THIEF HAD TWO LEFT ARMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23719, 27 July 1940, Page 2 (Supplement)

THIEF HAD TWO LEFT ARMS

Store Detective's E With Cun ffyHEY are my bread and butter, my pet enemies, r * and my constant companions. I have studied their tricks for many years, but I am still ready to learn." So writes Mr. Herbert Noel Cooper in "Fifteen Years a Store Detective," (Pallas Publishing Co.). He is re- / ferring to shoplifters, and some of their tricks are indeed amazing.

ONE day for instance, there entered the store a man who looked like an artist, wearing a broad-brimmed black hat and a flowing cloak. Under his left arm he carried a picture frame. Mi'. Cooper saw him stop in front of the counter where electric razors ;were sold and engage the assistant in a long discussion about their merits:— Ho' leaned with both his arms against the counter. His hands, in black cotton gloves, were visible to the whole world and certaiuly to the assistant. But at the same time—a third arm emerged and a third hand was busily cramming expensive _ electric razors into, the pocket of his " voluminous cloak. , A Good "Bag" When he left the counter —without buying anything—Mr. Cooper followed him. Outside the store lie stopped him and took him up to the manager's oflice. The '.'artist" had two left arms—the artificial one established as a sort of alibi while the real one stole things Tinder cover of the cloak. His bag that day consisted of five electric razors and & number of other objects. A man carrying a large suitcase once came into Mr. Cooper's store. He asked to see some expensive shaving "brushes/ As the assistant was showing him some, he slipped, knocked about a dozen brushes on to the floor, and also kicked his suitcase a ,few feet away. He returned the case to its former position ' and, with the assistant's help, put the brushes back on the counter. He did not buy anything and after he had left it was found that three brushes, worth about fifteen pounds, were missing:— It ,was too late to stop him and it just had to" be put down as "wastage." I was not in the shop at that time, but when I was told of the scene.. I picked out the -man with the suitcase as the probable thief and my colleagues agreed. The

only problem was whore ho liad hidden the' brushes? He wore no overcoat and when the assistant dusted him after his fall, ho would have i'elt any "bulges." Three days later cuff links, studs, and similar articles were stolen from another store. Again there had been a man with a large suitcase. In the end ho was arrested and his case turned out to bo rather liko those with false bottoms nsed by railway station thieves. The man had, however, gone one step further in his invention. . . Ho had rigged up a noiseless vacuum cleaner in the bottom of his large suitcase—and also a very strong magnet. Of course, it picked up any object he wanted without the slightest difficulty. A thief who did things in a big way was a Hungarian. Ho hid in a padded trunk and had himself sent to a large warehouse. During the night he came out and filled his trunk with all kinds of valuables: —•

Then he closed the trunk and slipped from the -place. . . Next day he sent for the trunk which was duly delivered to the address given. He repeated the trick twice or three times and only got caught because the night-watchman in the place had a terrible toothache which made him more wakeful than usual. The "Evil Eye"

Sometimes women shoplifters are not content with taking an article—they bring it back again and say they are not satisfied with it! Thus they save the trouble of going to a receiver of stolen goods:—

Most of the stores-have a "money

refunded" system and these canny ladies take good advantage of it. Now they have the ready cash; it is not very difficult to find a tlirownaway receipt or something similar to show that the sale had actually taken place. One was caught, however, because the amount on the receipt did not tally with the usual price of the article, although she, of course, would have been content to accept the former which was lower than the store's price.

Mr. Cooper has visited • many European and American cities to study the methods of store detectives and the treatment, of shoplifters. "We always let them go in the first instance," a Parisian official told him: — "It saves red tape and unnecessary work. Of course, they must givo an undertaking never to show'up in the shop —not even ns legitimate customers. We photograph them unnoticed and ksep a file of them, rather like your 'rogue's gallery,' which our employees study. They seldom come back."

Tn Italy he found that the widespread belief in the power 9f the Evil Eye had been put to peculiar use. In one store in Milan six jottatori—as those who are supposed to possess the Evil Eyo are called —had been appointed as detectives. Since then, Mr. Cooper was told, "thefts httvo dropped to practically nil. For no thief would risk the Evil Eye. No other safeguards are necessary." It is a pity, he thinks, that London shoplifters do not believe in the Evil Eye. However, he seems to have been a * good substitute. In fifteen years he has : caught abo\it three thousand "shoplifters, amateurs and professionals, dishonest employees and silly errandhoys who were too young to understand what they were doing."