JEWEL THEFTS

NZ Truth, Issue 890, 16 December 1922, Page 5

JEWEL THEFTS

METHODS AND RISKS OF THE RECEIVER i. ■ m i . ; BLACKMAIL AND BETRAYAL

■ (By a Student < ■-■%•■■ ,: v* " Jewels are wealth In' tabloid form; | their small bulk Tpias salways made them a temptation for thieves of mark. But the problem of turning them into hard cash has tended to limit jewel robbery to specialists. The receiver is a more important factor than m any other class of theft. Practised burglars who are not specialists in^gems often leave, the jewel cose untouched, and rich householders have been astonished on their return to a ransacked "crib" to find costly trinkets untouched where every scrap of the more unwieldy silver has disappeared. As a general rule a. jewel is no use whatever to a thief unless, he has a market for 'it ready to hand. His difficulties are not finished with the successful theft; for .(as well the, "fence" lets him know) jewels of price are among the most easily recognisable articles m the world. Consequently the price the actual thief receives is smaller In proportion to the real value of his booty than m almost any other class of theft. j .: It is, therefore, on the receiver side ! that the police look to catch the jewel | robber. Small gems may easily be | sent out of the . country, or: even, with a certain amount of precautionary waiting, if the mountings are prised off, be got 'rid of nearer home; but big pieces must be cut up if they are to be realised, with a consequent loss of at least three-quarters of their value. Gem -cutting is skilled work, and the majority of big jewel receivers do this themselves or are m direct

touch with cutters who are themselves the ultimate receivers. OCHB RECEIVER'S FEARS. No honest workman could fall to wonder at an order to cut up a Dawless gem, and if the commission were repeated information to the police would follow. It ls true that a limited market, to those few who know the ropes and who have experience, exists in India and in native States throughout Asia where love for gems is not complicated by an excessive desire to know their exact history, and where It is practically impossible that they should ever be recognised. But the number of jewel merchants in a European country who have the means and facilities for disposing of gems in this way la small. In general the Jewel received is himself the cutter and often the retailer in theis. reduced form of the gems he has bought. Now the corporation of jewellers itself ls limited and fairly well known. This limitation is of great assistance to the police in their hunt for the robber. So effective is this check that the ultimate receiver is often established in another country td that, in which the robbery is committed, Holland and France being especially beloved of the fraternity. The police of these countries are aware ' of this, and a keener watch on jewellers and more complete dossiers of all of bad reputation are kept than in England itself. Apart from the necessary precautions which he has to take against suspicion by the police, the nightmare of the jewel "fence" is betrayal or, almost as disastrous, blackmail. Many tricks have been contrived by him for avoiding a direct contact- with the thief himself, but each step* only puts off the danger, besides lessening the profits. Altogether, though extremely profitable, jewel "fencing" is not a profession for a scamp who prizes ease of mind, Jewel "receivers** are recruited principally among skilled workmen with a crooked streak and established dealers who are unsatisfied with the ordinary thrills of their profession. The condition of success ls to wait long before spending the gains In order to allay any possible suspicion. There are not many engaged in the traffic, arrests are rare, but many a one has gone out of business from a mere hint of danger, a vague suspicion that he felt rather than realised. Conviction usually means a "lifer," on the Continent, and the loss of more than the ordinary thief risks), for Jewellers, whether working or selling, are comparatively men of substance. THREE CLASSES OP JEWEL THIEF. The first difficulty of the jewel robber, therefore, is to get Into touch' with one pt these men. This Is bo essential that tho process usually works In tho reverse way; the receiver makes the thief, and no one who has not been encouraged to it by the sure prospect of getting rid of his gains ever goes In for the business. There are three classes of Jewol thief, and usually a man does not praotiso in more than one of them. Jewels may be stolen from retailers, as In a certain sensational case recently before the London police courts, by a variety of confidence trick, accompanied or not with violence. Invariably the first r.top is to put up at a fashionable and expensive hotel, to find an imposing title or description, and to set to work to deviso a plan to get the Jewellor to entrust to a stranger, oven for a moment, his precious wares. This method is much less practised nowaday* than formerly, for jewellers are wary, and the assistant sent with \aluable goods on approval 1« seldom alone. Jewellers are sometimes robbed by n man In the shop itself while his attention is momentarily, distracted. Often an accomplice is mod to play the part of another customer, supply. Ing the distraction, while the thief trios to take a ring from the selection before him and concent it unobserved. One fjunous trlek wa* to sllek th* 6l>jt«ct under the jeweller's own counter with xt plcc«,' of putty held In tho hand: later, another accomplice would enter on f» pretext and remove the booty. A variety of this trick (which «_• originally played In Paris In the

