The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-18 00:00:00

How not to Catch a Thief.

The following letter, signed " Scott F. Surtees,"
and dated " Rectory, Sprotbrough, May 15," ap-
peared yesterday in the Times :
On Monday last I was stopping at an hotel at the west
end of London. My bed-room was small, the bed imme-
diately opposite the door. I had locked my door and been
to sleep. 1 was awakened, I conjecture, by the thunder-
storm, at about 2 a.m., and saw the door ajar, and a face
looking on me, and almost " felt," so earnest was the gaze,
a pair of eyes fixed intently on me. Without a moment
being lost I flung off the bed clothes and made for the
door. It was closed in my face. I opened it as quick as
possible, and I think only seconds had elapsed before I was
out on the staircase, and to my amazement could see or hear
no one. I looked over the balusters and listened for about
a minute, ran back to my room, found my purse and pocket-
book gone, and roused the house with shouts and calls.
Within a few minutes there was a considerable assemblage,
male and female. The landlady coming downstairs from
above stepped upon my purse and pocket-book, and the
night porter picked them up—gold and notes to
tho amount of £l5 were missing. The first
thought was that the thief had secreted himself
in some of the empty rooms, and all the party but my-
self descended to search the house. So convinced was I
that the thief was near, that I said, " No, I will not leave
this part of the house," and sat on the stairs listening. The
police then made their appearance, a sergeant and an intelli-
gent man with him ; on going upstairs with them and point-
ing out the place where the purse was found one of them
noticed the stair carpet a little raised, and putting his hand
behind pulled out a pair of tweezers, very similar to those
used by dentists, with which the thief had turned the
key from the outside. The scent was warm and the chase
became exciting, and on making inquiries as to the
inmates of the rooms, &c., we bad little difficulty
in limiting it to one of three parties, one the landlord
was certain was not the guilty party. The police ap-
peared very fearful of taking any steps in the matter, but
at the persuasion of the gentlemen present agreed to accom-
pany us into the rooms. We first entered that of a gentle-
man who had only arrived that night, and whose name was
unknown. Apologising for the intrusion, I asked him if ho
would tell who he was and where he came from. He
stated ho was a clergyman come up for the May meetings,
produced his letters and his cheque-book, and answered
several questions satisfactorily as to the neighbourhood ho
professed to come from. Unluckily the name on his carpet
bag, different from the one he gave, created a suspicion,
although I stated when we left his room, " that those were
not the eyes I saw fixed on me." By this time the inspector
of police had arrived, and took the further management
upon himself. His first object seemed to be to avoid com-
mitting himself, or undertaking any responsibility ; his
next to paralyse the landlord by talking of actions and
damages £2OO ; looking for or detecting the thief appeared
to be the last thing ho had in view. However, the landlady
urging it, and the rest of us declaring that there could be
no harm in asking the other person whether or no he had
been robbed himself, he reluctantly acquiesced. It was the
room next to mine. On the stair opposite the purse and
tweezers had been found. The noise had been terrific, and
yet he had put in no appearance. On opening the door after
much knocking he was as white as a sheet, and said, " Oh,
is it fire ?" and then said, looking at his purse, he had been
robbed of ten sovereigns and his silver left. This simple
dodge put the inspector off his guard. He asked no ques-
tions, as we had done, to the other person, as to who he
was and where he came from, &c., and finally, when
taking down in his pocket-book the charge and statements,
had the extreme stupidity to do so while we were both
standing together, and thus gave the other person the
chance of hearing me say that one note I thought had on
it " Whittaker," and that I had not the numbers. If
he had been sharp he might have noted that when my next
door neighbour gave his address as " Captain Holmes,
Scarborough," he changed it afterwards to "Wes-
ton-hall, Scarborough," that his portmanteau was an Ame-
rican, and that these instruments are generally found on
Americans ; that his purse was too small to hold 10 sove-
reigns ; that although in the middle of night, his portman-
teau was packed up and no article of any sort on the dress-
ing table. If he had looked at the keys of the doors he
would have found that the key of my door was marked and
bright, and that the key of his door had no mark upon it.
If he had inquired further he might have hoard that he had
been a fortnight in the hotel and never paid his bill, and
that both chamber-maid and waiter had mentioned their
distrust. He might have telegraphed to Scarborough, and
found that he had given a wrong address. Calmly looking
back upon it, I feel that if the inspector had been an accom-
plice ho could not have played the cards better for him.
Not liking to be beaten, and being sure he was one out of, at
the most, three individuals, I waited about the coffee-room,
taking stock of the people as they came down to breakfast.
Not until about 11 did my next door neighbour appear. I
went up to him, engaged him in conversation about the
events of the night, all the time looking for the glance of
the eyes I wished to recognise. I wont away convinced ho
was the man, and told the landlord to send for a detective.
On seeing the detective upstairs with mo ho turned and
went out of the house into the street. How the detective
followed him, how numerous wore his dodges, how ho
changed part of his dross up an entry, and how, finally,
when convinced ho was watched, ho ran for it, and, getting
a pair of old trousers and two
oconteasicnaodepdonl; lylow, on searching his large port..
maintontaeahua,nistm,
American books, would take long to tell. I would suggest
to licensed victuallers that in cases of this sort they should
hold out a promise of reward to the police; and to Sir R.
Mayne that he should have younger men, who have not
the dread of responsibility before their eyes as inspectors
on such duty. I should hope it maylead some one to invent
some apparatus, to be sold at all railway bookstalls, which
would give warning of a door being opened. It is evident
a locked door with the key in it is useless as a protection
against thieves, and that the police are unequal to trace
out a case, even when no time has boon wasted or a chance
thrown away.

A BREWER FINED £loo.—On Tuesday Mr.
Broughton, a provincial brewer, appeared in answer to a
summons charging him with infringing one of the regula-
lations of the excise, which requires brewers, previous to
each brewing, to make an entry in a paper provided by the
excise of the quantity of malt which it is intended to mash.
Mr. Hynes, one of the supervisors, called at the defendant's
brewery on March 29, and there found in the mashing-tub
five quarters, two bushels, and seven gallons of malt, while
the entry in the paper made on the previous day only
stated that four quarters of malt were to bo mashed. The
defence was that the entry was a wrong one on the part of
a boy. The magistrates inflicted the mitigated penalty of
£lOO.

[AuvEmisincENT.l-11olloway's Pills.—Bilious affections
and stomach complaints induced by atmospheric heat or
too liberal diet, if not early checked, are often attended
with serious consequences. When any one finds his ideas
less clear than usual, his eyesight dimmed, and his head
dizzy, while he is indisposed for all exertion, physical or
mental, ho may be quite sure that he is in immediate need
of some cooling and purifying medicine. Let him send at
once for a box of Holloway s pills, after a few doses of
which his head will bo clear again, his spirits be elevated,
and all his energies be restored. Printed directions for the
guidance of patients in tb.o use of this admirable medicine
are dazed to every lox.

• 4f, T‘v
at' 44.
nu.