UNDERWORLD ETIQUETTE

Hokitika Guardian, 24 April 1926, Page 4

UNDERWORLD ETIQUETTE

" HARLEY STREET ” THIEVES. SCOTLAND YARD’S LIST. The underworld, like the medical profession, has a “ Harley street ” of its own—criminals who specialise in one particular class of crime. These criminal “specialists” devote the whole of their lives to some special branch of roguery, robbery or swindle. “Harley street” criminals are registered at Scotland Yard, in different categories, according to the class of ( rime in which they specialise. The tiles in the Convict Record Office contain many remarkable instances of men and women who have been convicted scores of times for the same class of offence. One of the most persistent of the women crime-specialists is known as “ Polly the Pickpocket.” She is a purse-snatcher of international repute, and, in addition to her many convictions in London, she has been sentenced oil the Continent and in nearly all the leading provincial cities and towns, File has never been known to commit any other offence. RUGS FROM MOTOR-CARS.

“Jimmy the Rug-Thief” is another exclusive one-crime “specialist.” He haunts London’s motor-ear “ parks,” and whenever he sees a valuable rug lying in an unattended car. he slips off with it tinder his macintosh. “Jimmy” estimates the value of a rug with the eye of an expert, and some of his hauls have been worth 11100. London’s army of professional women shoplifters is divided into many groups. Some are tempted only by fins;, others steal nothing but lingerie. One women shoplifter specialises in pure silk stockings; nothing else tempts her. There are expert women thieves in London who devote the whole of their criminal careers to stealing handbags in churches and chapels. The great stores, which are

the favourite hunting ground of the ; ordinary shoplifters, are apparently immune from these pests . There are criminals Who never move outside the confines of their daily haunts, and there are others who are continually on the move. These “expert travelling thieves,” as they are called, go up and down the country like commercial travellers, and invariably they specialise in one class of theft—watches, tiepins or wallets. “Billy the Barrow Thief” would not he tempted by a Rolls-Royce left unattended outside the common lodging house where lie lives, but a wheelbarrow would soon be reported “stolen, in the street” if he came alon’g and saw Ills opportunity of getting away. This “specialist” deals exclusively in wheelbarrows, like his fellow-profes-sional fn the Midlands who specialises in step-ladders. THE “ DARTMOOR SHEPHERD.” The “Dartmoor Shepherd,” the wily old church robber, is a striking instance of the specialist-criminal.- and whenever he stands in the dock it is always for the same crime—breaking open offertory boxes. The old shefG 1 herd is not the only church-robber -

“ specialist;” One thief has been going round till© London and country Churches for years stealing nothing but organ pipes.

Professional safe-breakers are few and exclusive, because of the scientific knowledge necessary to open the modern burglar-proof safe. Once a safebreaker always a safe-breaker in nine cases out of ten, and seldom anything else. Crime-specialists are indignant when accused of another class of crime. A notorious hotel-thief once made a vehement protest from the dock when a woman declared he had slipped out of her flat with £2.

There is such a tiling as “ professional etiquette” even in the underworld!