This past year a house across the street from us was robbed. They came in the afternoon and took everything. Furniture, rugs, pictures off the walls, clothes out of the closet, EVERYTHING.
It may mean something maybe not, but the house next door to it had the roof replaced about 2 weeks before the robbery. I heard “travelers” mentioned when the owner talked about his conversations with the police.
“Are these Roma or are they Irish people who became gypsies?”
Of course I cannot know the details of a specific incident, but I can almost certainly assure you they were Roma, not Irish. The Roma are very independent, and very sensitive about the “purity” (odd word in their case) of their line.
I’ve personally known families of “Stanleys” in New England for over 40 years, and they remain the same over all those years. That particular family is quite famous here, and they continue to scam people, year after year. (A 14 year old Stanly girl came to my door about 8 years ago asking if she and her brothers could clean my roof of leaves and such. She was one of the most creatures I’ve ever seen, and her younger brothers were all handsome dark young men. Part of their ability to scam people is their innate charm.)
They are also greatly into “palm reading” and “fortune telling” and very very clever at it.
They are not usually into grand-theft, by the way. They work on the unstated principle that you cannot cheat an honest man, but know there are plenty of dishonest who think they can get something for nothing, so are easily cheated—and they are experts in that field
Hank