those who are familiar with currency. To extract any fraction from
a roll of bills; to withdraw a partial sum from the principal; to
take the essential and leave the nonessential, as the money from a
pocketbook of miscellaneous valuables; to steal a sum which will hardly
be missed because of its proportion to the whole amount involved.
Examples: “Weed the poke and put it back.” “He weeded a sawbuck to me
under the table.”
WHITE LINE, WHITE LIME, Noun
Current amongst yeggs and hoboes. Alcohol. Example: “You’ll have to go
to the croker and get a stiff for the white line.”
WICKY, Noun
General circulation. Calaboose; place of detention in small towns and
villages. Contraction from “WICKY UP,” an old term for a small tent,
used by the Indians.
WIPE, Noun
General currency. A handkerchief.
WIRE, Noun
Current amongst pickpockets. The principal craftsman in a “gun mob.”
See “CLAW;” “JERVE;” “TOOL.”
WOLF, Verb
General currency. To vehemently protest. See “SQUAWK.”
WOP, Noun
Used principally in the east. An ignorant person; a foreigner; an
impossible character. See “BOOB.” Example: “You couldn’t find a jitney
with a search warrant in this bunch of wops.”
WORM, Noun
Current amongst shoplifters. Silk; a bolt of silk. Example: “Can you
swing under with a worm?”
YEGG, Noun
General currency. A desperate criminal of the least gregarious and
social type; a thieving tramp.
YEN HOCK, Noun
Current amongst opium smokers and other dope fiends. The slender steel
needle used for preparing opium pills over a lamp flame. Used also as
a metaphorical adjective to describe any slender object, as a lean
person. Example: “Ask the yen hock guinea to stake you to a glim.”
YEN SHE, Noun
Current amongst opium smokers. The residue of smoked opium, a black
cindery substance which clings to the interior of an opium bowl after
the opium has been melted by heat on the face of the bowl.
YEN YEN, Noun
Current amongst opium smokers. The recurrent relaxation from super
exhilaration occasioned by habitual indulgence in any opiate; these
three latter terms are pure Chinese, and were imported into criminal
circles with the advent of addiction to the opium-smoking habit in the
United States in the early seventies.
Suggestions for the Reduction of Preventable Crimes
It must be apparent, to all who have given more than a passing thought
to the relation between the criminal classes and the law and order
departments of our government, that the peace officers to whom the
public looks for protection can do but little more than apprehend
criminals after they have committed crimes. For, although the modern
system of identification, including the arts of photography, physical
measurements and record of finger prints together with a biographical
sketch of the suspect or convict, enables the police to locate a
known criminal and to frequently determine the probable identity
of an unknown who committed a crime from the more or less faithful
description furnished by the victim, it is understood only too well
that personal knowledge in possession of the peace officers concerning
the criminal propensities of a given individual is not sufficient
warrant before a trial court to justify the imprisonment of the
criminal; and, furthermore, the readiness of venal counsel to plead the
cause of guilty persons for a consideration is another insurmountable
obstacle to the safeguarding of society against the depredations of the
vicious classes who entertain such high respect for their freedom of
choice in moral matters that they decline to sell it for bread.
In short, the point sought to be brought out forcibly is that property
holders are depending entirely too much upon the police for protection
and too little upon themselves. If the prevention of crime be possible
then it rests as much with the prospective victims to prevent it
as it does with the guardians of peace, seeing the latter number
scarcely more than one to the thousand of our population and cannot be
everywhere at the same moment of time.
There is one practical method for successfully combatting stealth and
deceit, and its keynote is awareness. The local department of safety
has no bureau of publicity through whose functions the whole public may
be educated in the latest schemes for obtaining money and valuables by
false pretense, stealth and force, as well as apprised of the presence
in the community of this, that or the other well-known confidence
crook, sneak or robber. Just as the fire department is but partially
efficient in preventing fires and is necessarily devoted to their
suppression after they have come into existence, so the police must
often await the call for help from the thief’s victim before they may
take action. This is not always the case, of course, as in critical
times of crime epidemic, or upon the threatened approach of criminal
action, or in cases of exposed conspiracy, all the potential as well
as actual criminals in the community may be rounded up and detained by
operation of the vagrancy act. However, even in times of ordinary or
seeming quietude the total amount of losses suffered by the public and
which are never accounted for satisfactorily makes a staggering sum.
All losses are not discovered at once; of those that are all are not
reported to the police; whilst of the reported losses only a fraction
are ever recovered.
Many victims of the criminal classes prefer for one reason or another
not to let their losses come to light. One reason is lack of confidence
in the capability of the police to apprehend the criminal or recover
the loss, and this feeling is often held unjustly, arising out of the
failure of the victim to recognize the fact that police are no more
omniscient or omnipotent than other men, but labor under quite as rigid
limitations as do the victims of the criminals.
