LATEST IN POCKET-PICKING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10963, 4 May 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

LATEST IN POCKET-PICKING.

ON TRAMS AND RACECOURSES

If a man rudely pushes you m a crowd, don't worry, about him (says a writer m the Argus). He piaj^ "be a pickpocket, but don't beware of Mm; beware of your money and your watch. The moment when a .pickpocket is most busy is tlie moment when his victim is most busy glowering around m search of the person who is shoving. That is, the moment of most complete disarmament. Your house is generally robbed when you are out*of it, and your pocket is robbed when your thoughts are elsewhere. But it does not always require a vigorous push to change the trend ot thought. "A tap on the shoulder will often make a person crazy with curiosity, if it occurs m a crowd. Recently m London a nian lost his. gold watch and chain. He did not call m police aid. ,He offered a tempting reward for the return of, trie missing treasures, and "No questions asked." Next day the articles were brought to him.. He had always believed himself one too many for pickpockets, and itched to know the manner of his defeat. The . pickpocket told him: 'T tapped you on tlie shoulder, ,like -that," he said, "and you looked, round." In that instant of unguardedness the- watch and chain! went. "That's how. I did itj'' 6aid the pickpocket, as he left the, man chuckling with merriment. •'CapiiJtalj'V said; the! mari, as he plunged bis thunibs, into his waistcoat pqpket. Trie watch and chain Jiad disappeared once more. A more utterly realistic dljii.tfa-. tionjof pocket-picking methods cofild iot haye! befallen that citizen of London Pickpockets move with the times. They have not failed!, 'to notice, that some., of ,the recently -purcliased Sydriey cars On the Brighton electric tramway line, are adaptled for their trade. "... The cars, they favor are closed m all round. Everybody has to g6 inside, and through a narrow doorway.- ;That. is where the pickpocket has an advantage. .At the starting-point a confederate -plants himself across the; doorway and ;blocks! the passage. The block is. per. sisted; with. * Tlie people grow angry, and; combine to clear a way tlirough. They thus; deliver themselves, into the h^nds of the ' toiclqiocket working quietly m their midst. .This is a ruse that will succeed where, only half a dozen persons constitute the, -huritingTground.' And that, is when % it is most often, employed by pickpockets. Tliere liave been several complaints ,of losses from. passerigersThy the Brighton! tranis, and^it i. very likely^that they have obeurred m- this way. 'l'here aie ' otlier ways, ".of course r >,but^theyT.a_;e*.the oldfashjoned! ways, and ar© . known to all. An obset^er-v w&tch^if; !fromT th^; istaTfioh window on' a^nusy Siturday or /Sunday niglit se© interesting performances. . Racecourse pickpockets, too, are on the increase. The newcomers are merely shifting their ground from • the tote shops to. the racecourse. Tliey still remain the ;para : siteo of sport. * If-a man on the flat or- in the Leger — and' it is m these places .tliat the pickpockets mostly gather — makes |, a, decent beY he ia- watched. (That is to say,! his ticket is ; w*a^ched. '<■ It seeriis easy to be' able to engage a man m conversation: on a racecourse, and this fact is. frequently availed of by tlrieves. In a moment Of distraction the ticket is stolen. Should the horee win, the rest is comparatively easy. Tlie bookmaker can : only pay ; tile person who presents the ticket, and m the absence, of any private mark upon -a ticket it is as much one man's property as another's. * The money is therefore paid over to the pickpocket, often m the very presence ; of the victim. Here, again,* it is tlie soundest advice to Ibewiire of yonr 'ticket, and don't worry about the pickpockets. Tickets are sometimeg stolen m the more 'fashionable parts of a; racecourse. A well-known insurance manager lost a ticket at Randwick which assumed a value of £100 when the horse he had wagered upon won. But the tiekp,t was privately marked, and steps had beeh taken ."'tb have payment On it stopped ,'This was a 'facer for the pickpockets, and; they surrendered. The ticket w.*ie returned to the.rightful owner as havhig ! been picked up. ;. The insurance maai Was paid £100 m notes by the book-maker-and retired;' beaming with joy. At the ■ first narration of his experience, ■the '. most telling evidence m the story, the -notes;; could not be produced. Thej had, been stolen by pickpockets—obviously the pickpockets who, had stolen tK ticket'earlier iri the proceedings; ,' It is wis^- to ■ look after your own watch and leave the 'pickpocket to . look after him selfi • T ; ' 'v^i'- '■ • '-Tv' -. : '