The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1888-10-18

his operations he is rarely ever dis
covered. He is not considered a first.
class man by the professional cracks
man because he is as much of q sneak
as he is burglar. Wholesale jewellers,
furriers and other firms who frequent
ly have their places of business in up
per stories of houses are selected a;
victims. The key-titter usually
operates in gangs of three. He will
approach an employee of the firm to be
victimized carrying a tin box or q
valise and pretending to have an Office
in the same building. Politely he asks
if the person approached has Il key to
fit the box or valisc, he himself hav-
ing lost the opening sesame" IL
nine cases out of ten n bunch of keys
is produced. and while the kcy-titter
pretcnds to try them his stalls
or assistants come in and divert
the attention OF the employee
or business man long enough
to permit the man who had the
box take as many impressions from
the keys on the bunch as are consid-
cred necessary for the subsequent rob-
berry. The impression is generally
taken on a substance made from fresh
beeswaX, oil and lampblack. From
these impressions the expert key-titter
readily makes the keys required. The
balance Of the operation is easy.
"Ncranda climbers are closely re-
lated to the key-tittcr as sneakS. They
usually operate at dusk when the oc-
cupants of the dwelling chosen are at
their evening meal. The climbers
kit contains a small jimmy, Il couple
OF I rev or skeleton keys. a few
wooden wedges and Il palette knife. He
wears rubbers or wooden stockings
over his shoes, dresses in dark clothes
and frequently wears a false beard.
Two men work together-one does the
climbing and the other the watching.
While houses with porches or verandas
in the rea are preferred, a simple
coping over the door is sufficient Il
give the climber or ''cat' the necss
sary hold, the assistant rendering help
by Il lift. If the climber encounters
II catch on se~cond-Story window he
the palette-knife between the
window frames and throws back
the fastening. If the catch is 50 con:
that the knife can not throw it
back the jimmy is used underneath
the lower sash and pried upward,
breaks the catch. The window
then easily lifted. Should the win
dow cord be broken a wood
is pressed in between
and frame to keep the
window open. All this can be done by
a skillful thief in a few minutes. Be
fore beginning his search for booty
the doors leading to the entry or hall
arc bolted ~ locked. If there is
neither bolt nor lock the door is kept
by a wooden wedge. This is
done to prevent surprise by the occu-
pants Of the place. The trying OF the
doors by the occupants gives the
worker Il chance to get out Of the win
dow and away before the alarm can be
Breaking store windows for the pur-
pose Of robbery has been reduced to a
system Of which few people are aware.
1t is a bold piece OF work and requires
/ MAI Of nerve. The old method WIS
TO smear molasses or wax on the VIM
dow pane, v it with paper and
in the glass. The sticking mate |
'ial prevented the piece, from falling
md making a noise. The large plate
glass windows now in universal use
leC"sSitate another mode Of breaking.
The sharp end of a threc-rOrncrcd file
S inserted between the wood work and
he lower end Of the pane and u quick
Of the file splits the glass. The
broken piece is quickly pried out with
)ut much noise. Some window-smash-
srs carry i'm iron plate having a han
lie like a shield on one side and a
sharp projecting iron rod on the
'ther. This is pushed against tie
window. breaks in the glass and leaves
IN opening large enough to secure a
rood grip at the contents exposed for
'hOw.-Chicago Times.