Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1884-02-13
THE ART OF BURGLARY.
Morals and Methods Of nn Enterpris'ng
HUusebreaker.


Morals and Methods Of nn Enterpris'ng
House brea kei.
"Neyer kill man save in self-defense;
get caught rather than drop a man.
was the prudent method of celcbrat-
ed cracksman. "Gts only the tyro or
the bungler who hourishes revolvers
and quickly appeals to the bludgeon,
"What is the prime quality in your
business?'
"Nerve--nothing else
"What is the best method?"
Goodness Many a job have | done
right before the eyes of the people;
done it just as though it was the reg
ular thing, and was just where /
ought to be. have had my pal tax
ing things out of a house when cou-
pie of cops were walking by, and l
stood with a pencil in my hand keep
ing tally of the things They thought
it was all right, as looked right at
them, | tell you person wants to
keep perfectly cool, and know what
he is doing, and what he is going to
do, every time.
"The right kind of men are some
how lacking They are either too
timid or too rough. It wants fine
man, real Damascus blade, to do /
neat job, There are plenty of oppor-
tunitics, if there were only the men to
fill them. But | was speaking of
chances, The people are asleep; you
are awake. They are timid; you are
perfectly cool. You know just what
to do. You know Just what they will
doif they wake up They don't know
how many are in the house, nor where
you are. Most people are towards in
the night. Without any odds you
could get the Lest of them, but in the
night, with the bugbear and the reali-
ty of burglar in the house-and they
have spent ali the years of their lives
in working up dreadful fellow in
their imagnatjons--in such plight,
mans house is like a foreign land to
him, and he is perfect stranger to
the situation in his own home"
"Then you trust most to bewilder-
nent and fear
"No, we don't. A good job means
getting in and out again without STIR
ring things up. If it comes to the
worst, then the dread and fear and
confusion which we cause all help us,
and sometimes the more fuss there is
the easier we can get off. y
"How do you feel when you are
alone in house at midnight running
such terrible risks"
"There, now, you have got about as,
much nonsense into that question as
they usually do. In the first place,
midnight is not the usual hour when
a houseis worked Things are not so
quiet then as they are two hours la
ter. And then, if it were midnight
what of it? Midnight, except to COW
ards, is not different from any other
hour, only as it is a great deal safer
for those like us. Alone in a house? {?
1t is little shaky at times, but gener-
ally safe enough; but that isn't
the way house is generally worked.
There Should be two, and three are
better. Terrible risks? We don't
think of it in that light. There is
something always fascinating in the
risk, and it isn't considered obiectiOna.
bic. What do we think? How do we
feel? Now, look here, there isn't
much time nor occasion for thinking
and feeling outside the job to be done.
Your sentimental chaps don't want to
be prowling about nights on any of
these delicate 'rackets.' The man
who is going TO stop in a bedroom of
a strange house at > o'clock at night
to consult his feelings had better keep
out of that bedroom. The man who
proposes to enter this profession wants
to run slow on the thinking and feel
ing line, especially when on duty"