It devolves, therefore, upon the public at large to co-operate as
far as possible with the peace officers in preventing crime by the
adoption of self-protective measures, not measures of violence, but
of self-education in the methods of crime and of elimination of such
glaring opportunities as constitute a standing invitation to the
morally weak and irresponsible to help themselves to whatever is not
nailed down, sewed up in a bag, or too hot or of too high speed. The
average citizen disdains to inquire into the modes of the criminal
element; it is so sordid! Besides, he hires the policeman to do this
dirty work for him. It is the policeman’s business to rake in the muck
and to get himself slaughtered, if need be, in return for the ninety
dollars per month which the citizen pays him. Again, Mr. Citizen is
asleep at the switch regarding self-protection until he suffers a loss,
or he may have to suffer a great many losses before he awakens to the
realization that he as well as the policeman has a certain part to play
in the maintenance of public security.
The United States Supreme Court has held that it devolves upon a
plaintiff to secure himself against fraud through altered bank
checks by the personal use of the most approved devices which insure
protection. Suppose this same principle were applied to every merchant
in the protection of his goods against theft; to every automobile
owner; to every individual who carries money on his person; to every
householder who carelessly leaves vulnerable points to the watchfulness
of Providence; to the credulous people who fall easy victims to the
wiles of confidence men of a hundred schemes? Of course, there is
no danger that the principle will be applied except by the Supreme
Court of your personal conscience after you have looked the issue
squarely in the face. Then you may come to the reduction of preventable
crimes, whose solution rests upon a due recognition of carelessness
and ignorance as the chief factors. Non-preventable crimes occur by
reason of public impotence, both physical and mental. When your pocket
is picked it is because of your ignorance; or if you were previously
aware of the pickpockets’ methods then your loss is to be ascribed
to carelessness. You wouldn’t dare put your hand into a lion’s mouth
because you are afraid he will bite it. You know a pickpocket will
put his hand in your pocket and yet you are foolhardy enough to carry
valuables in accessible depositories.
The grand combination of popular attractions staged in all the cities
of the Pacific Coast for the year 1915 will act as a powerful magnet
to draw thither numerous criminals of almost every profession for
the purpose of thriving upon the ignorant, the careless and the
unprotected. They will operate upon the visitors and the natives
with equal avidity and daring. Their ranks will be made up mainly of
the cleverest members of their crafts; and as it will cost them a
considerable outlay to come it is a foregone conclusion that they will
come with a keener view to business than to pleasure. A few of them
will inevitably fall into the clutches of the law; more, however, will
probably be fortunate enough to get back to their native habitat laden
with the spoils of adventure, whilst a percentage of the whole number
may be expected, and reasonably, to fall by the wayside and thenceforth
for an indefinite season be compelled to cast in their lot with the
home talent and ply their trades in the principal coast cities. Every
cosmopolitan law and order bureau will delegate representatives to the
big celebrations to co-operate with local officials in identifying and
apprehending pedigreed malefactors; still, a liberal estimate of the
ratio of arrests to crimes will probably be one in every ten. Whilst
the virtuous hold lawful carnival during the coming year the vicious
will prosper.
There’s an old saying, “Three meals missed makes a possible thief
and six meals missed makes a possible murderer.” More to the point,
though, is the saying, “Eternal vigilance is the price of security.”
Very little stealing occurs in well-regulated banks, jewelry stores
and corporation counting houses, with the unavoidable exceptions
of crimes by superior force or internal disloyalty, for the simple
but signal reason that methods of awareness are in vogue there. This
was not always so; for they had to learn awareness in the school of
cold, hard facts, having been “bumped” and “twisted” and “turned” and
“flimmed” and “gyped” times innumerable before they learned the value
of precaution, self-defense.
There are two places from which a thief will not steal: where there
is nothing attainable and where the possessors of the attainable are
as wise and ready in self-defense as the thief himself. The eternal
struggle to attain goods is not more strenuous than the battle to hold
them. For, whilst possession is nine points of the law, dispossession
is such an easy achievement with one professional despoiler in
every thousand of our population that it behooves everyone in whose
education this fundamental element of self-protection has been too
sadly neglected to polish up his wit now and then by taking stock of
what the bold criminal may do in the way of seizing opportunities.
The self-reliant may not be frightened, yet it is not the purpose
to frighten even the timid; it is, nevertheless, the duty of every
citizen to pay heed to timely warning on the subject of preventable
crime not alone that he may protect himself but likewise contribute to
the protection of the weaker by removing as much of temptation from
the path of the criminally inclined as is found to be practical and
consistent with general commerce and the open enjoyment of honestly
acquired wealth.
