Tricks of the Up-to-Date Crook.
_Pickpockets_--Professional pickpockets, or “dips”, generally
work in gangs of from two to five, in places that are crowded, or on
street cars and railroad trains. Some are so successful that they can
get through a crowd and “lift” or “dip” half a dozen pocket-books,
watches or other valuables in a few minutes. When they work in groups
the leader will spot the intended victim and jostle him or step on
his toes, and while excusing himself, or otherwise attracting his
attention, the rest of the gang will go through his pockets. Another
method is for the gang to arrive on the platform of a street car, and
as the victim squeezes himself on to the platform to pick his pockets,
or one of the gang will stand at the entrance and help the intended
victim aboard the car, and when the car starts throw his arms about him
as though to keep from falling; while he has his arms about the victim,
the other members close around him and proceed to relieve him of his
valuables. Women pickpockets travel on street cars and sometimes have
a false arm lying in their lap, giving them the appearance of having
both hands in their lap, while they rob the one sitting next with the
free arm. In larger cities the “squeeze game” is worked on the street
cars and they have even robbed passengers by getting diamond studs from
their shirt bosoms with their teeth.
_Flat Workers_--Flat workers operate in pairs. One acts as a
“stall”; that is, finds the lay of the ground; the “stall” enters the
flat first, rings the bell, and if answered, asks for someone whom he
knows does not live there. When he finally locates an apartment that
the occupants have left, he signals his partner, who goes up to the
door and opens it with a skeleton key, or small jimmy, and ransacks the
place thoroughly. While he is upstairs his partner inserts a letter
in the letter box of the apartment while his partner is working, and
if the occupant arrives in the meantime and abstracts the letter the
“stall” rings the bell as a signal a number of times, giving the thief
upstairs time to get out, either through the front or rear door. Flat
workers are generally young men, well dressed, and if accosted in the
hall of an apartment give some excuse or pretend to be on the wrong
floor. This is easy when it is taken into consideration that flats or
apartments are from two to fifteen stories high and contain a large
number of occupants.
_Shoplifters_--The professional shoplifter is to be found in every
large city; large department stores are their field of operation. They
generally work in pairs, sometimes two women or a man and a woman;
one engages the attention of the clerk while the other does the work.
They are most active during the winter and the holidays. In the winter
the woman wears a large coat or cloak fitted with large false pockets
reaching almost to the ground, in which she places the stolen articles.
While in the store they never recognize each other, and never leave the
store at the same time. The one doing the stealing leaves first, the
other makes some small purchases, at the same time planning another job
if the present one is successful.
_Kleptomaniacs_--Kleptomaniacs are supposed to be persons who
steal for the reason that they do not realize the difference between
wrong and right. When some woman of means, who can easily afford to
purchase her wants, steals, she is said to be a kleptomaniac. Cases
have been known where women would purchase hundreds of dollars of goods
a month from some store and while in the store could not resist the
temptation to steal small articles of very little value. Sometimes
a detective will follow her around and make a note of the articles
she steals and charge it to her account; the proprietors of the
establishment finding that the better manner of handling such cases,
rather than losing her trade. Kleptomaniacs are very seldom found among
the poorer classes of shoplifters.
_The Green Goods Swindler_--The green goods game, as it is
sometimes called, is generally worked on the green countryman, or some
“sucker” in a little town. They generally insert an advertisement in
a small monthly magazine, “Hearth and Home”, “Home and Fireside”,
etc. This advertisement catches the “sucker’s” eye and he corresponds
with a man who gives an alias in some little town. He will request
that the “sucker” return each and every letter that he receives, and
the “sucker” when the meeting is completed has even been given a new
twenty dollar bill out of a roll of the supposed green goods to take
to the bank to get it changed. The “sucker” is then informed that if
it is good enough for the bank to take, and cannot be detected by
them, he could use it without being detected. He is then met with a
proposition that they would give him $1,000.00 for $250.00 cash and
the money is placed in a grip or envelope and is then switched and the
“sucker” gets nothing but blank paper. After the exchange the “sucker”
is accompanied to the train by the green goods man, at the same time
impressing upon him the necessity of keeping the grip or large envelope
in his possession, and to not open it or examine the contents until he
reaches home and is alone. The “sucker” never complains for fear of
being arrested for attempting to defraud the government by handling
counterfeit money.
_Fake Jewelry Swindlers_--One of the most common swindles
practiced in the large cities is the fake jewelry swindle. The swindler
approaches some well dressed, prosperous person, generally a young
man, exhibits a piece of jewelry, saying that it was stolen or found,
and offers it for sale at a small price. When the purchaser finds he
is “stung” he pockets his loss, fearing to expose his cupidity. A
favorite place for these jewelry workers is on down town streets or
around hotels. They always work at night, for it is hard to judge fake
diamonds and other stones under a light. Another swindle is to offer a
pair of supposed gold eye glasses saying they were found on the street
or in some hotel toilet room. The eye glass game, as described above,
is used by news agents on railroad trains throughout the country.
_Death Notice Fraud_--The most despicable form of a fraud is the
crook who robs the members of bereaved families, especially widows
and orphans. He watches closely the death notices in the large daily
papers, and immediately expresses a package containing a Bible, a
fountain pen, piece of jewelry, etc., addressed to the person who has
just died. The article sent will be engraved with the initials or name
of the deceased and will be accompanied by a receipt, showing that the
deceased has paid a certain amount on the article, leaving a balance
usually from $2.00 to $20.00 due, or mails them shares of stock in
a mining or manufacturing concern, the price of which is greatly in
excess of the real value, and on which the deceased is supposed to have
made a partial payment. The members of the family, desiring to possess
the last purchase of their beloved ones, will pay the balance, and
afterward learn they have been defrauded.
_The Badger Game_--This game is carried out by a man and a woman
who are supposed to be husband and wife; the woman must be good
looking, well dressed, etc.; they operate in the following manner:
The woman selects some prominent man of affairs, goes to his place
of business and induces him to visit her home; after he has done so,
she confides in him that she is a married woman and that her husband
is a traveling salesman and is rarely ever at home. After a visit or
two the business man is confronted in the home by the husband, who
apparently becomes enraged and threatens to kill them both. During
this argument, another person enters the room and advises the enraged
husband to desist from his intention of killing, that the better way
would be to quit his faithless wife, at the same time demanding a cash
settlement from the man who has ruined his home. The man generally
settles to prevent an exposure. Another method of working the badger
game is for a woman to entice a man of means to her apartments and
while in a compromising position, have the room broken into by two or
three men who claim to be detectives, who have been employed to shadow
the woman for her husband in order to secure evidence for a divorce.
They release the man and in a day or so he receives a letter from a
lawyer requesting his presence at his office. If he complies with the
lawyer’s request he is shown two or three affidavits signed by the
supposed detectives and a signed statement from the woman, together
with a copy of a proposed suit by the wronged husband for alienating
the affections of his wife, the suit to be filed immediately, unless
he, the victim, settled for a good round sum of money. The whole thing
is a frame-up and the couple probably work the game over the country.
If the victim hesitates to settle, saying he will call later and
consult his attorney, the woman in the meantime visits him at his place
of business and begs him to settle, threatening to commit suicide right
then and there--showing him a phial supposed to contain some kind of
poison--unless some kind of a settlement is made.
Legitimate detectives are often called upon to run down this class of
swindlers. To my own personal knowledge a great number of cases of this
kind have occurred in the City of Charleston, West Virginia.