ces
of cloth through the false portion of the valise, and, taking it by the
handle in the usual careless manner, "guesses he will go to his hotel
and have a wash and return later," and leaves the store not only
undetected but entirely unsuspected. Very probably the theft remains
undiscovered until the next taking of stock, when it is impossible to
tell how the goods were lost, and in many cases some attache of the
store is discharged, never knowing for what sin of omission or
commission he was suspected. The success of this mode of theft is best
shown by the infrequency with which such cases are ever brought to light
or its perpetrator ever caught and arrested.

CHAPTER VII.

KLEPTOMANIA.

_Extraordinary Revelations--A Wealthy Kleptomaniac in the Toils of a
Black-mailing Detective._

In the issue of the New York _World_, bearing date Saturday, May 11,
1867, appeared a long article criticising, exposing, and severely
condemning the methods of the city's detective police. "A detective,"
said the writer, "is presumed to be alike active, capable and honest,
and were he such, he would be a public benefactor; but as he is too
often either ignorant, indolent, or positively dishonest, he becomes a
public pest. That detectives are in league with thieves; that they
associate with them publicly and privately on the most intimate terms;
that they occasionally 'put up' jobs with them by which the people are
alike fleeced and astonished; that although the perpetrators of great
robberies are generally known to them, the said perpetrators almost
invariably escape punishment; that far more attention is paid to the
sharing of the plunder, or the obtaining of a large percentage on the
amount of money recovered, than to the furtherance of the ends of
justice--all these statements are undeniably true."

Coming to specific charges, the writer said further on: "A handsome
female, a Broadway shop-lifter, recently testified that although she had
been desirous of reforming her life for a year past, she had been
totally prevented from so doing by the extortions of certain members of
the detective force, who threatened to reveal her former history unless
she 'came down handsomely,' and in order to 'come down,' as they styled
it, she was obliged to resort to her old disgraceful business."

The foregoing reference to a concurrent incident was presented to the
reader as coldly and curtly as a historic hailstone, striking him but to
glance