Dearborn independent. [volume], July 09, 1921, Page 3, Image 3

About Dearborn independent. [volume] (Dearborn, Mich.) 1901-1927

Image provided by: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

                
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Some Foolish Things That We Do
and Some Ways We Might Adopt
By JAMES C. MURNANE
Chief of the Bureau of Identification, St. Paul
Police Department.
HUGE sums in money and jewels are stolen
every year. Every newspaper carries re
ports of robberies of some kind. But few
people realize that many of these losses might
have been avoided.
Yet that is true. Men are always doing fool
ish things with their money or valuables, and so
are the women. Sometimes they are just care
less. More often they don't stop to think how
easy they are making it for the burglar, or the
pickpocket. Often they actually invite men to
rob them. Of course, they don't intend to do it,
but they do.
Now, take the pickpocket. Every year he
reaps a rich harvest, much because persons don't
keep their wits about them.
Incidentally, right now is the great open sea
son for the pickpocket. Perhaps you never
thought of it, but picking pockets is a summer
occupation. It's too hard to find a man's pocket
book when he's bundled up in an overcoat, while
in his summer clothes, it's easy. Pickpockets go
South in winter, and come back with the warm
days. They always get back by the Fourth of
July you see, that's one of their big harvest
days.
So it may not be amiss to consider the meth
ods of the pickpocket, and some practical means
of foiling him. If men took only reasonable pre
cautions, if they were only as observant as the
professional criminal for instance, a lot of good
pickpockets and burglars would be hunting other
jobs.
Now, a pickpocket is an artist in his way. I
have seen them so good that they could flip your
money out of your pocket just in walking past
you. A man digs down into an inside pocket to
get mcmey to buy a ticket. I have seen men who
could brush past him and flip his roll out of his
pocket while he's getting ready to button up his
vest or his coat.
Here is a story that is characteristic, for in
stance. A bunch of pickpockets got on a train
at Denver. There were nine men in the crowd."
"We won't buy any du
cats, but we will try to
short the caducer," one of
the gang said. They call
the conductor the "ca
ducer." So they boarded the
train without any tickets
and paid their fares in
cash. After they were out
of Denver a little way, one
man in the gang, Eddie
Harvey, picked the con
ductor's pocket, and got
all the money back.
Contrary to the popu
lar belief, pickpockets
work in groups, or "mobs."
Usually in a mob, there
are two or three "stalls,"
and one "tool." It is the
job of the "stall" to dis
tract your attention. May
be he just knocks back
your hat a little, appar
ently by accident, as the
street car lurches a little.
That is enough, just a
moment while your atten
tion is distracted the
trick is done. The "tool"
is the man who actually
takes the money from your
pocket. Usually, he passes
the money to another
member of the gang,
known as the carrier, who
makes the get-away, a
they call it.
Now, here is a peculiar
thing. Almost never do
the victims pick out the right man when they
find out they have been robbed. Men do the
funniest kind of things when they get their
pockets picked anyway. Sometimes they will
turn around and grab the first man they see.
Nine times out of ten, it is the wrong man. Lots
of men will yell until you can hear them for a
block. That, by the way, is the worst thing that
a man could do, for it creates confusion, -which
is just the thing the pickpockets want to get away.
And here is something else worth noting. If a
V a"""' .ffl ssal sP
Urn
Beware of the man who thrusts a newspaper
under your chin in a crowded car he may be
using it at screen, as in this picture posed by
the detectives. Actually, an accomplice would
be standing on cither side to obscure the view
shown in the picture of the watch being taken.
fellow finds a good-looking woman thrown
against him in a crowded street car as the car
lurches, he's not going to resent it. It would be
different if a man bumped against him. During
the momentary distraction, a clever pickpocket
can slip out his pocketbook unnoticed. There are
lots of women pickpockets, and they are among
the cleverest in the business.
Women rarely are caught picking pockets,
either. You know how it is you suddenly miss
your pocketbook and look around and see a good
looking woman. Would you accuse her? Not on
your lifel
It is extremely hard to catch a "tool" in the
act of picking a pocket, for it is done very
quickly and usually there is a member of the
gang standing on each side to obscure the view.
Only the trained observer will notice a group of
pickpockets working in a crowd. An amusing
incident happened some years ago while a group
of detectives were watching a crowd for pick
pockets. Suddenly, one of the detectives came
over to me very excitedly and said, "It's gone,
my pocketbook I've been robbed."
Men are always showing their money need
lessly in public places, and they are always giv
ing the prospective pickpocket assistance when
they do it. If I were to lay down rules to avoid
the pickpocket, one of them would be : "Never
change a large bill at a ticket window, or other
public place." Every man who shows a sub
stantial sum of money invites robbery. A man
may reach down into an inside pocket to get his
money. The pickpocket notes the location of the
wallet, and notices whether it seems well filled.
Ninety per cent of the touch is accomplished
right there.
There are six pockets in which a man carries
money, and there is only one which may be called