In this regard consider that twenty years and less ago jewelers all
over this land, with very rare exceptions, were as easy prey to the
pennyweighters, or diamond and jewelry thieves, as the burial mounds or
“huacas” of the Incas with their fabulous treasure in gold ornaments
and bullion were to Pizarro and his free booters. Such was the lack
of self-protection in the system of display employed by the jewelers
in the recent past that anyone with the desire and temerity could
help himself out of trays in which gold ornamented with diamonds and
other precious stones was heaped indiscriminately in such wise as to
render detection of loss out of the question on the instant. Through
the organized efforts of the jewelers and opticians, by means of their
trade review, all this loose carelessness was wiped out, precision and
order in display and necessary changes in fixtures were adopted; a
system of surveillance and nation-wide reports on criminal developments
were carried out methodically, until today it is a very infrequent
occurrence for a capably managed jewelry store to suffer loss except by
robbery through violence or by disloyalty of employees. And jewelers
themselves are not the sole beneficiaries of this new order of self
protection; they have almost totally denied to the sneak thief the
opportunity, or temptation, of replenishing a depleted subsistence fund.
What they have done for jewelers the banks, aided by the inventive
genius of the Todds and the Burns Detective Agency, are doing for
savings fund and commercial bank depositors. The fraudulent issuance
and alteration of bank paper has assumed enormous proportions in recent
years, but by the operation of protective measures this resource of the
lawless will soon be entirely cut off.
The evolution of the small merchandising business into great department
stores has proved another fruitful source for both the early schooling
and continued support of petty and grand sneak thieves by the
irrepressible display of unprotected goods. The eagerness to sell lays
the managers open not only to personal loss, which must eventually be
charged off to advertising or some other item of overhead costs, but
also to widespread community loss by the activities of the successful
thieves outside the department store. In proportionate measure nearly
every storekeeper who openly displays small or compact and valuable
merchandise is contributing to the temptation of first-timers and
to the required opportunities of the professional thief and the
kleptomaniac. When confronted with this truth storekeepers shrug their
shoulders as though they are between the horns of a dilemma and say,
“We set our goods out for people to buy, not to steal,” unmindful of
the fact that of thieves in general some are born so, some become so
by surrounding circumstances, whilst every son of Adam is a potential
thief. You may deny this with as much vehemence as you care to expend
in protest against the aspersion of perfectly honest people, but if
you know the hidden workings of the human mind you must pause when you
reflect that hope, the well spring of ambition, is a variable in every
personality at different times, and when it, hope, reaches the maximum
intensity it becomes avarice. And with avarice goes the power of lying,
mendacity in word or action or both. Hence the above truth. For, a liar
will deceive, and larceny is but a degree of deceit. And once capable
of lying the particular manifestation of larceny is but a question of
congenital talent or combination of talents. But to get back to the
subject of preventable crimes.
Admitting that only a small proportion of crimes against property are
preventable (and in these suggestions for the reduction of preventable
crime only the crimes against property are being given consideration),
when we come to deal in aggregate losses, say annual ones, whatever
proportion may be prevented, by the timely dissemination of helpful
information upon this subject, should be recognized as a definite gain.
During this unusually active year the total losses to be inflicted upon
the fixed and floating population will undoubtedly run into five and
maybe six figures.
Of the dozen unorganized guilds of professional criminals enumerated in
the introduction to the Vocabulary the most to be feared and guarded
against are burglars, sneak thieves, merchandise thieves, forgers,
utterers of false paper, confidence men, pickpockets and thieves who
threaten violence. Of these the burglar and the robber who uses weapons
as an aide are the most difficult to deal with. Their suppression is
almost impossible, yet their partial defeat may be confidently hoped
for by the increased watchfulness of the peace officers, aided by the
greater prudence of householders and prospective victims in general.
What was said about banks, jewelry and specialty merchandise dealers
applies with equal pertinence to householders and others who offer
promising occasions for the application of the burglar’s skill.
Ordinary locks offer little protection against the burglar’s master
keys, jimmy and other tools of forcible or surreptitious entry; yet the
greater secretion of valuables may prove an effective remedy against
casual loss. Still, the best advice available for protection against
this sort of loss may be laughed to scorn by the clandestine act of a
desperate or determined criminal.
But of sneak stealing in stores much relief may be had by a sane regard
for safety in display. Valuables should not be placed within reach of
every ostensible patron, neither on top of counters and show-cases nor
in end show-cases nor in unprotected windows. If show-cases are so
narrow as to admit of access from the outside, in front, by reaching
across, they should be kept locked. The same with all end show-cases,
where free passage to their rears may be had. The merchant who violates
these modern canons of commercial prudence not only assumes personal
risk but he abets the thief and is a source of danger to others.
