The Portland daily press., 1865-05-26
foerLAND, FRIDAY MORNING MAY % 1865


tne room consequently lighted up; a. tne
same instant my friend drew up the slde OF
tne dark lantern, and flashed the light on the
races OF the two men, at the same Time snow
ing the muzzle of revolver pointed towards
1 them. nea ea8aH
! Ifeither of YOU move, I'll put couple OF
bullets in him. said my friend, as he placed
his back against the window by which the
i men had entered. Now drop that crow-bar.' Z
i he continued, in voice of authority; down
with it: and you, he said to me, spull open the
shutter and shout for the police an l.s
The idea that is usually entertained of a
| buTglar is, that he is man of great size.
strength and daring, and that he would in an
encounter annihilate any moderate man.
When, then, the light revealed the faces and
forms Of the men we had captured, our hum
ble sen, although no great pugilist, yet felt
aDie toideieat either of them if it came to a
matter OF fists; and must own that the pale
ana agonized faces of the men were not indie
ative OF any very great courage.
Our shout for police was shortly answered
ana the burglars having been subdued by the
sight OF the revolver, the muzzle of which
pointed first at one, and then at the other,
were captured by the police, three Of whom
were speedily on the spot, and conveyed to
the lookup; whilst we and detective who
had been brought down from London some
which they had effected an entrance. g. e fea-'
You were very lucky to hear them, especi-
ally on such night said the detective; I;
when once there in they move like mice.--i
we know them, and expect they'll get seven
years. f, -. r.
The man was about right, for one, the old
er offender, was sentenced TO six, the other to
five years penal seryitude.
1T will, I suppose, be Of no use trying TO
49, .f,l.f fop d 4l-,, ILL IL
said my friend.
4 cannot Sleep was my reply, and am
dying to know how you found out that these
men were approaching the house, esAisf
Being then of one mind, we partly robed
ourselves, lighted fire in the kitchen, and
soon being provided with cigars and groe.
got very comfortable and satisfied with our
work Ny friend then began his account,
which he gave much in the following words:
The burglar, as told you, has usually the
advantage of surprise; he can select the time
at which he makes the attack, aud If his pro.
ceedings are carried on cautiously, he enters
house before he is heard. Few men would,
however, venture to do so, unless they previ-
ously had good information as to the interior
arrangements of the house; this they obtain
either from servants, tradesmen, or some one
who visits the locality, or they come them
selEes as tramps, or with some trife to SELL
4 nus, A. tnef0 are DeIS attached TO doors
windows, they find it out; and they know toI-
erably well the domestic arrangement Of the
locality they purpose trying their skill upon.
There are, too, conventional methods of pro-
tecting house, such as bolts, bars, chains.
locks, &c, all of which require merely time
and proper instruments to overcome. It
therefore occurred to me that novelty and sim
plicity combined would be more than a match
for the coarse Intellect of burglar, and thus
l made my plans, which, you see, answered
very well' &
NO doubt about that we replied. .a .e5...z
We'll, now come up to my room,' he con-
tlnued, and see the apparatus "a
We entered his room, and there, close be-
side bis pillow, was tin box, in the bottom Of
which was key. q1 s............... sio1
This Is nearly all the apparatus he said:
but you notice some thread fastened t. the
key; trace that thread, and you will find 1t
passes through that small hole In the sash;
from there IL goes down to the back yard and
now you will comprehend my plan. / knew
that no man could approach the back part of
the house without walking up the back yard,
which is only four yards wide. therefore
tied across the back yard, and about two feet
from the ground, some fine black thread; this
was made fast on one side, but slipped through
a loop, aud led up to my window on the other.
The thread then passed through the hole
made fast to this key. Under the key / plac-
ed the tin box, you see; and over the key was
a bar, to prevent its being dragged up more
than six inches. Each night, before went to
bed Ijust drew the string tight and fastened it
In the yard, taking care to free it before morn
ing, SO as to keep the plan secret. IT, then,
man, Or anything above two feet high, walk
ed up the yard, the string was pressed against,
the key was rrawn up sharply against the bar
nd fho
fell into the tin box, making quite noise
enough to wake me. Immediately the string
or thread broke, 1t would fall to the ground;
and the person who had done alllthis would
not have felt anything, the resistance being SO
slight. I must own should have preferred
horse hair to thread, but as it was, the latter
answered very well. fell fast asleep when
the key fell, but immediately woke, and taxi
ing my lantern outside my door. lighted 1t,
and came to you, for knew that man only
in the back yard could have dropped my key.
So now you see how the burglars were trap
ped, for you know all the rest. 'sasig 71aEg o-aa
Certainly, you succeeded, and so we ought
not to be critical we replied But suppose
they had entered by the front window, in
stead Of by the back, how then p e9'e
you see this thread he said, grasping one
that was near the door, pull it. .'sae asilcoes s
qe 4 did SO, aud immediately a tin cap drop
ped into the hand basin. sal 9f-ii
That thread goes down stairs, and is fas-
tened across the front window but broke
that off as went out of my room, 30 that il
should not impede my journey down stairs.
Thus could at once know whether a man
was approaching the back door or had enter
ed the ffont-window, and in either case,
think could have captured him.
Simplicity had certainly been adopted in
the present case, but the means had shown
IOr - In Af M nF1T
Persons are usually very silly continued
our friend, when they hear. or think they
hear, suspicious noises ofa night The first
thing they usually do is to light candle
which proclaims to the robber that he has
been heard, and must escape then they GO
about the house making great noise, so that
man may have plenty OF time to get away,
or to hide himself. Instead Of this, il per-
son we're to listen intently, he would be able
to hear any suspicious noise distinctly, and
decide upon their cause: then, as he must
know his own house better than arobber, he
is best off of the two in the dark; and when,
having armed himself, he has5quietly opened
his door, he may wait and listen until the rob-
bers are heard moving about, when he may
take such steps as may seem necessary. Ii
every person were merely to plan what was to
be done In case OF robbers entering his house,
and then were to carry out this If the occasion
required, burglary would be too dangerous
and unsuccessful proceeding to be popular
or profitable, and thus might be given up
for more honest means of obtaining liveli-
hood, so that really we may consider our
selves to have done community at large a
benefit, when we capture one of these gentry |:
whilst those who allow their houses to be rob
bed with impunity, jeopardise their neighbor's
property. [Chamber's Journal. aaeaes' "a 3