MONKEY AS THIEF

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2092, 29 May 1907, Page 1

MONKEY AS THIEF

Four men and a female monkey have been caught picking pockets at the Ham fair and' arrested, says a Paris correspondent pf a Lopdon contemporary .

One of the former, an old soldier from Algeria, carried the animal under liis arm,

The monkey is a dear, engaging little tiling, and the holiday crowd stopped to pet it.

Not a bit shy, it made, iin to pypryone, allowed itself tq be fondled and fed, and played prettily at rifling its new-found friends’ coat pockets. It had a funny little face, and a look quite “like a human’s,” It was, in fact, extremely human, apd its play was no play at all. It rifled pockets in earnest, and while its admirers were saying “Dear little thing!” and studying its expression, it removed purses mid watches rapidly a pel passed them round witli marvellous sleight of paw to its master.

The four' accomplices of the monkey, when arrested, explained the game. “She’s a wonder. She prac tically wanted no training, but tool; to the trick natural-liko, and she beats the best man, woman, or child at it.”