The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1865-07-07

protecting house, such as bolts,
bars. chains, locks, &C., all of which
require rhesN time and proper in
strument, to ,@ercome. It therefore
occurred 20 me chat novelty and sim.
plicity would be more than match
for the coarse intellect of q burglar.
and thus l made my plans, which,;
you see, answered very we'll"
mo doubt about that" we re.
Piled"
"Well, now, come to my room," he
continued, "and see the apparatus"
We entered his room, and there,
close beside his pillow, was tin box,
in the bottom of which was key.
"This is nearly all the apparatus, -
he said; "but you notice some thread
fastened to the key; trace that thread
and you will find that it passes thro'
that small hole in the sash; from there
it 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 loop,
and led up to my window on the 9th
er. The thread then passed through
the hole had bored in the window
sash. and was then made fast to this
key. Under the key placed the tin
box, you see; and over the key was u
bar, to prevent its being dragged up
more than six inches. Each night,
before [ went TO bed, I just drew the
string tight, and fastened it in the
yard, taking care to free it before
morning, so as to keep the plan u
secret. If then, u man, or anything
above two feet high, walked up the
yard, the string was pressed against,
the key was drawn up sharply against
the bar, aud the string broken, when
the key, Of course, fell into the tin
box. making quite noise enough TO
wake me. Immediately the string or
thread broke, it would fall to the
ground; and the person who had done
all this would not have felt anything,
the resistance heing very slight. |
must own that | should have prsler-
red horse-hair to thread, but as il
was, the latter ans swered very well. -
| was fast asleep when the key fell
but Immediately awolle, and taking
my lantern outside my door, lighted
it, and came TO you, for I knew that
Il man only in the back yard could
have dropped my key. So now YOU
see how the burglars were trapped
and you know all the rest"
"Certainly. You succeeded, so We
ought not to be critical" replied
"But suppose they had entered by
the front window, instead Of by thC
back, how then"
"You see this thread" he said
grasping one that was near the door
"pull it,"
did so, and Immediately a tin cur
dropped into the hand basin.
"That thread goes down stairs, am
Is fastened across the front window
but I broke that Off as I went out o
my room, so shat it should not i'm
pede my journey down stairs. Thus
I could at once know whether q MAJ
was approaching the back door or haC
entered by the front window, and il
! either case, | think | could have cap
turcd him."
i Simplicity had certainly been adopt
cd in the present case, but the mean
had shown themselves to be sum
cient.
"People are usually very silly
continued our friend, "vhen the,
hear, or think they hear suspicion
noises of night. The first thinj
they usually do Is to light q candle
which proclaims the robbcr that h
has been heard, and must escape; thei
they go ? bout the house with this can
die, and make a great noise so tina
a man NAV have plenty OF time t,
get away. or to hide himself. In
stead Of this, If a person were TO Lis
ten intently, he wonld be able to hca
any suspicious noises distinctly, an,
decide upon their cause; then, as h
must know his own house better tina
q robber, he is best off the two in th
dark; and when, having armed him
self, he has quietly opened his door
he may wait and listen until tho rob
bers are heard moving about, whe
he may take such steps as seem nee
ccssary. Ifevery person were merel.
TO plan what was to be done in cas-
OF robbers entering his house, an
then were to carry out this II the oC
casion required it, burglary would b
too dangerous and unsuccessful
proceeding to be popular or profta
bic, and TINS might be given up 70
more honest means Of obtaining
livelihood; so that really we may con
slider ourselves TO have done the com
munity at large benent, when W
capture one Of these gentry, willis
those who allowed their houses TO b
robbed with impunity, leopardiz
their neighbors property"
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