SHOP THIEVES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1366, 17 February 1912, Page 17

SHOP THIEVES.

WOMEN CRIMINALS AT WORK. Four hundred thousand pounds a year is the substantial sum which tho woman shoplifter of New York is credited with gamin;; every year. Even the burglar's depredations are not to costly to the community. And tho light-lingered fa<ly is at li<t busiest just now, with the holiday season in good swing. As!-: unv department store merchant, and he will tell you. A.'-k the shop deteetives the regular police, the lawyers who practise in tho Criminal Courts, 'they'll tell you. It's the price—JMOll,(loo or morn—which the merchants must pay lor displaying their wires so attractively. Ami if they didn't display them, how much would they sell? "We are at their mercy," says tho merchants. "We are doing all that men can do to stop them," chorus the 6torc detectives. tint still the thieving goes on, most of it at this season because tho stores aro crowded. There is very little shoplifting in the summer months when the stores are comparatively emplv. WOMEN KLEPTOMANIACS. Among Ihese thieves are a few gonirino kleptomaniacs. One is tho wife of a rich New York stockbroker. Another is tho wife ol a well-known corporation lawyor. The wife of a prominent Philadelphia lawyer makes frequent trips to New York and picks up all sort? of expensive things in the stores, which she fails to pay for. These poor women are known and shadowed from tho moment they enter the store until they leave. Every articlo one of them picks up is jotted down. A regular bill is Kent to the husband. Ho pays up without question and very promptly. This is. regarded as a regular transaction, and so appears on the books as a charge account. Then there are those who pjpo tempted and fall. These aro tho women whoso purses aro slender or who think they can pick up an expensive trinket for nothing and save the money they would have used to buy it. Tears and apologies follow their arrests, and genorally they escape after paying or returning the stolon goods, lint it is tho "regulars" who get away with tho most of tho .£400,000. THE FIRST FALSE STEP.. Mrs. Axman, probation officer of the Court of Special Sessions, has made a close study of shoplifters, and has classified thorn into groups. "A shopliiter rarely becomes a habitual criminal until after she passes twentylive," .Mrs. Axman said. "If they pass that age 1 find there i.s little hope of reclaiming them, lor by that time' they have long since begun to consort with thieves of the other sex." Mark Alter, a lawyer, who has defended many shoplifters, has decided views on Ihe subject. "But when one walks through the shops," Mr. Alfcsr said, "and sees thousands of pounds' worth of goods lying unprotected on the counter is' it any wonder that somo poor woman or girl should be tempted and fall from grace? "I'liwo before her eyes and within her grasp lies the very article above all others which she has ardently craved. No ono is looking. The saleswoman is busy with another customer. It's an easy matter to stuff the article into a place of hiding and make way with it. "The girl moves away from the counter, seemingly successful, but' as she reaches the door a man or woman approaches and asks her to go to tho superintendent's office. Then comes a complete breakdown, a confession, tears and pleas for mercy, because she was tempted and fell, and that it was her first offence. "Of course, that girl finds her way into the police court, and more often than not she is held for trial. But if upon investigation by Mrs. Axman it is found that it-is her first offenoo and there aro extenuating, circumstances, she gets another chance." A REMEDY WANTED. Not long ago Mr. Alter was called on to defend a notorious shoplifter. The woman procured bail, and was ordered to appear Court tl\? next morning at ten o'clock. She did not appear, and her bail was forfeited. "She came to my office later," says Mr. Alter, "and . asked permission to* retire to my private ofiice for a moment. My typewriter found her drawing forth from her clothing articles of every sort and description. Silks, laces, jewels, and trinkets wore taken from her skirts, waist, and stockings, the wholo representing a big sum. "It was perfectly apparent that while on her way to Court she had succumbed to the.irresistible impulse of visiting some store and picking up any and everything she could lay her hands on. She got a too long term. Tho superintendent of one of the largest department stores in New York, after admitting that JC-100,000 a year is a conservative estimate of the value of the goods stolen from the shops of tho citv, Faid "Any man or woman who can present to us a system whereby shoplifting can be'ell'ectually checked can earn a fortune. It is the one problem the merchant cannot solve. Wo try every known .means of safeguarding our wares, but without success. Our detectives we believe to bo honest and vigilant. If wo didn't think so wo wouldn't employ them. But there is something defective in the system and just what it is we don't know.