Sherlock Holmes & Pickpockets (1974)

“… played me for a sucker from the first.”

– The Adventure of the Three Garridebs (3GAR)

In 1974, the New York Police Department published a pamphlet of Office Building Security that featured cartoons offering safety tips that were drawn by NYPD Patrolman Leo Poulsen. You can learn more about Poulsen in this post on Gothamist and see all of the cartoons from the pamphlet HERE.

We are interested in the cartoon shown above. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are crawling on the ground in a graveyard. A couple of pound banknotes are in Holmes’ rear pocket.

The caption reads: Men, don’t carry money in your rear or side pockets (sucker pockets). A crowded elevator is an ideal spot for a pickpocket to do his thing.

A tip of the deerstalker to Matt Laffey and I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere who shared this in a 2013 posting.