in it.
In other words, they gradually become "specialists," like other
professional persons in the respectable walks of life. It may be safely
said, however, that a thief in one thing is a thief in all things. He
would be callow, indeed, who would predicate that a professional burglar
would hesitate to commit highway robbery because his weapon was a jimmy,
or that a panel thief would turn up his nose at picking an inviting
pocket. It is all in the line of business, and neither professional
would lose caste. No doubt both men and women select the peculiar line
of crime for which they imagine they are physically and mentally best
adapted, and which, in each particular case, seems to offer the most
facilities and immunities. For these considerations, shop-lifting has
its obvious attractions and temptations for women.
For years past, the newspapers of our large cities almost daily have
chronicled the arrests of men and women, in stores, who have been caught
in the act of appropriating articles that have been temptingly displayed
on the counters. Yet it is very doubtful if there has yet appeared one
published account of the exact manner in which such goods have been
stolen, or an explanation given of the _finesse_ by which, in spite of
the Argus eyes of the watchers, clerks, visitors and customers, the
thief generally contrives to escape detection. It goes without saying
that there are adroit and dexterous shop-lifters of both sexes, while
the manner of conducting their operations is as diverse as can well be
conceived.
The annual thefts of goods from the retail stores of this city alone
aggregate an almost fabulous sum. It is very difficult to reach a
reliable approximation of the total amount thus stolen, because
store-keepers are naturally averse to having their losses from this
source known. As a prominent Sixth-avenue gentleman once remarked, "If I
should tell how much I annually lost through thieves, or suffered by
shop-lifters, I would have the entire band occasionally paying me
visits, thinking I had not provided myself with the usual safe-guards
against them." Nevertheless, it can be stated as an absolute fact that
not less than half a million dollars' worth of goods yearly disappear
from the stores through shop-lifters, embracing all kinds of articles,
from diamonds to penny fans.
The professional diamond and jewelry thief, however, is not to be
confounded with the shop-lifter, for the former employs quite a
different _modus operandi_ in capturing his illicit goods. The diamond
thief has been known to display the most fertile ingenuity in devising
schemes to rob the unwary though generally alert jeweler. An instance is
recorded of a thief entering a jewelry store, leaving his "pal" outside
to look in through the window, asking to see some diamond rings. While
pretending to examine them with severe criticism, and keeping the
salesman engaged, he cleverly attached one end of the string, held by
his confederate outside, to several of the most valuable, and quietly
dropped them at his feet. His "pal" then quietly pulled them along the
floor, out through the door, into the street and decamped. A search of
the thief who remained behind disclosed nothing and, as proof was thus
wanting, he had to be discharged.
The female shop-lifter is generally a woman well known to the police, as
her picture will, in nearly every case, be found in the Rogues' Gallery
at Police Headquarters. Usually, when she discovers that her actions are
watched and her movements shadowed, she quietly folds her tent and
proceeds to some other city where she is comparatively a stranger, and
where, unsuspected, she can ply her nefarious occupation with less risk
of detection and capture. She is often either the wife of a gambler,
professional burglar, forger or other criminal; or she may be the wife
of some reputable mechanic whose income is insufficient to supply her
with the furbelows her vanity craves; or, again, she is one of those
women who, having a natural aversion to labor, seek to support
themselves by petty thefts.
The fact is notorious, and easily demonstrated by the records of the
police courts, that "a shop-lifter once, a shop-lifter always." It is a
lamentable psychological idiosyncrasy that, despite the most earnest and
apparently sincere resolutions to lead an honest life, the female
shop-lifter, intent on making a legitimate purchase, is incapable of
withstanding the temptation offered by a display of fancy articles. She
will usually attempt to purloin some trinket or other and be caught
again. Perhaps the leniency with which crimes of this character have
been treated by the authorities has tended to increase the number of
persons engaged in committing them. For, heartless as man is at times,
he detests the idea of prosecuting a woman for the commission of a petty
theft, when the end, for her, means the penitentiary. In very many,
perhaps the majority of, cases he will be satisfied if his goods are
recovered, and permit the thief to go unpunished. This is very
frequently the case with that class of shop-lifters called, by courtesy,
the "kleptomaniac,"--the wealthy lady who steals what she could easily
have purchased. This is a phase of female character only accounted for
upon the Christian hypothesis that her thieving propensities are a
disease, while they are really a manifestation of the same base desires
which actuate less fortunate women who expiate their misdemeanor in the
penitentiary.
