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New York World
Sunday November 2, 1902, Magazine Section,
page 8

NEW TRICKS of the SHOPLIFTERS

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Skilful Devices to Fool the Clerks and Hoodwink the Detectives
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THE GARTER, with many Convenient Hooks for
Jewelry and Other Small Articles

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THE GAUNTLET GLOVE, Which the Ring Thief
Finds so Useful in Her Business

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THE UMBRELLA, Which Holds a Lot, but Is Rather Dangerous on a Rainy Day

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AND THE SHOPPING BAG, with a False Bottom That Works with a Secret Spring

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In Greater New York there are 3,000 women shoplifters.
You meet them on the street and you know them not. They look like "perfect ladies." They do not flirt. They are not frivolous, but thievery is their dearest occupation.
To combat these three thousand women thieves there are not more than fifty women detectives, exclusive of the regular police. Those detectives, in spite of the fact that they are thoroughly acquainted with the tricks of the shoplifters, do not discover one theft in a dozen.
The modern shoplifter goes into the department store thoroughly equipped for her trade. She is a walking arsenal of thievish possibilities.
The ancient trick of dropping a stolen article into an open umbrella has had its day. The hiding of stolen things in a bag formed by sewing up the bottom of a baby's clothes can no longer be regarded as safe for the modern shoplifter.
Yet, strange to say, the professional shoplifter is far less dangerous to society and far easier of detection than the occasional pilferer, the woman of wealth and social standing, who steals because she is natural a thief.

The Amateur Hardest to Detect.
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The amateur thief, the clever woman devoid of principle, the woman who has only been prevented by accident from becoming a professional, the woman who would rather be a thief, if she dared, than anything else on earth, who uses her social position, her spotless reputation, her respectability, as a cloak for thievery, is the one to be feared. She is the hardest to detect and the hardest to deal with. The detectives have to be absolutely sure of their ground in dealing with the amateur. She usually steals small articles which are difficult to find. Her timidity betrays her. Yet withal she has none of the mysterious resources and the mechanical appliances of the habitual shoplifter.
One of the oldest tricks of the profession is what is known as the shoplifter's skirt. This consists of an extra skirt of generous proportions, which is worn underneath the outer skirt. It is provided with a long slit at once [sic] side, opening into a capacious pocket. Skilfully managed, a pocket of this sort will accommodate a great quantity of goods.
No shoplifter of standing would now attempt this trick. The modern shoplifter prefers the garter device. The garter is made of strong sharp hooks. It is fastened below the knee. Of course nothing heavy or cumbersome can be stolen in this manner.
In a Sixth avenue department store a woman was recently arrested with the following articles suspended from hooks on her stockings:
A gold chain.
A pair of sleeve-buttons on a card.
A silk handkerchief.
A valuable piece of lace.
A chain purse.
A diamond ring.
A gold watch
A pair of folding eye-glasses.
A pair of silk stockings.
When accused of the theft the woman confessed, but attempted to mitigate the crime by claiming to be a kleptomaniac--one of the sort that go about carefully prepared and equipped to satisfy their queer passion for putting themselves in possession of other people's property!
The glove trick is more convenient than the garter trick, but its scope is similarly limited. The shoplifter, in working this trick, carries a pair of gauntlet gloves in the left hand, so disposing them that the wrist opening of the upper glove is flapped open like the mouth of a small bag. As the thief approaches the counter (usually the jewelry counter) she picks up a ring in her right hand and examines it intently. Gradually she moves it about until she holds the ring directly over the opening in the glove and about a foot above it.
When the clerk turns his head she lets the ring fall into the opening and examines a second ring, which she had picked up with the first one but had heretofore kept concealed under her fingers. After a time she lays the second ring down, saying she does not like it, and walks away.
Next to the baby trick the umbrella trick is about the easiest to work in a crowded store. The operator sides up to a counter, places her unfastened umbrella, handle up, in a proper position, and then sweeps the things off with a careless motion, keeping her eyes turned in another direction. Like the baby, however, the umbrella is very apt to arouse suspicion. Moreover, on a rainy day it has its inconveniences. More than one shoplifter has been caught at this trick as she walked out into a pouring rain without raising the umbrella (an act which will instantly attract the attention of a detective), or by raising the umbrella in a forgetful moment and thereby unloading and exposing the results of a day's work.
The methods known to the police and the profession as "h'istin tricks" have enjoyed their days of usefulness. They have given way to others which are new and less likely to attract attention. One of these is the false-bottomed shopping bag, made expressly for shoplifting purposes. In appearance the bag differs in no way from an ordinary bag.

How the False-Bottomed Bag Is Used.
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The method of using the bag is very simple. The bottom is composed of two flaps of stiff leather working on little hinges and opening in the middle like the false pictures through which the clown and harlequin are wont to dive in the "Humpty Dumpty" shows. These flaps are neatly fitted together and are held down flat by a stiff steel spring.
Armed with this ingenious arrangement, the shoplifter takes a seat in front of the counter, and, according to the description of one who has seen it work, "holding the handle of the bag, she lets it lie in her lap with the bottom pointed toward the counter. The fact that the bag is clasped shut at the mouth throws off suspicion, and when the clerk's back is turned the operator rapidly draws toward her the article she wants to steal and shoves it through the little doors that form the false bottom. The strong spring inside the bag forces the bottom back into place, and to all appearances the bag is as empty as before." The bag may be comfortably filled without opening the clasp.
The shoplifter's stick is one the use of which is confined almost entirely to male "lifters," as it is meant to look like a cane. It is very simple. The end is provided with a little sharp-pointed hook, capable of seizing anything like a handkerchief or pair of silk stockings. The stick is employed for long-distance pilfering, and with its aid the operator may possess himself of objects behind the counter. It may be argued that such a contrivance would immediately attract attention. But this is not so. Nothing is more common among men in big stores and in art galleries than to point at things with their canes. This is so customary in the stores that shop detectives would pay no especial attention to a man pointing with a stick.
A professional shoplifter of the name of Marie Jennings was caught some time ago "working a game" that would have appalled by its daring nature many a pilferer of the sterner sex. Miss Jennings had armed herself with a capacious black bag, fully a yard wide and equally long. This bag had an opening at the right side, into which the goods could be easily slipped. A drawstring at the top gathered it slightly and also was the means of fastening it about the operator's waist. Thus equipped, Miss Jennings strolled blithesomely about the establishment, plucking a pair of stockings here, a piece of cloth there, and so on. She was at length pleasantly but firmly informed by the manager that the store was not a fair and grab-bag entertainment, and Miss Jennings, much to her chagrin, was obliged to surrender her profits and lodge in prison for some months.

Only a Few of Them Caught.
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Yet comparatively few of the total number of "lifters" are caught and prosecuted. A large number, of course, pilfer successfully and escape. Others are caught after stealing a few trifling objects, and as they are in most cases unused to crime, the managers are content to allow them to go, being assured that they will not do it again.
The discussion of shoplifting suggests an interesting question in what may be termed "average morality." Out of a given number of persons, none of them a criminal, how many would commit a theft if he were fairly sure of not being found out?
A prominent merchant in New York declares that ten out of every hundred would be unable to resist the temptation. Possibly this proportion is too large, but it is certain that the big dry-goods stores offer a serious temptation to thousands of persons by the lavish and apparently careless display of goods.