The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1876-11-16
A Successful Burglar Of 20 Years
Sland,ng---Two hu ,dred Thousand
Dollars in a SiDoie Haul.

over door which happened to b,
loose, and which fell with him to The
pavement. breaking in his skull. He
has siuce beeu identified as Charles
Dennis, alias "Troy" Dennis, n noted
honse.burglar, whose exploits were
numerous and daring This man
was known to p,ssess q remarkable
igility, an attribute which helped
him in seating walls which, 10 ordiu-
iry burglars, wJuli have appeared
iu 'urnouutable except with The as.
sis'ancc of ladder. The thorough
manner 10 which he accomplished his
numerous theits, aud secured him-
self from detection, lei tho police TO
form the belief that he had made a
study Of his art, aud that 10 bringing
him TO jrs,ic, no common means
.bonid be employed. HIS agility en-
ablcd him to gain access to houses
by means of climbing gntter.p pes to
second story windows. On entering
a room he would always first l,ck
the door noislessly. anl than set a.
bout ronsacsing the apart mept. A
noise Mt tho door never alarmed him.
tor persons on finding il locked would
not have their su'picious aroused,
thinking that some other inmato Of
the house hal Inadvertently fastened
il. In this manner" Troy" conmit-
ted many robberics without detection.
aud, Notwithstanding tho fact that hs
was macy times arrest Ell on suspicion,
generally managed to escape the
penalty. IIe was well knosn 10 the
members of the detective forcc, aui
when, in July, 1870, Mr Nuhen W US
ioully murdered 10 his mansion 10
West Twcnty-third street, "iroy"
would have been arrested ON suspic ion
if he had not been at tha, time serv.
ing term # tive years in SIN! Sing
prison fJr bursIarv Committed in
Brook lyn-thc only one of which the
authorities were ever ablc To con.
vict him Troy" wa, f,rty-six
years old when b. met his tragic
death. and a: least twenty years OF
Lis lite we're speot in pirs,ing the
vocation of thief TO the exc,u.i-u Ot
all lcgitimitc employment. Oie Of
MS most extensive robberlcs was com
mittcd on March %, 1856, when. aid =
el by Hugh Carr, aIils Kew "
Carr, au accomplished sneak thief, be
entered the residence OF Mr. j. p.
Moor, retired merchant. at NJ llO
Madison avenue, and succeeded 10
stealing, iu ndditi n to one thousand
Two hundred dollars worth Of old
family jcwe'ry, box c,utainins two
hundred thonsani doilirs worth Of
securities, incIudiug sixty thousand
dollars 10 negotiable bonds, seventy
United States bonds, api thiriy-ioir
treasury notes, Mr.. Moor, on discov-
,ring his losses. advertised them cx-
tcnsivcly, offering II reward of fifteen
thousand dollars Tor the rctlrn OF the
property. The police worked nssid
uous!y IN the case, Captain Young,
oi the detective force ard Detectives
Jordan aud Kelso having bcen csp'-
cn!ly assigned to devote their eni,re
attention 10 it. These officers soop
traced the stolen bonds To u person
known NJ "C,loncl' Morrison. who
then kp' a jcwclry store and fence
at NJ. 80 Hudson street. Morri-
son, on being taken into custody by
Detective FL Ter, agreed /, iLIuc, the
ncgotiators Of the bonds to visit his
[ .y,th tl,a -
the houis hut although this plan
succeeded SO far as leadlpg to tho ar-
rest Of Troy Dennis and hugh Carr.
no bonds of any description we're
found on thor persons They were,
however, urraigned before Justice
DowliDg. at the t,mbs police court,
where Dennis was defended by Mr..
John Graham. Through some means
which, il is alleged, were not wholly
devoid OF trickcry on tho part of the
prosecution, a n"Ile rroseque was en-.
tered in favor Of the three men, ond
they were discharged, Scarcely had
Troy Dennis rc.nined his frreiou,
when he resumed his ci iimiual career
While he was lodged in the tomb.
prison Troy's landlady, on arranging
his bed one day, found hidden under
the mattress some Of the stolen bonds
which she handed over TO the po-
liece, Thus forty.three thousand
dollars worth of Mr., Moors proper
ty was recovered, and that gentle
man on its receipt presented Cap
tain Young with check for six
thousand six hundred and sixty dol.
lars and thirty-one cents, which wa 9
subsequently divided by the police
board among the officers who had
been engaged in the case. After
Escaping from the clutches of the
authorities for perhaps the twentieth
time, "'rory" Dennis operated prin-
Icipallyin Brooklyn. where he was
frequently arrested, bnt not convict-
ed until 1869. when he was detected
by sergeant of police in the act Of
entering house though the second
story window, The sergeant per-
mitted the robber to pillage the
place, but when Story" sought to
retreat through the front door he
saw the barrel Of q pistol pointed at
his head. lie surrendered quietly
and was soon afterward convicted
and sent to the state prison for q
term Of five years, which he served.
Dennis usually associated with John