The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-06-10
From Chambers Journal
HOW WE TRAPPED THE BUR-
GLARS.
GCoNCLUSION.l

and the room consequently lighted up
nj the same instant my friend drew up
the slide of the dark lantern, and flashed
the light Oh the faces of the two men,
At the same time showing the muzzle OF
4 revolver pointing towards them.
If either of you nov I'll put q couple
If bullets in him" said my friend as he
placed his back against the window by
which the men had entered. Now drop
tina. crowbar," he continued, in a voice
of authority; down with 1T; and you,
he SAID to me, pull open the shutter II
shout for the police"
The idea that is usually entertained OF
burglar is that he is a man OF great
size, and strength, and daring, and that
he would III All encounter annlhilate
any moderate man. When, then, the
liUbt revealed the faces and forms of the
men we had captured, our humble self
though no great pugilist, yet felt able
TO defeat either Of them if it came to Il
matter of fists; and / must own that the
male and astonished faces Of the men
were not indicative of any very great
coinage.
Our shout for police was shortly an
swered; the burglars having been sub
dued by the sight ofthe revolver, the muz-
zle of which pointed first at one, then at
the other, were captured by the police,
three of whom were speedily OH the spot.
aud conveyed to the lock up; whilst we
and a detective who had been brought
down from London some spreviously
examined the details 10y which the men
had effected an entrance.
.N,,, mann -.rtr ltrnEN- fn IDars tllnl
especially on such a night" said the de-
t~ective, when once they're in they move
like mice. We know them; and expect
they'll get seven years"
The man was about correct, for one,
the old offender, was sentenced to six,
the other to five years penal selvitude.
at will, I suppose, be of no use trying
to sleep again tonight, for it is three
o'clock, said my friend.
Il cannot sleep" was my reply; and l
am dying to hear how you toundon that
these men were approaching the house."
Being, then, of one mind, we partly
robcd ourselves, lighted a fire in the
kitchen, and o being provided with
cigars and grog, got very comfortable.
and satisfied with oar work. My friend
then began his account, which he gave
me much in the following words:
The burglar, as l told you, has usual
is the advantage of surprise; he can Sc
lcct the time at which he makes an at
tack, and if his proceedings are carried
GA cautiously, he enters the house before
he is heard. Few men would, however,
venture to do so, unless they had pre-
viously good information as IN the in
terror arrangements OF the house this
they obtain either from the servants,
tradesmen, or some one who visits the
locality. or they come themselves as
tramps, or with some tritle to sell. There
are methods OF protecting a house, as
bells, bolts, bars, chains, locks, &c, all
of which require time and proper instru-
ments to overcome. 1t therefore occur
red 10 ne that novelty and simplicity
combined would be more than "a match
for the coarse intellect of a burglar, and
thus / made my plans, which you See, an
swered very we'll"
mo doubt about that" we replied.
well. now,c come up to my room." he
continued. land see the apparatus"
We entered his room, and there, close
beside his pillow, was a tin-box. in the
bottom of which was a 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 it goes through the
small hole in the sash; from there it
passes down to the back yard; and now
you will comprehend my plan. No man
can approach the house without coming
through the yard i therefore tied
across, about two teet from the ground
some fine black threads this was mad,
fast on one side, but slipped through a
loop and led up TO my window on the
other. The thread then passed through
the hole had bored in the window frame
and was made fast tothis key under the
key I placed this tin box you see. and
over the key was bar to prevent it be
ing dragged mp over six inches eacl
night l drew the string tight, and fasten
ed it In the yard, taking care to free i,
before morning, to keep the plan a Sc
cret. If then q man, or anything above
two feet high, walked up the yard, tn.
string WAS pressed against, the Ike,
drawn up sharply against the bar, snt
the string broken, when the kew. o
course, fell into the tin box, makinf
noise enough to wake me. ImmediatslS
the string broke, it would fall TO TN,
ground; and the person who had done al
this would not have felt anything, tn,
resistance being so slight. Town that
should have preferred horse hair TO thread
but as it was, the latter answered Yer,
well. / fell fast asleep, when the KEY
fell, but Immediately awoke, and cam,
to yen, for l knew that a man only in tn,
backyard could have dropped NV kew
So now you see how the burglars wer,
trapped, for you know all the rest"
Certainly, you succeeded. and so w,
ought not to be critical" we replied
"But suppose they had entered by tn,
front window, instead of by the back
how then 2"
"YOu see-this thread" he said, CRASH
ing one that was near the door pull it,
l did so, and immediately a tin cu]
dropped into the hand.basin.
"That thread goes down stairs, and i
fastened across the front window but
broke that off as / went out of Inv room
% that / shonld Not Impede my bourne,
down stairs. Thus I could know at ono
whether q man was approaching tn