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The San Francisco Sunday Call WHAT DID YOU STEAL? Honest Answers to a Query About Dishonesty Will Reveal the Astonishing Fact That Each Of Your Most Trusted, Friends Has at Some Time Appropriated Something That Did Not Belong • To Him or Her=* Are Women Worse Than Men ? ? ? I. Mabel Dilhan \u25a0 ADHERE to my notion that ** | women are naturally more hon t est than men; and if I had a million dollars to leave to the Esfe keeping of a man or a woman it would be a woman for my money any day." The high pitched voice and nasal rtraw] plainly stamping the New Eng- Sander. and so seldom heard In Califor nia, roused me from my reverie. on the McAllister car. and the rather extraor dinary topic of conversation for the parly morning hour attracted my at tention so that * I turned squarely p. round to look at the speaker and his companion. The latter I knew at a elar.ce to be a Britisher and the un« mistakable accent betrayed his London birth. "That's because you are ruled by pentiment in regard to women and not by logic or facts," he .said, with a short laugh. "You put your women up on pedestals and worship "them. Accord ing to your American ideas your women are^ — what is it you say? — "the real thing.' 'the whole thing.' But since that's about all the sentiment you allow yourselves in your commer cial, American way of living, it's a pity to try to take it away from- you. Go on thinking that women are more honest than men. but If you ever take the trouble to make a test you will find that a great deal of what you call honesty is simply cowardice or fear which prevents a woman from commit ting a big theft, although the same woman will steal any little thing that may come her way, a purse that some other woman has dropped, for in ttance." "Van Ness avenue," called the con ductor, and. hurriedly picking up their bags, the two men, evidently tourists, left the car. i There was no more reverie for me. 4 The Englishman had set me thinking, and I looked curiously at the women in the car. Was it possible that any one there would steal my. purse if I dropped It, or my handkerchief, or my gloves? A woman was sitting in the same seat with me, a good looking young lady, neatly gowned, evidently a prosperous, salaried woman, going down town to her daily grind in some office. There were perhaps 20 others of her sort in the car. An irresistible Impulse saved me. I signaled the conductor, and, rising, managed to drop my purse, as though by accident. It fell at the feet of the young lady. Surely she would grab my sleeve or my skirt and hand me my p^irse! I was in a terrible hurry and rushed precipitately toward the front of the car, dropping my hand kerchief, and, when near the door, my gloves. Of course, I did not expect to lose all those articles. Some one must have seen one or all of them fall and would call my attention to my loss. Not at all. I got to the door of the car and looked back. The young lady, my erstwhile seatmate, was looking straight ahead, apparently mi deep thought. No one was looking at me. I felt ashamed, as though I myself had been guilty of a crime. I dis mounted hurriedly and found that I had several blocks to- walk to my faher's office. My car fare was in the dropped purse. Fortunately the puree was an old one and contained little in the way of money.- My nam/ and address were written on the first page of my little memorandum book, so if "finder" desired the purse could r b«j returned to me. Perhaps it would come <he mail. But it never . did! I got some money from my father, bought a new purse and tried* to "do some other shopping; to no avail. My mind wa* completel!' upset by the nasty episode on the streetcar and I anathe rnatizeJ the horrid Englishman for nay ing put such beastly ideas Into my head and caused roe to make the silly experiment. I could not shop. I would go home. "Mother," I .demanded, as I entered my mother's boudoir, "did you ever steal anything?" I eank down on the couch, my knees trembling under me at the temerity of my question. My mother turned a startled look toward me and then a reminiscent smile played about her lips and her kind gray eyes. "Yes," she replied. "I once stole a piece of yellow silk." "You, mother! A piece of yellow silk!" I gasped. "Yes, a piece of yellow silk. It was about 6 or 8 inches square, and I was between 6 and 8 years old. I was vis iting my aunt and she showed me, with all the condescension of the grownup to the little child, a