The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1878-12-12

u or weapons, We could see nothing. anJ
/ began 10 doubt whether our position
was AN agreeable one, Is | was armed
only with "A sword. 4 weapon | knew
how to use. whilst Of INV Friends
I means Of offence or defence ! knew
nDthing.t
J had not long to wait, for Il lucife
was struck 10y one the men Immediate
Is, and the room consequently lighted
up: at TIED my friend drew M
the slide Of the dark lantern, and
flashed the light Oh the faces Of tn,
two men, at the same time showing
the muZZle Of a revolver pointed To
ward them.
If either of yOU move, III put a cOu
pie Of bullets in him" said my friend
as he placed his back against the win
dow by which the men had entered
l"NOw drop that crOwbaT," he continued
in voice of authority; '-dOwn with it
and yOu,' he said to me, pull open th'
shutter and shout for the police"
The idea that is usually entertained
of a burglar is, that he is a man of
great size, strength and daring, and
/ that he would in an encounter annihi.
late anV moderate man. When, then
the light revealed the faces and forms
( of the men we had captured, our hum
ble self, although no great pugilist, yet
/ felt able to defeat either of them if il
| came TO a matter of fists; and / must
own that the pale and aStOnished faces
/ of the men were not indicative. of any
I great courage.
Our shout for police was shortly ans
wered; and the burglars having been
subdued by the sight Of the revolver,
/ the mUZZle of which pointed at first one
and then at the other, were captured
! by the police, three Of whom were
speedily on the spot, and conveyed to
! the lookup; whilst we and a detective
I who had come down from London some
days previously, examined the details
by which the men had effected an en-
| trance.
"YOu were very lucky TO hear them,
especially on such a night, when once
they are in they move like mice. We
know them; and ! expect they'll get
seven years"
The man was near about correct, for
one, the old offender, was sentenced to
six, the other five years penal SerYi-
tUde.
1T will, l suppose, be of no use try
NIX " DlNE u tlr7fAAAA lD-lAAElAls 4bl II ID
three o'clock" said my friend.
Il cannot sleep" was my reply; "and
/ am dying to hear how you found out
these men were approaching the
| house"
Being, then, of one mind, we partly
rObed ourselves, lighted a fire in the
kitchen, and soon being provided with
| cigars and grOg, got very comfortable,
and satisfied with our work. My
! friend then began his account, which
he gave much in the following words
'The burglar, rs / told you, has
usually the advantage of surprise; he
can select the time at which lie makes
his attack, and if his proceedings are
carried on cautiously. he enters 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 come themselves as
tramps, or with some trifles to sell.
Thus, if there are bells attached
to doors or windows they find
it out; and they know tOler-
ably well the domestic ar
rangements Of the locality they pur-
pose training their skill upon. There
are, too, conventional methods of pro-
tecting 4 house, such as bolts, bars,
chains, locks, etc, all of which require
merely time and proper instruments to
overcome. 1t therefore occurred to
me that novelty and simplicity would
be more than match for the coarse
intellect of a burglar, and thus | made
my plans, which, you see, answered
very we'll
No doubt about that" we replied"
We'll, now, come To my rOOm," he
continued, -.Hd see the apparatus"
We entered his room. and there, close
beside his pillow, was Il tin box, in the
bottom of which was Il key.
This is nearly all the apparatus" he
said; but yuH notice some thread
fastened tO the key; trace that thread
and You will find that it passes through
that small hole in the sash; from there
il goes down to the back yard; and
now you will comprehend my plan. |
knew that no man could approach the
back part Of the hOuSe without walk
ing up the back yard. 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 fast on
one side, but Slipped through loop,
and led up TO my window 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 l placed the tin box,
you see; and over the key was bar, to
prevent its being dragged up more
than six inches. Each night, before |
went to bed, Just drew the string
tight, and fastened it in the ward, tax
ing care TO free it before morning, so
as TO keep the plan a secret. If then, a
man, or anything above two feet high,
walked up the ward, 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 box, making quite noise
enough to wake me. Immediately the
string or thread broke, it would fall to
the ground; and the person who had
done ali this WOuld not have felt ANY,
thing, the resistance being very slight
| must own that | should have pre-
ferred hOrse-h5tiT To thread, but as ii
was, the latter answered very well. |
was fast asleep when the KEY fell, but
Immediately awOke. and taking my
lantern outside nv door, lighted il, and
came 10 you, for | knew that 4 man
only in the back ward could have
dropped my key. so now yOu see how
the burglars were trapped, and YOU
know all the rest.
Certainly, you succeeded. so we
ought not to he critical" / replied.
but suppose they had entered by the
front window, instead of 10y the back,
how then:'
you see this thread" he said, grasp
ing one that was near the door, pull
il"
L did SO, and Immediately Il tin cup
dropped into the hand basin.
That thread goes down stairs, and
is fastened across the front window,
but | broke that off as / went out of
my room, SO that il should not impede
nv journey down stairs. Thus / could
at once know whether a man was ap-
preaching the back door or had entered
by the front window, and in either case
] think l could have captured him."
Simplicity had certainly been adopt
ed in the present case, but the means
had shown themselves to be sufficient.
L NbIAC oAN usually hNlh cAAlNs NblL-
tinued our friend, when thev hear. or
think they hear suspicious noises of a
fight. The first thing they usually do
is to light a candle, which proclaims 10
the rObber that he has been heard. and
must escape; then they 90 about the
house with this candle. and make a
great noise, so that a man NAV have
plenty of time to get away, or 10 hide
himself. Instead of this. if a person
were Io listen intently, he would be
able TO hear any suspicious noises dis
tinctly, ana decide upon their cause; I;
then, as he must know his own house
better than rObber, he is the better off
of the two in thedark and when, having
armed himself, he has quietly opened
his door, he may wait and listen until
the robbers are heard moving about.
when he may take SUch stems as seem