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V/U AMCrime to Which Women arc Particularly Addlcted-How the Thlevcn grc IMtlful Casesof Kleptomania.I{Few persons, says a New York correspondent, rc ilize to what a great extent shop-lifting, as a trade, is carried on in this city. The wholesale storekeepers who suffer from these petty thefts, and the police or private detectives who are employed to catch offenders of this kind, are perhaps theonly ones who properly estimate the large number of po6ple that make a practice of robbing the counters. There is a splendid field for the shop-lifters’ operations in the immense stores of the metropolis. On a busy day the amount of petty larceny committed is enormous. The crowded store, the bustle and coufusion. the shop-girl with more customers than she can attend to, anda Score of other things, all aid in thesuccessful pilfering of small articles.Shop-lifting is a crime to which women are particularly addicted. It is very seldom that a male shop-lifteris arrested. Perhaps this is due to the fact that women are more given to shopping, and therefore a female thief can carry on her work with less fear of suspicion and detection than a man.All ages are Included in thr ranks ofthe shop-lifter. The child as well as the gray-haired old woman is foundwith” this propensity to seize what is another's property. Some are notoriously proficient ‘in the trade, are looked upon with admiration by the younger or less experienced members of the fraternity, and arc continually falling' into the clutches of the police.One of the best-known of the professionals is “Mag” Lillie. She originally came from Maine, and was the wife ofa sea Captain. Over twenty years agoshe abandoned him and became intimate with a welbknown conlidenee-man. Afterward she went to England with a noted English burglar, and the two were arrested for picking pockets. “Mag” got off with a sentence of two years. She returned to this Country upon her release and lived with a receiver of stolen goods. Then she married a bank sneak thief. After going through some exciting scenes with him here and in London she associated herself with a woman named Burtis and began to rob the dry goods stores of this city. In one of their expeditions they were caught, but escaped punishment by jumping their bail. She was afterward re-arrested and sent to prison The shop-lifter is often detected be-* a « . 1 A .The most pitiful cases ‘are those in which the woman, otherwise respectable, is caught in her first attempt. She can not toll why she was guilty of her crime; all that she can say is that She was tempted, and in a moment of weakness committed the act. When these women are arraigned in court for trial they are overcome with shame.This feeiing of disgrace at being publicly arraigned as thieves is so intense that the court, appreciating the fact, generally lets them off with a day or two’s imprisonment. Some of these women resolutely refuse to give their own names. Not long since one of them was arrested in a store in Sixth avenue, near Nineteenth street. She confessed her guilt, and a large crosswise pocket, concealed in the folds of her dress, was found filled with stolen goods. She said that-she dared notbriug disgraceupon her family by letting her friends know of her arrest. She had amplemeans, she added, and was tempted to steal upon the spur of the moment. Another ease was that of an old woman, dressed in black, who was arrested in an Eighth avenue dry-goods store. She was accompanied by her daughter, who was also arrested. Tworaanly-lookingyoung men next day called at the prison and said they were her sons. They had been looking for her and her daughter all night. In the possession of the prisoners were found eiglu pair of gloves' and three handkerchiefs, identified by the storc-kceper by a private mark. The women had given an assumed name and a wrong address.Poverty sometimes makes shop-lifters out of otherwise honest women. A woman was tried in the Court of Special Sessions a short time ago for stealing a piece of cloth from a Grand street store. She was quiet and respectable in appearance, but her face was pinched as if from hunger. She cried bitterly upon her trial. She pleaded guilty, but said it was her first offense. Her husband, a book-publisher, had committed suicide. At one time h» wa,s wealthy, but at his death left her destitute. in a moment of despair ske was driven to commit the crime. Sbc got off with five days’ imprisonment.The store-keeper not only relies upon his employes to detect this kud ofcrime, but has also the help of professional and private detectives. These men. dressed in civilian's clothes, mingle in the crowds, pretend to see nothing suspicious going on, and suddenly pounce upon someone they kave been watching for a long time. 11 the party pounced upon does not turnout to have stolen or attempted to 4eal anything the detective does not feel alarmed if he can prove that the ptrty
Newspaper Details
Chippewa Falls Herald
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, US
Fri, Jan 30, 1885
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Dianne P.
WI, USA 29 Jun 2018
Other Publications Near Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
Chippewa Falls Herald
Chippewa Falls County Independent
Chippewa Herald
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Chippewa Falls Peoples Paper
