Pickpockets

Found in the Haining collection - this article from 1936 on pickpockets. The author Louis Mansfield has much advice,most still relevant. The bit about a 'dip's' long, tapering fingers may be fanciful but certainly it is not a profession for one with fat fingers...

 PEARSON'S WEEKLY, May 30, 1936

THIS IS DERBY WEEK, SO–

WATCH YOUR POCKETS!

Pickpockets will be busy among the crowds. It is their best time of the year. Louis C. S. Mansfield, detective and crime investigator, lets you into secrets of the "dip's" profession – and they have some good ones. You have been warned!

TAKE HIS ADVICE–

 I have worked against pickpockets for years. Here's my advice to you if you want to return home with your notecase.
 Be careful when you see men carrying, and not wearing, their overcoats, or holding newspapers which are open–not folded.
 Grab your wallet quickly if a stranger starts brushing paint or dust off your coat.
 If somebody hits you on the back and says "Sorry," look for a touch in front–because you won't feel it.

N

OW is the time for pickpockets ("whizzers," "dips" and "finger-smiths," as they call themselves) to get busy. Bank-holiday crowds, summer holiday-makers with money in their pockets, and Derby crowds, all give the "dips" a chance.
 They generally work together, as many as nine in a gang, but sometimes a topnotcher works alone.