Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper/Volume 18/Number 450/Opera

A gentleman went with a friend to the Opera, and arrived before the doors were open. While waiting in the crowd standing behind his friend, he amused himself by picking the pocket of the latter, abstracting therefrom a handkerchief. Hardly had he done so when he was tapped on the shoulder, and on turning round he saw a gentlemanly-looking individual who handed him his own snuffbox, with a polite bow, observing that he never knowingly "operated on a brother professional, and was sorry that he had made such a mistake."