The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-12

jumped 70 the pavement below. He
was taken mp I'm horribly mangled condi-
ton, alive but unconscious. and conveyed to
the hospital. When conoiousness returned
he refused 70 give his name or any account Of
himself, except that he had but recently
arrived In ine city. having been in prison in
another State previously. After his death,
which occurred within week, il was ascer-
tained that he was the only brother Of one of
our prominent city officials.
A favorite ruse Of housebreal<ers Is TO break
out Of place instead Of into Il. This is done
by one Of the gang oontrving, during the
business hours Of the day, TO secrete himself
in some snug corner Of the premises, and at
given signal at night TO open the way for
his confederates TO enter. The opportunities
for practising this species Of burglary, though
comparatively few do sometimes occur.
There are in all large cities great numbers
OF juvenile vagabonds who are ready 70 COM
NIT any species Of crime, from piliering apples
from a streetstand to highway robbery. The
tenement-houses OF New York, occupied by
the outscourings Of the four quarters of the
globe, are especially prolific Of these young
depredatOrs. Many OF these are expert house
breakers, who bestow their attention more
particularly upon dwellings which are tempo
rarily bereft Of occupants or which are in
course of erection. They are organized into
gangs Of from six to ten, the ages Of the MEM
eighteen years. They are the boys who loiter
about the streetcorners, shabbily dressed,
swearing, drinking, scutlling, and insulting
passers in the daytime, and in the evening
performing their more criminal work. The
gangs are organized to ''workn particular
neighborhoods, and they speedily become
familiar with every dwellng-house store
mandatory, and workshop in their district.
Their richest harvest is made in the summer,
tn 10 In,
block. A gang of juveniles, having anxiously
watched the summer fitting from the houses
in the district of which it has burglarious
charge, prepare to ego through the dwellings
of the absentees. Armed with skeleton KEYS
and other implements of their trade the iuve-
niles assemble at night by instalments in the
vicinity of the house selected for initiating
their enterprise If the skeleton keys obtain
them admission, well and good; if not they
resort to the backyard, where they are less
liable to be observed. They are sure to gain
an entrance in some way-by forcing shutters
or breaking windows, or climbing fences and
walls to the second-story windows. Some-
times the smallest of their number is crowded
through a fan-lght or transom-windew, or
showed down the coal-hole; one of them once
inside, the doors are opened for the remainder
The house in their possession, they ransack it
from top to bottom, carrying off such "swag''
as they desire, and in some instances return
ing night after night.
Two summers ago policeman, while on his
post at night near st. Johns Park, saw light
shining through the shutters of dwelling
house, which he knew to have been closed by
its owner while he rustcated with his family
at the sea-shore. The officer obtained assist
ance, took the responsibility of forcing the
door, and proceeded to an investigation of the
premises. In the dining-room everything was
found in the greatest disorder. table, loaded
with dishes and the remains of hearty meal.
occupied the centre of the ROOM while the
floor was covered with broken trunks, wearing
apparel, and conglomerate mass of house,
hold goods. From cellar to garret the house
had been rummaged, while on the roof three
juvenile thieves were discovered hiding behind
the chimneys. 1t was ascertained that these
boys, the oldest of when was scarcely six
teen, belonged to gang consisting of seven,
and that for two weeks they had made
this house their headquarters. Two other
houses in the same block being vacant, they
had entered them by passing over the roofs of
the intervening dwellings and forcing the
scuttles. These two houses were found to
have been robbed in manner similar to the
first. Whatever plunder they fancied, had
been taken away and converted into cash
through the medium of those receivers of
stolen goods who find a profit in anything,
from penny whistle to a grand piano.
Every professional burglar of mature age
has mistress, and she not unfrequently con
tributes to the general fund by her dexterity
in criminal pursuits. Some of them are pick
pockets, others shoplifters, and others are of
that still more degraded class to whom virtue
and chastity are unknown. More frequently
they are the deceived victims of their lovers,
taken from among the poor working girls of
our large manufactures. Sometimes the
burglar finds his sweetheart among the nurses
or the chambermaids, who serve so innocently
in the home circle, and often, when Bridget
says her cousin" is visiting in the kitchen,
she would speak more correctly were she
to say that her burglarious lover was
taking observations preparatory to paying
your domlcile nocturnal visit, with
"single eye'' to the spoons. Bur-
glars mistresses frequently render valua-
BILE assistance to their lords by disposing of
their stolen property. Women are naturally
shreWd at bargain, and pretty "moll' will |
Wheedle out Of the receiver a better price for
goods than could the burglar himself. Some
times they are used to "pipe" a place, the |
robbery OF which is contemplated, to ascertain |
the habits and customs of the occupants of |
the premises. The female sex is not gene |
rally considered equal to the responsibility of |
keeping secret, but a burglars 'moll'' will |
suffer almost any punishment rather than |
betray the gang to which she and her |
lover belong. Jealousy will sometimes |
cause them to do this, but when it |
does repentance speedily follows the betrayal, |
and the woman will then contradict |
herself to such an extent as to deprive her |
testimony OF all weight. Burglars are, as a |
oil IN tl,.s, ,s..s.l -