enough funds wherewith to resume
play. No woman would ever have dreamt of practicing such an intricate
and bold robbery, for she could never have carried it out. There are
many women engaged in these robberies who are neither young nor
handsome, but they are adepts and make up in knowledge and experience
what they lack in charms; but the most successful are young and
attractive. They succeed better when they are winsome, for reasons which
require no explanation.

Strange as it may appear, there are instances on record in which some of
the professional females engaged in this panel game have preserved
intact their virtue, so far as men generally were concerned, and have
remained steadfast and true to their lovers, through all vicissitudes.
They have solicited and accompanied men to their rooms, yet still have
so contrived and maneuvered, as to have their male companion robbed
without indulging in any of the other apparently necessary concomitants
to the success of the undertaking. But these women are rare--very rare
indeed. The fact of their occasional existence merely proves that the
sole object of all women engaged in the nefarious game of panel thieving
is robbery--first, last and all the time.

From the well-known dislike of the victims of this game to making their
names and losses known by figuring prominently in a court of justice,
panel-house thieves escape the punishment they justly deserve and thrive
more successfully, perhaps, than other professional robbers. Besides,
the game is practiced more particularly upon the most respectable
element of the community. Men of families, strangers visiting the city,
men of advanced years, and even clergymen are sometimes caught in the
net. As may be imagined, people of this class prefer to lose their money
rather than have their names made public, and so long as such victims
are to be found, panel houses will thrive and thieves become rich.
Instances are on record where as much as eight thousand dollars have
been secured from a single victim, who, from his prominence in social
and business circles, allowed the matter to drop, although he was
acquainted with the thief.

A man and a woman are essential to the execution of the panel game. The
woman's part consists in "cruising," a term applied to walking the
streets to pick up men. The man has two parts to enact, as "runner" and
"robber." The first role consists in being on the street watching his
female decoy. If he sees a