bundle of silk pieces. In pioneer days in California silks were rarities and I had never seen such pieces before. The crisp shinin.ess of those wonderful pieces fascinated me. I was hypnotized as though by the charm of a serpent! If only I might have one piece for my very own. Surely my aunt could spare Just one when she had so many. But, no, it did not occur to her to offer me even the tiniest scrap. The little piece of yellow silk fell to the floor without her seeing it, and leaning down, I picked it up and tucked it under the folds of my ging ham apron." A maid entered, announcing the ar rival of a caller, and my mother rose to her feet. "Some other time," she said, "I will tell you more about that piece of yellow silk, and my punish ment. I have never stolen anything since. That one experience taught me that 'honesty is the best policy,'" and with the reminiscent smile still playing about her lips and kind gray eyes, my mother left the room. At the same moment my brother Bob came in. and throwing his riding gloves and whip on the table, pushed back my hair from my forehead and raised my chin for his morning kiss-. "Bob," I asked, "did you ever steal anythingT' . * Bob did'not laugh as I expected. Nor did be speak for a moment; then he as- Bwered, quite seriously: "Yes, kiddo, I once stole $20." "Bob! Twenty dollars! "You!" My amazement was so great that I could hardly speak. "Yes, dear, and the fellow deserved it, all right. It was when I first came to San Francisco. I had a draft for $600 on the bank. The paying teller was a pompous, Important look ing individual. Thank heaven ' there are fewer of his sort to be found now. Jn the banks than formerly. He count ed ou,t the money in gold. It was a dark, rainy afternoon. The bank - was crowded. There was a long line be hind me waiting to get to the window. It seemed to me when I ; took the money, counting it as quickly as I could that there was too- much of it, but the cold austerity, of the man be hind the window chilled me, • and I did -not dare to take up any. more time, so I . escaped from the line and 'left the bank. I walked down Market street toward the ferry, still .with the un comfortable, feeling that the money was *not right, and when I reached the Call building I stepped inside the , entrance and again slowly counted the money. Sure' 1 enough, there_was $620. I Immediately turned | and went . back to the. bank. It was, near closing time,' and when 1 at last readied the window it was three minutes to 3. ' V made amistake In my dr£ft>a few minutes ago,' I said to the: paying teller, who looked me up and down. In the most supercilious manner, imagi nable, as he replied: 'You are wrong; we never . make ! mistakes here,' turn- Ing his back upon me as he finished speaking. - "At first I wanted to laugh, then I was angry. 'Oh! very well,' I replied, 'sorry to have troubled you,' and I again left the bank, thinking that it would serve him Jolly well right when he discovered his error later on. I again walked down Market street and in a few minutes encountered a Salva tion Army lass selling War Crys, to whom I gave the, $20 I had stolen against my will. I told her to send out a box of good cheer to some widows and orphans with it, and I. have no doubt that in her pretty hands it did good work. The paying teller got his, and that's air I cared. That's the ex tent of my stealings, kiddo, so I. hope you're satisfied," and with that Bob, the dearest brother girl ever had, left me to go down town for his dally bluff at the office. Just then, to my great delight, Ade laide came in. "Can you tolerate such an early visit or?" she asked. "I am waiting to see some people In this part of town and I have an hour to kill." Adelaide, by the way, is a real estate agent. She does a tremendous business and has the confidence of the best class of people In the»'city. ; I^knew she ex pected me to comment on her new spring , gown and swell hat, but before I could get the right words together, I blurted out this awful question:; "Adelaide — pardon me, but did you ever steal anythingT' " v At •\u25a0 first, Adelaide . turned quite pale ; then she looked at critically, as though uncertain of my mental state. Finally she said: ; . "Yes. I stole $90 once— a long, time ago. ;I am so glad you ; asked, me,. for I have always wanted to tell Borne 'one about it;' but, of course, I never could. You see, I am not a Catholic, so could not ease my mind'ormy. conscience by confession." . . v . She hurried