Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-06-24

Iuu6.
''It will, / suppose, be of no use try
ing to sleep a2ai tonight, for it is
three O'clock" said my friend.
Il cannot sleep, was my reply; ''and
1 am dying to hear how you found out
these men were approaching the house. "
Being, then, of one mind, we partly
ROBBED ourselves, lighted a fire In the
kitchen, aud soon, being provided with
cigars and erog, got very comfortable,
and satisfied with our work. My friend
then began his account, which he gave
much in the following words:
''The burglar, as told you, has usu-
ally the advantage of surprise; he can
select the time at which he makes his
attack, and if his proceedings are car
ried ON cautiously, he enters a house
before he is heard. Few men would !,
however, venture to do so, unless they
previously 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 coma themselves as
tramps, or with some trifie to sell.
Thus, if there are bells attached to
doors or windows they find it out, and
they know tolerably well the domestic
arrangements of the locality they pur-
pose trying their skill upon. There
are, too, conventional methods of pro-
tecting a house, such as bolts, bars,
chains, locks, &C., all of which require
merely time and proper instruments to
overcome. 1t therefore occurred to me
that novelty and simplicity combined
would be more than a match foI the
coarse intellect of burglar, and thus l
made my plans, which, you see, answer
ed very we'll"
s'No doubt about that, we replied.
: "Well now, come up 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
t'This is nearly all the apparatus" he
said; shut you notice some thread fast
ened to the key; trace that thread and
you will find that it passes through that
small hole in the sash; from there it
goes down to the backyard; and now
you will comprehend my plan. / knew
that no man could approach the back
part Of the house without walking up
the backyard, 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 fastlona one side, but slipped
through loop, and led up to my win
dow on the other. The thread then
passed through the hole / had bored in
the window-sash, and was then 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. i
Just drew the string tight, and fastened
it in the yard, taking care to free it be-
fore morning, SO as to keep the plan a
secret. II, then, aAI1an, or anything
above two feet high, walked up the yard,
the string was pressed against, the key
was drawn up sharply against the bar,
and the string broken, when the key of
course, fell into the tin bex. making
quite noise enough to wake me. I'M
ulediately the string or thread broke, it
would fall to the ground, and the per-
son who had done all this would not
have felt anything, the resistance being
very slight. / must own that L should
have preferred horse-hair to thread, but
as it was, the latter answered very well.
/ was fast asleep when the key fell, but
Immediately awoke, and taking my Ian
tern outside my door, lighted it, and
came to you, for I knew that man on