proof against pickpockets. Not very many men
would think of it, but the only comparatively
safe pocket is the little fob pocket down under
the belt of the trousers. If you roll up your bills
and stick them in this pocket, the only way a
pickpocket can get them is to steal your trousers.
That pocket lies so close
to the body that no pick
pocket with his senses
about him would try to
pick it.
All the other pockets
are easy for the expert
pickpocket. If a man has
a long, deep pocket, as for
instance those at the side
of the trousers the pick
pocket "reefs" it, as he
calls it. That is one of
the most delicate opera
tions in the business. The
pickpocket slips two
fingers into the pocket.
He takes hold of the lin
ing of the pocket on the
side away from the body,
and pulls the lining out
gently, a little at a time,
until he can reach the
pocketbook.
Another rule to avoid
pickpockets, I'd put into
these words "Never min
gle with a crowd." Pick
pockets always do their
work in crowds, for then
if a man is jostled, he will
not notice it. Often, they
create some source of ex
citement just to draw a
crowd. I have known
them to hire a tramp to
fall over on the sidewalk
apparently dead, for in
stance, and then they
would explore the pockets.
Men are foolish for
carrying around large
sums of money anyway. t)rafts are cheap, and
they may be mailed to yourself, if you happen
to be going on a journey. If you have to carry
a large sum on your person, keep your hand on
it every minute. Hundreds of cases of large
sums being lost in this way are reported to the
police of the big cities every year, and here is a
significant thing, too not all the cases are re
ported. In fact, scores of men get robbed who
don't admit it because of the chagrin. That's hu
man nature. There is another thing that it is
JAMES C. MURNANE,
Chief of the Bureau of Identifica
tion, St. Paul Police Department,
and a veteran detective, who points
out some ways in which we actually
help men rob us. He is one of the
bestknown Bertillon experts in
the country.
well for men
to know, and
that is that the
ordinary safety
attached to a
watch or scarf
pin doesn't
bother the pick
pockets very
much. Never
wear a valuable
scarf pin or
watch unless
the safety catch
is sewed into
the lining of the
vest pocket or
the reverse side of the tie. Any man who wears
a valuable pin is regarded as an easy mark bv
the professional pickpocket. The safety catch
on one end may keep the pin from falling out
but it doesn t bother the pickpocket. I have had
i a?s at the gamc tel1 me that they had
worked for months, loosening the safety with the
thumb and third finger, while they took the stone
with the first two fingers.
It is the same with the safety on the watch.
Ihe pickpocket simply slips his fingers into the
pocket and unfastens the safety. The easiest
mark of all though is the man who wears his
watch on a fob. That is an especial temptation
to every pickpocket. All you have to do is to
pull up. "Easy pulls," they call them in the trade.
Usually when a man has his pocket picked, he
will cast his suspicions upon the poorly dressed
man, if such a man happens to be standing near
him. But that's another case in which invariably
he is wrong. All clever pickpockets are well
dressed, Ind many of them appear to be "refined
and dignified." .So, beware of the well-dressed
man who sits or stands uncomfortably close to
you. Also, look out for the man who' thrusts a
newspaper between your eyes and your scarf pin
or your pocketbook. He may be using the paper
as a screen while he takes your valuables. That
is a favorite trick of the pickpockets, and works
to advantage in a crowded car.
The man who gets too deeply interested in
his evening paper is one of the men most fre
quently robbed. Here is another thing to re
member. The man who sits or stands so close to
you, with one hand out of sight, may be honest,
and again he may be "crossing his mitts" on
you, as the pickpockets say. By the way, that
is an instance of the art of picking pockets'. The
pickpocket may sit down beside his victim and
cross his arms casually. Suppose his victim is on
his right. Does the pickpocket move his right
arm? Not in the least, for that might betray
him. He keeps that arm perfectly still and does
the work with the hidden left hand.
Another thing to watch out for, is the man
who steps on your toes, or breathes in your face.
Pickpockets resort to dozens of different ways
to distract your attention from your pocketbook.
Usually, if they are clever, you think nothing of
the jostling, but as the natural bumping about of
the crowd. However, if you resent it, many
gangs of pickpockets carry a bully to stay be
hind and do the fighting. Usually you won't be
bumped about very severely until the pocketbook
is lifted, if indeed it becomes necessary to handle
you a hit roughly at all.
A gang of pickpockets was working in a
street car. One member of the "mob," edging up
to the intended victim, stepped on his foot.
"Get off my foot," said the victim, suspecting
nothing in his anger at being trampled upon.
"It's off," said the "tool."
The victim, of course, thought he referred to
the foot, and said "It's about time."
Instead, the "tool" meant the remark as a
signal to his confederates that he had extracted
the pocketbook, and was ready to make the get
away. That's the way the "mob" works. The dif
ferent members are total strangers apparently,
and do not speak to each other as a rule. But
they have signals by which they co-ordinate their
actions.
If men would take only a few reasonable pre
cautions, and keep their wits about them but
then, most of them lock the stable after the
horse is stolen.
This is the first of two stories by Chief Murnane.
The other will appear in an early issue.