along, not looking at me, her fingers twitching nervously, as If, having plunged into her subject, she must get through as ! quickly as pos sible^ .. .: \u25a0v "It was my first year in business." A woman brought me an apartment to sublet. She was goings to 'Europe for several months and wanted to : rent her studio ' furnished, as she ; had a- lease and could not very well" move out.' -She gave me to understand ;thaf she would be satisfied 'if she got. her. rent, out of the apartment while - she was \u25a0 away Well, in a week or two I rented the place for $65 a month, making $15 profit a month on the furniture. , I col lected the rent all the time she -was away and put It in my bank, she hav ing paid six months^injadvance'to-her landlord. The time slipped. away,- and one day unexpectedly -the' woman' re turned. Ithappeneduthat Ifhad just $300 in the bank :that. particular ; day which, I realized like; a: flash.; was = the exact amount of the rent of;her: apart ment for the six months \that' she i had been, away at the unfurniehe'd-rate^— whatrshe herself paid. I had 'collected $90 more from" the subtenant, » but: had foolishly been/, spending^ more 5 money thantl* should,'; and 'my •< lastjtailbrmade gown had ;broke:me;;'i Ont-the ; maddest kind of an impulse I- wrote' her a 'check for $300 and .handed ,lt to her:wlth a smile. She was only, too glad to get her rent back and it never occurred to her that I had rented the apartment for more than $50 a month. No one ever knew of my theft, yet I- have suffered tortures for it. I would repay it 10 times, if I could find the woman. Don't ever steal anything." t 1* The I next 'day was Saturday, my morning at the markets, for my mother Insists on my doing the marketing for the -family.- She believes that nine tenths of the. divorces are caused by the inadequate knowledge of domestic economy, most girls when they are married,not knowing how to buy food or cook it. As I went to the various stalls in the big market I questioned the venders. "Are women more hon-' est than men?"/ 1 asked. "There Is no difference," said .one dignified elderly^ man. - "in, marketing, the natural hoggishness^of people, men and" women,' comes, ' out." There are plenty of . people whore always trying to get the big end in quantity, in price, in change, every, way, and we see them here. Only last Saturday I made a big mistake in change. I absent mindedly handed a fellow back a five dollar-gold piece, then; put my hand In, the drawer and gave him the j change for it. He went straight away -with .the .five dol lar piece and .the change for it as well." 1 ' .. -','., " "'. -_ : " .''"•\u25a0\u25a0 . "But a woman would not have done that." I remarked incredulously. "Oh, yes.'a man'or:a woman; it's all the Bame; If they get the best of you they ' congratulate I themselves,' shake hands -with themselves, pat themselves on the back.". r r.' .;. .From one stall to /another : I made my way,< buying? many things that il dill not' / ne.ed ; in order to feel : at lib erty tb'-put the question which was "making, llfg \u25a0 nfiserable for< me.; The consensus -of opinion "seemed that »the natural hoggishness, of human nature finds 1 its: way out around the markets, and ; that, there is no difference between men and; women. ' '• , : ;.. The. bank^ was my;- next stopping place. The first man', whom I ques tioned smiled. He is a friend of mine. "Idon't like- to answer that question," he said^" /'lt's not> fair. Go to. the president." < .~ >. * ; • ". \u25a0"::\u25a0 \u25a0'\u25a0'..', To the" president T went. I felt that I should haveMiad a graphophone.,The question" was becoming' automatic. . y : "In .small., matters,": said the bank president, .''women' are apparently less , honest: thah»men. ' ?;Not as employes, not "as depositors, 'but 'in\,the little takes that. arise in. making change, ; etc. If a- woman ' is .given : $5 too much ' she will 'usually walk away with it; and not : come'.back:'theiman, on: the other hand." almost does. - : 'Here,' iold nian'.'^he I will v say, '1^ don't:: want "this five, Jt. belongs to the! bank ; or to •: your depositors.' -. It doesn't seem to occur to'himito^keepithe money." : : - : Other - banking^ men whom , 1~, inter viewed said 1 practically -the same jthlng. .Oner bank, official!; made; the r: startling assertion; that i duringi2o j years of busi ness they, had never. lost a: dollar, either i through, an 'jemploye;'or a customer,' 'which* certainly speaks, well r for j the buslness-;morals;of;San Francisco, j . I -From? the' banks 'I >went Jto :a ; de tective, agencyiwlth my: worriout ' ques tion.'"