Most of the rich kleptomaniacs are well known to the various
store-keepers. A woman of this kind is watched from the moment she
enters an establishment until she leaves it. Usually, a trusty employee
or detective follows her from counter to counter, unobserved, noting all
the articles purloined. When the fair and aristocratic thief enters her
carriage and is driven to her palatial residence a bill of the goods so
"lifted," addressed to the husband, follows her and, in nearly every
case, is paid upon presentation and without questioning. Thus the
transaction ends, until another visit from the lady occasions another
bill. If the "blue-blooded" thief enters a store, however, where she is
not known, and to the proprietor of which her "disease" is unsuspected,
she often escapes with her "swag," like the unfortunate female who
adopts stealing as a means of subsistence. There should be no
distinction made between the wealthy and aristocratic female thief and
her less fortunate sister, for the crime is the same in both cases; the
only difference being that the latter cannot claim the possession of
riches in extenuation of her guilt.
The frequency with which thefts by shop-lifters occur, and the amount of
valuable goods stolen, has rendered store-keepers more suspicious and
cautious, probably, than any other class of men in the world. Nearly all
the large stores on Sixth avenue, Twenty-third street, Broadway,
Fourteenth street, and others, where ladies do most of their shopping,
and which are perfectly jammed with people nearly all day long, employ
either male or female detectives (and in some instances both are used),
who are constantly on the alert for the detection of female
shop-lifters. Such stores as McCreery's, Lord & Taylor's, O'Neill's,
Macy's, Simpson, Crawford & Simpson's, Hearn's, Altman's, Koch's,
Kaughran's, Ehrich's, Denning's, Stern's and Le Boutillier's are
examples. Some stores have had seats erected near the ceiling, where,
secreted among shawls and other pendant goods, the detectives are
securely hidden from the sight of all persons, and can thus watch the
actions of every woman making a purchase. Other detectives are posted at
the different entrances; while still others, having the appearance of
buyers, are constantly walking and circulating through the various
departments, on the lookout for thieves. During the holidays all these
precautions are doubled, and some officers are even posted on the
sidewalk, in front of the windows.
Before Christmas these stores carry enormous stocks of every kind of
fancy goods, and their lavish display, added to their crowded condition
at all times, renders theft easier than usual. So that, try as they may,
the proprietors cannot prevent a certain amount of thieving, and
thousands of dollars worth of goods are annually lost to each store by
the depredations of shop-lifters. Even the small shops of Third and
Eighth avenues, and Avenues A and B, are not free from the visits of
this class of thieves, and no stores are exempt from the imposition of
their tribute.
Before leaving home on a thieving excursion to the stores the female
shop-lifter carefully and systematically prepares her clothing, and sees
that it is in proper form and ready for business. This she does by first
putting on a corset made especially for the purpose, with broad, strong
bands which pass over the shoulders. Between her legs she arranges a
large bag or receptacle made of some extremely strong cloth, which is
suspended from the corset by a stout band running around the waist. Her
dress or frock covers this, and in front of the dress is an opening or
slit, nicely arranged in the folds so as not to be noticed, which leads
into the suspended bag. Over this, in winter, is worn a sealskin sacque,
cloth cloak, fur circular, or other garment, according to the means of
the wearer. In summer she wears a light shawl, which completely hides
the slit in the dress from view. She now takes her muff, which, to the
uninitiated eye, has nothing to distinguish it, outwardly, from
thousands of other muffs, but which is a master-piece of ingenious
contrivance. It is covered with any kind of fur, just as honest muffs
are, with the significant exception that, instead of being padded with
cotton, the fur rests upon a framework of wire. Between the fur covering
and the wire supporting frame, the space usually filled with cotton is
left vacant, thus providing accommodation for quite a stock of valuable
lace, articles of jewelry, gloves, or anything small and valuable. In
the bottom of the muff there is a small slide, on the inside, worked by
the hand of the wearer, who, after introducing the stolen article into
the muff, presses back this slide and drops the plunder into the cavity
between the frame and the fur.
