SUPERSTITIOUS CRIMINALS

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 13934, 12 July 1919, Page 6

SUPERSTITIOUS CRIMINALS

Some of the most notorious criminals, who, it mdghtl have been, thought, would not pay the slightest attention! tot omens, good' or bad, have a profound belief in superstition's.

Curiously enough, thei burglar will often relinquish a big burgling feat if a dream the night before has warned him* tjhait he wiß 'be in danger. But should i*' happen that "he; .{sees a rainbow duning, the I day hie "will consider it to portend that, however reckless he may be, ■he is not likely to fall into the i hands- of the police for >a space of I three months. i ■ Many burglars carry a 4donkey's shoe ml their pockets before setting out, believing that this will protect j them from danger, while other® pin i thedr faith to a piece of coal, which they will carry in their pockets , throughout their career. I The pickpocket is equally siuper- "• stitioois. He will mot rob a per- ! fion who squints, this being accoitnt- ] cdi a certain sign of disaster, and' of it happens that the poiirse he 1 steals contains foreign money it is . believed' to augur that, he will travel in the immediate- future. .. ' Weddings and funerals are pre.g-; , nant with meaning for the professional thief. To pick; a pocket at a funeral would be to court immediate disaster, whereas if a ipurse stojleai' at a wedding contains gold •it portendfe the- best of luck" for the thief. Some pickpocketsl nave a favoiirj ite pair of boots that they wear as ! long as they ca*n keep them on j their feet, and' if they atre hot arrested' while wearing themt they cut the boots up into little «qua.re pieces and give them away a® "lucky, tokens" to confederates.