/ The /detective,, a worldly jWisex in'-, troubles and ; whose \u25a0scent: r a: clew r from afar,; looked s ;.very ; grave. '','•\u25a0 ;\u25a0' £- : y"L- .-\u25a0 :. : - '-.Jl' .'•".\u25a0 \u25a0 '• L ."~~','Y.^ V* "In •• our j business," ; he .: said, J.L'we i are usually called to ferret out big things. The petty larcenies don't come to us. With-us the proportion Is about one to fifteen; that is, we are asked to go after one woman to every fifteen men, and when a woman la stealing money we almost always find that a man is getting it. A .woman will do things for a man that she would'never do for herself." This was another aspect of the sit uation. \u25a0. I liked it better, somehow. It was lunch time and I went to the M-— restaurant in Market street. The place was crowded; I had to wait for a table and. looked about me. A man and a woman were Just finishing their coffee.' The man left a dime at the left of his plate, for the waitress. I made my way toward that table, but before I could get there another couple had availed themselves of it. The man spied the dime, . and, presto, with a sweep of his left hand it was in his pocket. The woman saw him and her face turned scarlet. JusU then the waitress hurried up; she began to clear the table, looking everywhere for the dime which she, too, had seen her for mer customer leave for her. "Where is that dime?" she demanded of the man seated at the table. "Give it to me; it Is mine." "I do not know what you mean," re plied, the man. "I ' have no dime," and he looked across at his wife, his face also red' by this time, but could not", confess that he ; had the dime. His wife, poor thing, with a woman's wit, : came to the rescue. She called the head, waiter. "Will you please j send us another waitress?" she asked. "This . girl has insulted my husband. Give us another waitress or we wlll : leave the' restau rant.'.': . Another waitress came and. the two ordered their luncheon. • When , she had gone to the kitchen withthe order the man said to his wife:;" What made you do that? ,"-l never did auch a.thing be fore." • Tears .were in the woman's eyes; but she bravely fbrced.them back and smiled at him. On my way home I met my- best man friend. "Do women steal, do you think?" I asked \u25a0plaintively, for I was nearly worn out, with the subject. "Yes, little | girl," .was -the reply ; "some of them do, ; many, of them do, most -ofC them do; -but"; so: long: as you do not don't .worry/ about it. ; I'll tell you some funny.JLhlngs:that I have ob served and « experienced; the - last first. Some years ago I was boarding with a couple here in San Francisco. The man ' was an industrious, hard working, hon est sort of ; fellow, but his wife \u25a0 was a terror. A splendid cookiand the elean estthouse keeper that 'ever lived— that's why -I stayed there— she was an! invet erate gambler and frequented the small poolrooms which are to" be, found In V all i\ sorts Vof \u25a0•.'\u25a0 odd .places, .grocery stores, ; laundries, flats, : anywhere, in fact,\;where women: goto put 'a dollar or two; oh Vthe; races. ::; That woman ac-. tuallyistarVed^herselfcandher husband to- getjmoney 'to^play with. She hadf-: to.give.me^decent'food,, of course, ;or I would; 1 ; not.: have : stayed, but the poor husband, had barelyjfenough to keep alive. , ; Out 'of $10 .which he would give her'for 'the';. table .five Invariably went' to- the poolrooms. .But "I. got mine at last. ; As- she could ;• not i take it ; out;of > my food; shettook' it out of any' clothes, < and ; stole two \u25a0. valuable * suits of -under- .. wear. and BoVdithem. She laid the blame on";, the r laundry ; ; said \u25a0 the things: never v came'-back -'.with, the wash./ 1 took the; matter ;up with f the laundry, people and ! was convinced that- they< had. never,had: them ;'• then," later^on^ I s traced -the suits v> ,to;the pawnbroker's and,, like the : idiot'- I ; was,* informed ' th.e > husband,, thinking -\u25a0 Xo ,warn i him \ to; look ; ; better f ; after his < ; aff alrs.