SOME HUMOURS OF CRIME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9635, 6 October 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

SOME HUMOURS OF CRIME.

Last year a French gentleman had <t curious but withal amusing experience, and one which would lead him to pay particular attention in the future when selecting a chaptau. It seems that ho went into a hatter's shop at Budapest and bought a hat which, by its peculiar colour and shape, had taken his fancy. Shortly afterwards he was walking up and down in the railway station, wearing his now purchase, when ho was very much surprised to rind a well-filled purse in ono pocket and a gold watch in the other.

He straightway went to the stationmaster, with a view to elucidating the mystery as to how these articles had come into his possession, and was greatly astonished to find that official listening to a countryman, who was complaining that he had lost a purse. The purse the Frenchman had found in his pocket was the one missing ; but, strange to say, when it disappeared from its rightful owner its contents comprised only ten shillings, whereas now it contained nearly as many pounds.

This transformation scene was soon explained, for a policeman almost immediately reported the arrest of a pickpocket, who admitted the theft of the purse and watch. The contents of the former had been increased by the addition of previous robberies ; and the stolen property then passed into the Frenchman's pockets, simply because he was wearing the peculiar hat! The thief stated that this style of headgear was made only by one firm, and constituted the badge of an international gang of pickpockets, so he had mistaken the Frenchman for a confederate. This statement was supported by the hatter, who had shortly before sent a large number of similar hats bo a foreign place named by the pickpocket, although he himself did not share in any way, and probably did nob know for what purpose they were intended.

On another occasion some thieves were detected in a very peculiar manner. A chemist was returning home one night in the coach with a box containing a quantity of pills and other concoctiona. Some London thieves saw the box, and, under the impression that its contents were very valuable, determined to annex ib. When the coach stopped they wore on the spot, and as the' chemist got oub at one side they seized the box at the other and made off with it.

The contents were disappointing in more ways than one. The thieves, believing bbom to be some kind of confectionery, partook of them very liberally, and distributed them amongst their friends. The result can be better imagined than described, for the pills attended strictly to business, and all who had partaken thereof were soon sufforing intense agony. The services of a doctor were enlisted on their behalf, and he found the thieves like " a nest of poisoned rats." Having heard of the robbery, he took steps to secure the arrest of the robbers, and the police were thus enabled to place their hands on a very desperate gang of thieves. In this case the pills did it! There was a touch of humour, too, in the thefts which took place at the late Archbishop of York's funeral, for the pickpockets rose equal to the occasion, and,

knowing that a large number of clerics would bo present, four of these lightfingered gentry actually attended attired as clergymen. After extracting the contents, the empty purses were placed in other people's pockets, so as to remove one evidence of crime in the event of the arrest of any of the thieves. Similarly, at a bazaar held in London, four ladies were relieved of their purses, and one of these, with all its contents missing except a few coppers,was found by the Bishop of Lincoln in his pocket. A gentleman's gardener had been treated in a like manner, while the remaining —empty, of coursewere found beneath a stall. A Parisian locksmith was nearly duped recently. A gentleman, who professed to have lost his door- asked him to go to his house, take off the lock, and make a new key. The locksmith acted accordingly; but when he returned with the lock and key he was seized by the throat and designated "thief" and " burglar," and handed over to the commissary of police. The individual who had ordered the koy, and thus gained access, had robbed the place of all valuables, and the unfortunate locksmith was threatened with an action to recover the amount of the loss.