Meantime her male accomplice has put on his shoes. He goes around to
the front of the house, opens the front door noisily, and, walking
heavily, he knocks loudly at the room door, and calls out, "Mary!" or
any name that may suggest itself. The woman will at once exclaim. "Oh,
that is my husband! Dress yourself quickly, and be ready to go out as
soon as I get him away from the room door."
The victim will hastily put on his clothes, and as soon as the woman
slips out and gives him the signal he escapes, only too glad not to
be caught. Before he goes, however, and while he is talking to the
woman, her pal has opened the panel, put his hand in all the victim's
pockets--(his clothes having been put in front of the door), and
nearly all his money is taken. A portion is left, so that he may not
immediately discover his loss. Jewelry is never disturbed, as it would
be missed at once. The favorite methods is to take out the middle of a
roll of notes, if in a roll, or if in a pocket book, the bottom notes
are removed, so that when the victim examines his purse hurriedly he
will not discover that he has been robbed. If the amount stolen is
large the house is vacated, and the woman skips the town for a time.
The women who work for these badger houses work in one city for a
time, then go to the next large city with a note to the chief who
runs the house there. The women generally wear wigs, so in case the
man reports his loss to the police he will, perhaps, describe a
fair-haired woman, when perhaps her hair is black. A blonde wig is
discarded, the case is fixed.
A female badger and her lover may be poor and unable to rent a house.
In this event they will rent a furnished room in a furnished-room
house. The bolt on the door is fixed by simply taking out the screws
from the nose of the bolt, and the screw holes are enlarged. The
screws are well greased and then put back, the key taken out of the
lock, so when the time comes for the thief in go in, as previously
described, he pushes in the door easily and quietly, as the hinges
are well oiled, and the victim is robbed while he is making violent
love to the supposed "married woman."