*;^ The Vfesulti was Uh©- usual one. | They^ both ;' turned ion J me ,"* and - 1 f- lost [ myJhappyt home: for the'time'sheing. "Another woman comes to my mind who was* dishonest at cards. At an other house where I boarded the land- ( lady had a semiweekly card party. Po ker was, the game at a 10 cent limit. The lady of the house provided the cards and the chips, red, white and blue. Occasionally coming home early I sometimes stopped in the parlor to watch the play. I suspected one of the ladles, and j^fter the game one night I asked my landlady to see if she had all the ; chips that had been distributed. They were not all there; 12 were miss- Ing, and all' had to be cashed carefully. Of course the landlady had not" made an accurate count of the money dis tributed. At the next sitting I was on hand, and after settlement I gathered in, as quickly as possible, as If I were amusing myself with them, all the chips, and when the guests had gone we counted them and there were 12 more than the number distributed. Cer tainly one of the visitors had come with the 12 chips in her pocket, for which she had not to pay. But that day I gathered in the chips too quickly for her and she was. unable to make her .usual, provision for 'the next game. It was a question of only a few cents and lady is well to do and In a good so 'clal position. I am certain that I in curred "her everlasting enmity when I prevented her from playing her little skin game with her friends." " Jack'js stories , did not amuse me; they seemed low and common, and yet —they were true.- ; At home I found. two of my father's friends, businessmen. . Onethe head of a large local manufacturing establish ment, the ; other a retired merchant of Paris and San Francisco. To each of. them I put the same old question, "Are women more honest than men?" , ; "Please 'don't 'ask me j that," said the \u25a0manufacturer. "Ask me something about the Chinese, or the Japanese, but not about our . own -women-—" Then, "frankly. ; ,l believe women to be-de cidedly-less honest, than men In. small' matters. , For that reason we have almost "' discontinued, time . and .time again,' business relations with the petty dealers-^those who .have, little stocks of notions ; in ,; outlying districts.* r You believe ; it,: but it isa positive: I fact; that they, come Into our place with \u2666 -.their: baskets on^ their arms, and,- going 'through" the "'gangways, .abstract: an : article , here~and ; something else there,: ; until it t is ; maddening. - We ; know that jthey do, it jand have -caught tthem at; It. " many,- times. 7- It . seems \u25a0 impossible for \u25a0: 'women to resist- when it comes to little things to wear, something for personal adornment, and they seem to think that a little thing taken from a bis establishment makes no difference. They get it free, gratis and for nothing and it's all to the good." The "retired merchant was of th» same opinion. He said: "While a Mm*. Humbert or a Casale Chadwick is rarely to be met with, the woman thief In the department store Is an everyday vis itor. Sometimes she is a saleslady who wants a little pin to wear with her new stock, or a pair of gloves for an evening party. It Is so Irasy. Thera 1 are so many right at hand, and she sees no harm In the act. Sometimes it is shopper. She is at the lac» count-r, perhaps, or at the necktie counter. She looks over several pieces of lace or differeni ties, fingering them as thougtt to ascertain the quality, and then gazes vaguely around, appar ently looking for something entirely different. 'Oh. no. this isn't the color 1 want at all.' she runarks, but in that interval of hesitation a necktie has disappeared under her fur piece or inside a half opened coat or Into a con venient* pocket. **I recall one peculiar' case in which a full skirt was the. shoplifter's chief asset. Entire pieces of silk began to disappear .mysteriously. You know silks are put up on pasteboard car tons—wound about them — and when a part of a piece is sold we mark off the number of yartls so we know Just how much there Is left. Almost even: day for several weeks we discovered! an empty carton, brut how did the silk set away? A detective was detailed to that counter, and at last the woman, was caught. Her scheme was quite clever. She wouM ask to be shown siLks am!. while looking them over, would lift one of the pieces with apparent uncon •sclousness, holding It in front <«f her and moving it about, at the same* time ' making the salesman take down other pieces, while the piece upon whlcSi she had designs was slipping slowly from Its carton down Into a capacious pocket In the front of her full skirt waiting to receive it. Then she would slid* the empty carton in among the other pieces of silk, where it would be dis covered later on. This woman was. of course, a real thief and was stealing the