The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-11-26
From the Hartford Times, Nov. 3.
A SCIENTIFIC AND PHILO-
Sophie BURGLAR,

sophie BURGLAR.
A Notorious Cracksnan Makes a
| Curious Revelation.
| The elder of the two burglars who are
lying in Hartford Jail. for the $1,000
robbery in silks at Brown. Thompson
q Co.'S. is evidently one of the most ex-
perienced and accomplished profession
al burglars in the United States. He is
very self-possessed, and very frank in
talking about his operations. though he
refuses to let it be known who he is
His pretended name of Jim Wilson" is
undoubtedly not his real name. To
show what manner of man he is, we will
relate conversation which he had this
morning, with one of the proprietors
of the store he had robbed It was
found that he needed some undercloth-
ing, and he was, therefore, taken from
the Jail to Brown, Thompson & Co s. to-
day, to purchase the required goods
After making the purchases, he was in
vited by Mr.. Brown to sit down. and
answer question or two as to how he
succeeded in getting into the store on
the night ofthe burglary, dc. He read
lily complied; and this is the substance
of his revelations:
had been in Hartford for some weeks /;
| had looked in, in my way, at all ofthe
leading dry goods houses in the city.
carefully noting the amount and value
of their stocks, their mode of business,
habits of proprietors and clerks, and q
great many other things in my line
after looking at all l selected yours as
having as valuable stock as any, per-
haps the most so, and because. moreov-
er, I could ''work it up" certainly and
safely.
@. How did you know the value of
| the stock and where the silks were? a.
Oh, the newspapers, see, say that it
was mystery how we should be able
to go right to the silks. Nonsense. No
| mystery at all. I can go straight to the
silks in any large establishments, here
or in New York. for they always keep
their silks under the sky-light. If the
store has an extension of only one story
on purpose for sky-light. | always
know that there are the silks, 10 matter
what city the store is in.
@. How did you get in? A. We
squeezed in through the little hole be-
tween the sign on your show window
and the head of the grating below it.
! and went in through the cellar door.
| Q. | should hardly have thought it
| possible to get Through that place. ]
| remember the door, though it was lock
ed, had been little sprung in getting
in and out boxes of goods. How did
you get it open?
4. Oh. easy, easy. If it had been a
cast-iron door we should have gone in
| for we had the tools to do it with We
know you, Mr.. Brown, and your habits
what time you go home. low many
clerks. porters and cash-boys you en-
ploy. | came by the store early one
| morning when it was few minutes
late in opening. and there was crowd
of porters, clerks and cash-boys waiting
to get in. 1 knew you were always full
| OF customers. and 1 knew that no store
would keep so many cash-boys unless
it was doing a large business. I knew
what time you shut up at evening. and
L knew that your habit is not to come
back to the store again. Some of these
other merchants come back from home
after closing, and go about town, and
now and then take Il look at the store
to see if all is right. You don't; when
you go home you stay there.
Q. But don't you think it rather rough
on two young men, who have only been
in business two years, starting with
small capital, and cannot afford a loss,
to break into a store and rob them OF
eight or ten thousand dollars, when
there are other stores that would scarce
ly feel the loss !? A. Yes, by -! and
if | had known that, we would have
never touched your shop! You may
smile, and not believe me; but tell
you, honestly, that there is as much
honor and respect for fair play among
our folks as there is with anybody.
1t appears that this cool burglar. who
ever he is, has broken out of two jaiis
and one State prison. if he can be be-
lieved. He said in the above convers;l-
ton, They would never have given
me a chance to get bail here in your
Hartford Police Court if they had
known who l was" [The two had just
been committed this morning in default
of $500 each.l
Wilson, or whoever he is. has lost
about half of Cne foot. as he says from
freezing, and has to walk with cane.
He is tail man, with high, intelli-
gent forehead, piercing black eye.
which he is in the habit of turning sud-
denly and furtively upon one with
whom he talks, and Jet black hair and
wiskers, no moustache. He pleads hard
for his companion who he says is green
at the business and was led into it Who'll
ly by himself. He says he will take the
punishment of both himself if they will
let off his friend.
''Were you in the fight, Sam p in
quired white man of colored
veteran.
'sHad little taste of it, Sab"