With one of these muffs, shop-lifting is so easy as to be successfully
practiced by novices, as not one store-walker in a thousand would
suspect that his counters could be worked through a muff worn as these
are when in action. Thus equipped, the expert female shop-lifter sallies
out. Generally, she dresses rather expensively. Sometimes she uses a
carriage, but more frequently walks, stopping to gaze in the store
windows as she saunters along; and in no particular can she be
distinguished from others of her sex, except, perhaps, that in some
cases she is rather more richly and attractively clothed. Upon
selecting a store that suits her, she walks boldly in, going at once,
and without noticeable hesitation, to the lace or other department,
before the counter of which she seats herself, adroitly arranging her
dress and the slit. Asking the saleswoman to be shown some kinds of
lace, she examines it critically, and, laying it down upon the counter,
asks to see another kind, or some feathers, or something else, and so
contrives to have several articles just before her, one covering the
other, if possible. Having accumulated a number of articles upon the
counter in an eligible position, she points to some things high up on a
shelf behind the counter, thus getting the saleswoman's back turned
towards her for an instant, when, with soft dexterity, she conveys
anything that happens to be handily in the way through the slit in her
dress into the bag between her legs. The goods examined and priced, "not
suiting" her, and other customers coming up, she takes the opportunity
of moving to another counter, where the same tactics are repeated, and
so on, till she is satisfied with her haul or exhausted her stowage
capacity.
The muff is worked in this way: The operator rests her hand, with the
muff on it, on the goods which she proposes to sample, and a moment of
diverted attention on the part of the salesman or saleswoman is ample
for her to transfer to her ingenious warehouse such samples as she can
conveniently and quickly pick up with one hand. The movement of
concealing the stolen articles is instantaneously executed, and, however
well the muff may be stuffed, it cannot be bulged out to attract
attention. It is surprising to know the vast quantities of material
these bags and muffs will contain. At police headquarters, once, in
examining the contents of one of these bags, it was found to actually
hold a piece of satin, several cards of lace, a camel's-hair shawl, two
large china ornaments, a number of spools of silk, several elegant fans,
expensive ostrich plumes, and numberless smaller articles, feathers,
artificial flowers and some minor trinkets. Shop-lifters are the terror
of the shop-keepers, for the thefts embrace everything of convenient
character lying about. With one dexterous sweep they will frequently put
out of sight a dozen small articles.
All the articles stolen are carried home, the trade-marks upon them
destroyed, and then subsequently sold to some "fence" for about
one-third their value, to finally be resold again over the counter of
some other store in another city. It is seldom the female shop-lifter
uses a male confederate, but it frequently happens that they travel in
couples, one engaging the attention of the seller while the other fills
her bag or muff, taking turn about until both have stolen sufficient for
the day. Sometimes several trips are made to the same store, but
generally one is enough.
It often happens that store-keepers make mistakes and wrongfully accuse
respectable ladies of shop-lifting, and in such cases the over-zealous
vender suffers greatly, both in loss of custom and, oftentimes, in heavy
damages in a court of law. All stores are provided with what are called
examination rooms. When a person is suspected of being a thief, some of
the attaches of the store, or a detective, as the case may be, taps the
person lightly upon the shoulder, and politely invites them into this
examination room. Here their bundles and packages are searched and, if
warranted, their clothing is personally inspected by some female
attendant. Here is where some very curious scenes are enacted. The
professional thief will resort to tears, expostulations, explanations,
excuses of all kinds, finally begging to be allowed to depart. The
discovery of the bag or the muff, however, invariably settles the case
and the offender is marched off to jail.