In department store prudence these same observations hold good, and
what is more important every clerk should be trained as thoroughly
in the protection of the goods submitted to his care as he is in the
execution of common exchange formalities. No goods should be shown
any customer without mental inventory of the number of separate
displays, so that accurate account may be constantly kept of them, and
when the fancy or demands of the customer are not satisfied with an
accumulation of goods which is assuming proportions too difficult to
inventory in a spontaneous summary they, or at least a part of them,
should be removed. Goods should not be left upon display while the
clerk withdraws his presence in search of other samples. The secret
of the successful store thief consists in his ability to obtain a
confusion of displays and then send the clerk for an article which
lies at some distance. The over-polite clerk or shop-keeper may at
first object that he cannot afford to be discourteous, disrespectful,
suspicious, gingerly or risk wounding the susceptibilities of a patron.
This objection would have greater weight in a drawing room or at some
function where politeness is on trial; in business it counts for far
less than safety.
Observe the presence of mind of your jeweler when he finds it necessary
to go in search of other displays. He knows it might prove fatal
once in a hundred times to leave a stranger in undisputed possession
of a tray of valuables, for even though he has them so arranged in
geometrical formation as to detect an abstraction he is aware that
a substitution might be made in the flash of an eye and thus wipe
out the profits accruing from the previous ninety-nine customers who
inspected his goods. No, he feels that business can dispense with the
urbane conventions, and he avoids possible loss from this source of
ever-present danger, as the veriest tyro of either sex and any age
possessed of inordinate desire could easily help him or herself whilst
the clerk’s back is turned.
When store sneaks operate in pairs or threes one, or in the latter case
perhaps two, of the number assumes the attitude of purchaser whilst
the seemingly indifferent companion or companions plot to secrete
goods. It is generally considered the duty of a floor or department
manager to keep a lookout for such seemingly unoccupied companions of
purchasers, yet it would be a profitable investment of time and pains
to instruct each and every clerk in the simple rules of protection.
An incentive, such as a bonus or promotion, should be held out as an
extra inducement to clerks to prevent thefts. Loss sustained through
internal peculations is, of course, a constant annoyance, not so
much on account of actualities as on account of possibilities. In
well-regulated establishments where no employee may enter the display
rooms with hat, package, umbrella, coat or wrap, and can therefore
carry none away, the chief losses by dishonest employees are those
of such small articles as may be hidden on the person. There still
remains the avenue of secret transfer of the store’s property to
friends of the clerks who may carry the same away in bags, suit cases
or in packages wrapped in paper imported into the store by the clerk’s
confederate. However, such cases do not come up frequently and are very
difficult of avoidance except by means of daily or weekly inventories
and an exhaustive knowledge of the employee’s previous character and
associates, which is an almost superhuman problem.
Clerks in all stores should be warned to scrutinize, not impertinently,
all strangers carrying packages of bulk, boxes, traveling bags,
umbrellas unfurled and loose or heavy wraps, whether worn or carried
on the arm, as these all afford means for secreting goods. Yet if
the few previous suggestions are observed no goods may be extracted
from a special display, though the fixed and open displays do afford
opportunities for the use of these sneak thief aides. Dangerous or
professional store thieves thrive not on trifling articles, but upon
the more valuable lines of merchandise, such as silks in bolts,
articles of silk manufacture, furs, leather goods, art works, jewelry,
wearing apparel, millinery and dress trimmings. Such goods should be
removed as far as possible from exits.
In smaller establishments these same rules for security should be
carefully carried out.
The stupendous losses suffered by business men of every class from
the operations of forgers and utterers of false paper could be
materially lessened if not wholly stamped out were obliging business
men to adopt the commonest measure in vogue in the telegraph offices,
express offices, postoffices and banks throughout the country--that
of absolutely refusing to cash paper of any variety for unidentified
strangers. The strict enforcement of this principle might sacrifice
trade for a time but it would save loss and eventually when all
reputable business houses by mutual agreement honor the observance the
obtaining of money by false pretenses with paper as collateral would
be impossible. Whoever writes a check or draft or signs a note or
other negotiable instrument unrecorded without protecting the same by
the most modern methods is foolishly laying himself liable as well as
contributing to the loss of other individuals. Whoever thoughtlessly
leaves his check book in accessible places incurs the jeopardy of
community and personal loss, seeing that “paper hangers” are vigilant
in the search for these. A locked desk drawer is not sufficient
protection as a “jimmy” will pry open any furniture lock.