The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1879-10-28
Valuable Facts About Burglars by One
of Them.

A BOSTON burglar has been inter-
n viewed in prison, and gives away
the profession as follows: "First, L
generally make myself perfectly familiar
with the house and its occupants, locate
the sleeping rooms, and if possible, ascer-
tain who occupies them. Then l look
over the house and determine the best
place to make the "break." This is
immaterial, however, for men in my
line of work can get into anything in
the shape of building. The windowis
the easiest mode, and is the one general
ly tried first. We carry little steel
Jimmy, about fourteen inches in length,
pointed at one end and bent at an angle
on the other. This bend gives us
powerful pressure, and we can usually
pry open a window, tearing off the catch
gradually, SO that no noise is made
Should this fail, thin case knife can be
run up between the sashes, and in nine
cases out of ten the catch can be moved.
Sometimes, on windy night, we break
the glass, but this is seldom found neces-
sary. Sometimes we cut a panel, by
means of bit stock and little knife
blade set in it; but by far the easiest
mode is to take our nippers and, by
turning the key in the lock, open the
door; this, of course, provided that there
are no bolts upon the door. In forcing
heavy doors we sometimes use power
full jack, which never fails. Skeleton
keys also play no small part in our
work. On entering we look about leis-
urely, and generly regale ourselves with
a cold lunch, if we find any in the closet
or refrigerator. We pack up all the
solid silverware to be found, and some-
times are not too proud to carry away
little of the plated article. If there is
little or none of this in the house, we
pack up any good clothing we may find,
and if the weather is cool, slip into an
overcoat or other warm garment. In
our journey up stairs we enter every
room possible, and most always are
rewarded for our trouble by watch and
chain, money or jewelry. Any small
article of value that we can conveniently
carry away in our pockets generally dis
appears. Then we pass down stairs and
make up our bundle and skedaddle."
We have what is called a " "fence"-a
man to whom we carry all our ''swag,"
and who buys 1t of us, of course, at
comparatively low figure; but then, as
it costs us nothing, we don't complain.
The solid silver goes into the melting
pot, and is thus unrecognizable, while
the rest of the stuff is disposed of in
different ways. OF course most of our
house-brealxing is done in the suburbs,
for we couldn't crack house in the
city and get into the street with any
heavy plumber without being collared
before we had got a block. We lie
around until we get good diamond or
jewelry job that we can pocket and then
sail in. About the best thing I know
of is the burglar-alarm, and if we find a
house is provided with it we let it
alone.
We know we'll enough that man
finding us in his house has a perfect
right to kill us if he can. If he will
give us the slightest show of escape we
will dust, and almighty lively at that.
If he corners us, then he must look out
for resistance, and generally gets the
worst of 1t. Ifa strong bolt is placed on
the inside of sleeping room, in nine
cases out of ten that room will not be
troubled. We can unlock the door with
our nippers, but rather than force it
with our jimmy, and thus make noise
enough to awaken the sleeper, we pass
the apartment for one not provided with
bolt. A good set of tools will cost
5000 or $500. Our tools must be of the
finest steel, and tempered to just such a
degree, or they are good for nothing.
Some men have certain pieces in set,
while others have different ones. In
every set, however, you will find full
assortment of jimmies, skeleton keys,
jacks, levers, etc. We have certain
ways of getting our tools, and there are
certain men who make q business of
manufacturing them for us. 1t is rarely
that we pick up a set in any one place,
but it is more often that we gather our
collection from dozen different locali-
ties. OF course it is dangerous to have
them in our possession, for If detected
we are liable to long term of imprison-
ment, for it is State prison offence to
own or have set about you. However,
we take the risk, and sometimes pay
dear for it.