RICH PICKPOCKET.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9127, 23 April 1908, Page 6

RICH PICKPOCKET.

The double life of a wealthy and' , respected man has been disclosed (says the New York correspondent of the Otago Daily Mail on 4th February) by the remarkable confession of Louis Wolf, a manufacturer, of Brooklyn, who is in prison for a series of remarkable . thefts. For years Wolf lived in the high esteem of his fellow-citizens, who considered him the acme of respectability. When, three weeks ago. he was arrested and 'charged with being a common pickpocket, his influential friends rallied to his rescue, and the police released him, with fervent apologies for their blunder. Wolf was a prominent clubman, and had a thriving business; but despite this he was arrested again two days ago, and now confesses that he has all his life ' been a professional thief. When 15 years old he fell into the clutches! of a New York Fagin,. and was educated in all the tricks of pocketpicking. At this nefarious trade he proved wonderfully apt, but after a career of crime, chequered by several periods of imprisonment in Chicago and St. Louis, returned to New York with the firm determination to be honest. He established a rug manufactory with his ill-gotten gains, and thrived. About three years ago hebecame intoxicated, he says, by a craving for_ excitement, which proved irresistible, and, though, he did not need the money, returned to his evil courses, robbing for the mere fun of it. He made in this way. he says, £2060 a year. “I really desire nothing more than to be honest,” declares Wolf, “but I cannot resist the call of the wild inbred in me.” In astonished grief thewealthy friends of the prisoner havenow abandoned him to his fate.