Chapter XII: Tricks of the Up-to-Date Crook

_Pickpockets_--Professional pickpockets, or “dips”, generally work in gangs of from two to five, in places that are crowded, or on street cars and railroad trains. Some are so successful that they can get through a crowd and “lift” or “dip” half a dozen pocket-books, watches or other valuables in a few minutes. When they work in groups the leader will spot the intended victim and jostle him or step on his toes, and while excusing himself, or otherwise attracting his attention, the rest of the gang will go through his pockets. Another method is for the gang to arrive on the platform of a street car, and as the victim squeezes himself on to the platform to pick his pockets, or one of the gang will stand at the entrance and help the intended victim aboard the car, and when the car starts throw his arms about him as though to keep from falling; while he has his arms about the victim, the other members close around him and proceed to relieve him of his valuables. Women pickpockets travel on street cars and sometimes have a false arm lying in their lap, giving them the appearance of having both hands in their lap, while they rob the one sitting next with the free arm. In larger cities the “squeeze game” is worked on the street cars and they have even robbed passengers by getting diamond studs from their shirt bosoms with their teeth.

_Flat Workers_--Flat workers operate in pairs. One acts as a “stall”; that is, finds the lay of the ground; the “stall” enters the flat first, rings the bell, and if answered, asks for someone whom he knows does not live there. When he finally locates an apartment that the occupants have left, he signals his partner, who goes up to the door and opens it with a skeleton key, or small jimmy, and ransacks the place thoroughly. While he is upstairs his partner inserts a letter in the letter box of the apartment while his partner is working, and if the occupant arrives in the meantime and abstracts the letter the “stall” rings the bell as a signal a number of times, giving the thief upstairs time to get out, either through the front or rear door. Flat workers are generally young men, well dressed, and if accosted in the hall of an apartment give some excuse or pretend to be on the wrong floor. This is easy when it is taken into consideration that flats or apartments are from two to fifteen stories high and contain a large number of occupants.

_Shoplifters_--The professional shoplifter is to be found in every large city; large department stores are their field of operation. They generally work in pairs, sometimes two women or a man and a woman; one engages the attention of the clerk while the other does the work. They are most active during the winter and the holidays. In the winter the woman wears a large coat or cloak fitted with large false pockets reaching almost to the ground, in which she places the stolen articles. While in the store they never recognize each other, and never leave the store at the same time. The one doing the stealing leaves first, the other makes some small purchases, at the same time planning another job if the present one is successful.

_Kleptomaniacs_--Kleptomaniacs are supposed to be persons who steal for the reason that they do not realize the difference between wrong and right. When some woman of means, who can easily afford to purchase her wants, steals, she is said to be a kleptomaniac. Cases have been known where women would purchase hundreds of dollars of goods a month from some store and while in the store could not resist the temptation to steal small articles of very little value. Sometimes a detective will follow her around and make a note of the articles she steals and charge it to her account; the proprietors of the establishment finding that the better manner of handling such cases, rather than losing her trade. Kleptomaniacs are very seldom found among the poorer classes of shoplifters.

_The Green Goods Swindler_--The green goods game, as it is sometimes called, is generally worked on the green countryman, or some “sucker” in a little town. They generally insert an advertisement in a small monthly magazine, “Hearth and Home”, “Home and Fireside”, etc. This advertisement catches the “sucker’s” eye and he corresponds with a man who gives an alias in some little town. He will request that the “sucker” return each and every letter that he receives, and the “sucker” when the meeting is completed has even been given a new twenty dollar bill out of a roll of the supposed green goods to take to the bank to get it changed. The “sucker” is then informed that if it is good enough for the bank to take, and cannot be detected by them, he could use it without being detected. He is then met with a proposition that they would give him $1,000.00 for $250.00 cash and the money is placed in a grip or envelope and is then switched and the “sucker” gets nothing but blank paper. After the exchange the “sucker” is accompanied to the train by the green goods man, at the same time impressing upon him the necessity of keeping the grip or large envelope in his possession, and to not open it or examine the contents until he reaches home and is alone. The “sucker” never complains for fear of being arrested for attempting to defraud the government by handling counterfeit money.

_Fake Jewelry Swindlers_--One of the most common swindles practiced in the large cities is the fake jewelry swindle. The swindler approaches some well dressed, prosperous person, generally a young man, exhibits a piece of jewelry, saying that it was stolen or found, and offers it for sale at a small price. When the purchaser finds he is “stung” he pockets his loss, fearing to expose his cupidity. A favorite place for these jewelry workers is on down town streets or around hotels. They always work at night, for it is hard to judge fake diamonds and other stones under a light. Another swindle is to offer a pair of supposed gold eye glasses saying they were found on the street or in some hotel toilet room. The eye glass game, as described above, is used by news agents on railroad trains throughout the country.

_Death Notice Fraud_--The most despicable form of a fraud is the crook who robs the members of bereaved families, especially widows and orphans. He watches closely the death notices in the large daily papers, and immediately expresses a package containing a Bible, a fountain pen, piece of jewelry, etc., addressed to the person who has just died. The article sent will be engraved with the initials or name of the deceased and will be accompanied by a receipt, showing that the deceased has paid a certain amount on the article, leaving a balance usually from $2.00 to $20.00 due, or mails them shares of stock in a mining or manufacturing concern, the price of which is greatly in excess of the real value, and on which the deceased is supposed to have made a partial payment. The members of the family, desiring to possess the last purchase of their beloved ones, will pay the balance, and afterward learn they have been defrauded.

_The Badger Game_--This game is carried out by a man and a woman who are supposed to be husband and wife; the woman must be good looking, well dressed, etc.; they operate in the following manner: The woman selects some prominent man of affairs, goes to his place of business and induces him to visit her home; after he has done so, she confides in him that she is a married woman and that her husband is a traveling salesman and is rarely ever at home. After a visit or two the business man is confronted in the home by the husband, who apparently becomes enraged and threatens to kill them both. During this argument, another person enters the room and advises the enraged husband to desist from his intention of killing, that the better way would be to quit his faithless wife, at the same time demanding a cash settlement from the man who has ruined his home. The man generally settles to prevent an exposure. Another method of working the badger game is for a woman to entice a man of means to her apartments and while in a compromising position, have the room broken into by two or three men who claim to be detectives, who have been employed to shadow the woman for her husband in order to secure evidence for a divorce. They release the man and in a day or so he receives a letter from a lawyer requesting his presence at his office. If he complies with the lawyer’s request he is shown two or three affidavits signed by the supposed detectives and a signed statement from the woman, together with a copy of a proposed suit by the wronged husband for alienating the affections of his wife, the suit to be filed immediately, unless he, the victim, settled for a good round sum of money. The whole thing is a frame-up and the couple probably work the game over the country. If the victim hesitates to settle, saying he will call later and consult his attorney, the woman in the meantime visits him at his place of business and begs him to settle, threatening to commit suicide right then and there--showing him a phial supposed to contain some kind of poison--unless some kind of a settlement is made.

Legitimate detectives are often called upon to run down this class of swindlers. To my own personal knowledge a great number of cases of this kind have occurred in the City of Charleston, West Virginia.