silk to sell. When she was ar rested several hundred pieces of silk were found in her room. "Generally, though, when a woman steals, it is for personal adornment, wearing apparel, or little things which she fondly believes will make her more attractive; while, when a man steals, it is to get money either for a woman or for gambling. If he can pick uj> an article of Jewelry which he can sell, he may do it if he wants money for the races or for a woman, but the same man would not think of stealing a necktie for himself. The fellow who •borrows* $20 from his employer's cash drawer, expecting to put tt bade from his winnings at the track, does not thlok that he is stealing-; tt is only, •borrowing/ "Sometimes stealing: in the depart ment stores Is not confined to single. In dividuals, but It is organized and op erated on co-operative lines. Not so very long ago the largest stores in «ev eral cities were in the throes of sreat excitement. The Investigation was in stigated at a big public ball. The pro prietor of one of the large stores was there with his wife, whose attention was attracted by the magsiScent gown worn by one of their employes, a young lady who was the head of a department. The material of the gown was of gTeat value and the suspicions of the propri etor were aroused. Within a few weeks it was discovered that many of the clerks, the heads of the departments and the cashiers were banded together and were working a gigantic swindle. Goods apparently purchased by a cus tomer were' accompanied by a paid \u25a0lip, sent up to be wrapped anil then sent out by the delivery wagon to some convenient address, to- the house of a friend or relative who was In the game and helping It along. This particular store, one of the largest in the west, found that It had been robbed of thousands of dollars by Its employes. The upheaval In that establishment led to similar investigations In many other stores, w.ith the result that precisely the same conditions were discovered in other cities. * "The propensity for women in shop ping to get something for nothing 1 led to the adoption of the coin system for charge accounts in the east. It used to be that a woman who had a cnarge account at a store could simply give her name and address and take away her 4 purchase. Then the woman who had been standing at her elbow await ing the attention of the clerk. If sha desired, could go to another depart ment, give the same name and a'Jdresa and walk away with the goods. When an alarming number of customers with charge accounts found that they had been robbed in this way the stores adopted the coin system. Each cus tomer with a charge account was given a coin, which she had to bring with her whenever she wanted to take any charged purchases from the store. All the big New York stores adopted this system several years ago. "One thing strikes me as very odd. and it is that many of these women who are really as 'dishonest as they can possibly be in money matters are as strict as possible in their morals and 'will draw their skirts away from the other woman who has stepped aside." "Now," said my father. "let me cap the climax with a little episode which I witnessed today at the N soda fountain. • You know the refreshment booth on the main floor of the N store is oblong In shape, with high stools along the two sides and across one e % nd; at the other end is the cash ier's, window. . It was around the noon hour, when the store is always crowded, and nearly all the high stools were occupied by women shoppers. One lady whom I noticed lunched quite substan tially on an oyster cocktail and when she had finished walked deliberately away. leaving her check lying on the refreshment counter, going about her shopping In the big store. A moment afterward another lady hooped up on the high stool, glanced at the cheek still lying on the counter, took it up* and. handing it to the white coated clerk, evidently a green hand, said: 'Give me an oyster cocktail, please." . . "The green clerk took. the check and gave the lady her oyster cocketalL What the poor fellow did* with the check Ido npt know. Certainly^neither of. the cocktails was ever paldTfor." "Well," I remarked, "for a skin game that beats even the lady with the poker chips. I don't believe VIV I want to hear anything more oa the dishonest woman question. I . have been pursuing this investigation for two days and I'm tired. Vl Intended going to the police station tomorrow for more information, but I've had enough*"