)f Criminology.) twenties of last century. m restaui ants, before the invention of electroplate cutlery made it unprofitable), now definitely out of fashion, was a somewhat similar -use of putty m a hole under the heel of the thief's boot, where a small object dropped on the floor could be carried away into safety. Thieves practising this, and kindred forms of theft, always take care to be irreproachably, dressed, and are Indeed often men. of some education and breeding — black sheep who have strayed from comfortable folds. TRAIN ROBBERJJBS. The jewel burglar is not different m bis methods from the scientific housebreaker m general, with his oxyhydrogen flame, his specialised . salebreaker's kit, and so forth. Some years ago a gang operated m Paris by piercing the waUs of jewellers' shops, but these are now commonly protected by thin steel walls and special burglar alarms. In the period of violent robberies, sOon after the Armistice, bandits held up shops m the early morning and used revolvers freely- to- keep intervention off. In several of these cases the men were not real jewellery robbers, knew no proper "fence," and were arrested m the difficult act of realising their plunder. A third class of thief is only a variety of the area sneak and the pickpocket. It is a- band of this sore which is operating at present. Many women are Incurably careless of their possessions, and it is on this that most of these men trade. Jewel cases left behind when the owner is m the dining-car of a train are taken m passing, by the thief, who takes car© to travel first-class. The case is hurriedly prised open, the contents seized, and the case thrown out of the window. Train jobberies are almost always the result of carelessness. But m big receptions, m modish restaurants, these light- Angered fellows also find their victims. Dressed m accordance with custom, they either get themselves invited or push their way In to functions where rich women show their Jewels, and, m the crush, snip necklaces from behind, or filch brooches m a way which seems miraculous, but which is only a refinement of, the methods of the common pickpocket on the racecourse. Detectives hired to guard the guests when the. hostess feels that all those Invited are not personally known to 'her are not very useful; they are easily spotted by the thief, or are obliged to use such discretion that they are unable to prevent a cunning man or woman profiting from his or her opportunities. PARIS AND MONTE CARLO. The hunt for . all Jewel thieves is directed m ordinary police practice to the receiver end, and traps are set for the "fence" and rewards offered to Informers. The actual thief moro often than not after a profitable stroke sets off to one of the Continental pleasure • resorts to spend the money. Paris and Monte Carlo are great, favourites of the fraternity all over the world, but whereas the Paris police are organised specially for the hunt for frauds and thieves from all parts of the -world, the police attached to the Casino State are first and foremoat Intended to stop scandal, and usually take no other measures against wanted men, when they are discovered, than to put them on a train to a neighbouring country. At the same time they may warn the police of the rogue's destination on his departure, leaving -U to them to do the dirty work. . There remains one last advantage for soolety m its hunt for the jewel thief. After the known or suspected receivors have been closely watched, after every conceivable trap for them has been set through police informers, after the Continental police have been put m possession of the description of the missing treasuro and of the thief. after all the Custom-houses are supplied with a similar description, there remains the foolishness or the treachery of the rogues themselves. Tho majority of dangerous thieves havo been laid by the heels through tin* desertion of one of their accomplices, for one reason or another. This everpresent danger of betrayal Increase* with the number of persons engaged In the crime. If the present epidemic of jewel theft is really the result of the operations of a big gang, so much the better for the poUce and society.