In the case of a mistake, as stated, the store-keeper generally makes
the explanations, excuses, and so forth, supplementing them afterwards
by payment in a suit for damages.
Men shop-lifters--or, more properly, store thieves--pursue an entirely
different method, and confine their operations to a far different kind
of store. They go into the thieving business to make it pay, and are not
tempted by the display of merely pretty things. They prefer to operate
in the wholesale stores, and how ingeniously and systematically they
accomplish their object, under the very eyes of people, borders on the
marvelous.
It has often been said that the same amount of ingenuity, thought, care
and planning, which is bestowed by criminals upon the perpetration of
felony, if directed properly upon some legitimate business would render
them successful and rich. Undoubtedly, this is true. What inventive
faculties they must have to devise such a convenient contrivance as the
shop-lifter's muff, the various burglar's implements, the safe-robber's
tools, their delicate files, saws, etc., made from the best of steel,
and thousands of other things used in various ways, including the store
thief's satchel, must be manifest to the most ordinary comprehension.
As this latter article is used by the class of thief about to be spoken
of, a short description of it will not be amiss. To all outward
appearance it is a very unpretentious traveling-bag. It looks honest,
and does not differ, apparently, from any other bag of its kind. A
careful scrutiny hardly discloses any variation from the ordinary
valise; but, nevertheless, it has a false side, so ingeniously arranged
as to open and close noiselessly, being caught with a well-oiled spring
or fastening. The hinges of this false side are made on the iron which,
in ordinary satchels, contains the lock, and it opens upwards, when
placed in the usual manner upon a table, instead of downwards--just the
reverse of the honest one. It is the simplest thing in the world, then,
for an expert, carrying a valise of this description by the handle, to
place it over a piece of valuable cloth, open the slide, which works
with a spring; at the precise moment slip the goods in, and, taking his
valise by the handle, walk off undiscovered. To any one who may be
watching, the action of the thief is the most natural one in the world,
and if the goods themselves are not missed no one would ever suspect
they were in the valise carried by the gentleman who merely let it rest
for a second on the table. But it is captured all the same, although you
cannot see it. It has changed from one place to the other under the
magical "presto" of the thief.
The store thief saunters down-town to the dry goods district, watches
the wholesale houses, notes the interior of the stores, and carefully
makes his selection of some one suitable to his purpose. The next
morning, bright and early, he attires himself like a country
store-keeper, and, taking his satchel in his hand, he makes haste to
reach the store he intends to work, appearing to the quietly-observant
porter like an out-of-town buyer, just come off some early incoming
train. Asking the porter or clerk, who, probably, about this time, is
sweeping out, in expectation of the arrival of some of the salesmen or
proprietors, if Mr. Smith, a salesman, is in, he is informed that none
of the clerks or salesmen are down yet. Remarking in answer that he will
wait a moment or two, as he has just arrived from Schenectady, he deftly
places his gripsack upon the counter, over some valuable piece of goods,
and saunters around the store, coming back to where his valise is, when,
embracing a favorable opportunity, he slips the one, two or three pieces
of cloth through the false portion of the valise, and, taking it by the
handle in the usual careless manner, "guesses he will go to his hotel
and have a wash and return later," and leaves the store not only
undetected but entirely unsuspected. Very probably the theft remains
undiscovered until the next taking of stock, when it is impossible to
tell how the goods were lost, and in many cases some attache of the
store is discharged, never knowing for what sin of omission or
commission he was suspected. The success of this mode of theft is best
shown by the infrequency with which such cases are ever brought to light
or its perpetrator ever caught and arrested.