THE SHOPLIFTER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1442, 17 May 1912, Page 5

THE SHOPLIFTER.

THIEVES & KLEPTOMANIACS.

INTERESTING RECOLLECTIONS,

AND DISCONCERTING DISCOVERIES.

A recent reference to a case of shoplifting in a southern town revives interest in a very curious class of petty crime. Persons detected in the act of stealing articles from riiop counters when the eye

of the assistant is turned elsewhere are divided into two classes—kleptomaniacs, who surrender to an irresistible impulse to take what does not belong to them, and common sneak thieves. The Kleptomaniac. Among the former are frequently found well-to-do people, and the difficulty of dealing with them when caught in the act becomes a very delicate one. What usually happens is that the amount is charged up in the account, or the goods quietly returned by arrangement. Apropos, a well-known merchant in conversation with

a representative of The Dominion- recalled the caso of a certain well-to-do lady who used to shop at his establishment, but, as regularly as she shopped, as regularly did various articles most mysteriously' disappear. The coincidence at length became so marked that the lady was quietly observed, and at last was detected. Slio was leaving the shop one day when one of the assistants noticed a piece of lace hanging out of her pocket—it was in the days when pockets were the vogue. The assistant quietly reached out and abstracted the lace, which was obviously stolen, noted the price, sent it on with some other goods, and charged the item up in the account. It was paid without question. Kleptomania, pure and simple. The Lady and trie Baby. "The methods of the sneak-thief show more circumspection. I remomber one curious case connected with the mysterious disappearance of articles from the silk counter," continued the speaker. "It was in the days when big capes were the fashion. A lady used to come into the shop with a baby in a perambulator, and as sure as she paid us a visit a piece of silk or some other stuff would disappear. So we determined to watch her. We noticed that she invariably lifted the baby out of the perambulator, and set it up on the counter, placing one arm round it, so that the capo fell partly across the counter. At last she was 'caught with the goods,' as they say in America. She came in one day, and after buying one or two .articles at the silk counter, went across to the Manchester Department for some towels. She had no sooner left the silk counter than the assistant missed a piece of .silk. He informed the manager. 'I would not swear to it/ he said, 'but I am as certain as can bo that that lady has stolen the silk/

"Tho manager strolled quietly up to the Manchester counter, whero tbe lady was standing, and while her back was turned, quickly lifted a comer of the big qape she was wearing, and saw the stolen silks. He gave a gentle pull, and the silk fell to the floor. 'Excuse me, madam,' he said, 'some careless assistant has left this lying on the floor,' and, bending down, he picked up the silk and took it back to 'ribbons and silks' without another word. When the lady got home that day she found, wrapped up inside her parcel of towels, the following note, written in blue pencil: "'You'were caught stealing to-day-keep out.' "Needless to say, her ladyship kept out. The Shadow of Discovery, "Early ono morning, a man camo in with a parcel containing half-a-dozen pairs of socks—socks are done up in halfdozens—and said that they had been stolen from our establishment. "They're yours,' ho said, 'but don't ask mc where I got them, or who stole them. .This tiling haunts me night and day. I see things brought to tho house which I know could not havp.j bcDn-boujrht with-.the; money at her 'disposal'.'' She steals theni! Some day she will be calight, and then— and then ' The man was quite broken

up about it. "Ono day a man came in for a pair of braces. He bought w'hat he wanted, and then went out. Later in the day he drank more beer than was good for him, and was 'run in.' In his pockets were found about two dozen ties, which he had quietly lifted from our show-stand while getting his new braces—and we hadn't notioed their disappearance!" "On Appro'." Almost as bad as the annual loss sustained by tho depredations of the shoplifter was the inconvenience, annoyance, and, frequently, serious loss arising from the abuso of tho 'on appro.' system of purchase. Some time ago, regular customers were allowed the privilege of having goods sent to their private residences 'on approval,' tho implied condition of this courtesy extended by firms being, of course, that goods not retained for purchase should bo returned as they left the shop. But tho courtesy was abused to such an extent that the firms had to make common cause against the abusers, and tho association since formed has enabled long-suffer-ing and much-iniposed-upon houses to reduce their "on appro" list by something like.73 per cent. A reduction which gives some idea of the extent to which tho "appro" system had got out of hand. "1 had a funny experience with a lady once in that connection," said the speaker. "She came into the warehouse ono day, and was introduced to me by a gentloman whom I knew. We didn't know the lady, but the presence of her companion, and his standing with us, was, we thought sufficient introduction. She was going to a baJl the next evening, nnd wanted a gown. Could she have two or three on approval? By all means, wo said, and so three gowns wero sent to her addressshe was staying at an hotel. It so happened that a member of our staff was also going to that particular ball, nnd moTO by'way of a joke.than a serious suggestion, t said to him, 'You might let us know what dress she's going to buy.' "Next morning, when he came down he reported progress. 'Sho's going to take tho pink one,' he said. 'Sure?' I asked. 'Quite,' he said. 'I had a dance with her.' Well, about eleven o'clock the same morning back came the three gowns. There was no mistaking the appearance of tho pink one—it smelt of scent, and had been worn. I had it (lone up in a parcel, and betook myself to the ladrs hotel. She was a pretty 'hard one,' I discovered. 'Madam,' I said, 'you are reported to havo suited this pretty pink gown so well at the ball last night that we really couldn't think of taking it

back from you. "She fumed and stormed. I wont take it back,' she said. " 'Very well, Madam, I replied, to-mor-row moraine the whole of Wellington will know all about it.' "Sho went upstairs for the money, and paid for the gown." I A Bag of Books. Bookseller?, too, have their trials at the hands both of the kleptomaniac and the deliberate shop-lifter. On one occasion a regular customer of one of the leading bookshops in town drew one of the assistants to ono side, and told him of a little incident ho had just witnessed. "You mustn't ask me to name the culprit, he began, "for he is a. personal friend of mine, a man well known about townone of the best known, in fact-a.nd well-to-do. But as sure as I stand here, I saw him come in iust now, wander nbnut tho shelves for a little, and then suddenly reach out, pick up some hnndsomelylionnd volumes, and pop them into his bao\ I tell you I was simply flabbergasted!" This, of course, was a clear case of kleptomania.