Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1893-06-24
HLIDER'S ARREST.
How q Wealthy Banker Was In
geniously Swindled.

Billy Haven was no ordinary burglar.
His theory was that if a man wished
to make success of his profession, he
needed to use his brain rather than his
| muscle. 1t was all right enough, when
starting out to commit a burglary, to
take knife with you, or loaded club,
or pistol, but Billy claimed that the
doing of this showed lack of mental
ingenuity. Any muscular fool can
bludgeon the senses out of half
awakened householder aroused from his
first deep sleep by the noisy entrance
of thief through the kitchen window,
but bludgeoning Billy looked upon as
clumsy and unnecessary. The conse-
quence was that Billy, by strict atten-
| ton to business, and the endeavor to
please customers, soon began to
build up for himself an enviable repu-
taticn among the police. They never
caught sight of Billy or his pals, but
they always recognized his handiwork
| by the neatness and dexterity of it.
They did not even know his name, but
they called him among themselves Billy
Haven out of respect for the memory
of detective of that name, who was
especially good at tracking crimes of q
kind whose origin was obscure, and the
clew to which was not visible. They
1 said among themselves, when their at
| tention was first directed to the kind of
burglary the new burglar was doing,
that this was job Billy Haven would
like the unraveling of if he were alive,
and so they drifted on never getting a
| sight of the burglar, until the crimes
were called Billy Haven jobs, and final
| ly the unknown craftsman came to be
called Billy Haven.
At last these neat burglaries ceased
| and there We're no traces Of Billy for
| years. It is possible that the authori-
ties would never have known any par
ticulars about Blly's career if it had
| not been that a convict dying in one of
the prisons told about Billy's last and
successful coup, which enabled Haven
and his gang to retire into respectable
but monotonous private life.
Billy, it seems, had long looked with
hungering eyes on large mansion that
stood in a lonely part of a lonely sub
urb. 1t was entirely surrounded by a
high brick wall, and Billy felt that if
| he and his mates ever got inside that
mansion they could work in uninter-
| rupted security.
| Inquiry showed Billy that it was the
Il
banker, a man intimately connected
with numerous prosperous companies,
and a man of great reputed wealth.
The name of Slider was power in the
city. Billy's Investigations led him to
the knowledge that Mr.. Slider was a
most careful man, who had arranged
every electrical appliance then known
for the discovery of a burglar.
i
simple. He obtained the costume of a
police inspector for himself and the
clothes of an ordinary policeman for
each Of his four pals. He got, likewise,
a very good imitation of a warrant of
arrest, made out in the name of Mr.
Slider. Billy was the man of brains in
the gang, and the other four, realizing
this, did exactly as he told them. They
were in a perfect state of dicipline and
had the utmost confidence in Billy's in
genuity. The plan was this: They
were to obtain entrance into the house
at about nine o'clock in the evening, in
perfect legal form; the inspector was
to arrest Mr.. Sliden, who might, of
course, be indignant, but the conspira-
tors expected that the respect banker
has for the forms Of law at least insured
submission under protest; and while
the inspector stood guard over the ar
rested man, two of the alleged police
men were to be posted so that no one
could leave the house, even if Mr.. Slider
wanted to send q messenger away,
which was not likely, because of his
certainty that this was a mistake which
could easily be cleared up. The other
two alleged policemen could then
search the house under the protection
of bogus search warrant, and quietly
secrete all the valuables and money
they could lay their hands on. The in
spector then intended to tell Mr.. Slider
that, because of his protests, he would
not take him to jail, but that he must
understand that he was under arrest,
and that he might have to report to the
head officer when called upon to do so
This plan worked admirably up to 6
certain point, when Billy and his pals
were treated to Supplying surprise
The man at the porter's lodge trem
blingly admitted the officers of the law
into the grounds. He was then ordered
to lock the gates, which he did, and one
! of the officers took the key and re
manned in the porter's lodge with the
man and his wife, who were certainly
| very much frightened. Another police
man was left to guard the entrance t.
the house, while the bogus inspector
and the remaining policemen rang a
the front door. The person who ad
mitted them was also terrified at the
sight of their uniforms.
Billy asked If Mr.. Slider was at home
and was informed that he was in tn,
drawing-room. He then asked that h
and the officers might be shown ther,
without being announced.
Mr.. Slider was sitting in an easy chat
surrounded by his family. He turned
his head round, and when the doc
opened without the customary knock
and when he say the uniform of the in
spector CHASTITY pallor came over hi
face. Before the inspector could speak
he held out his hand and said:
Zone moment, please" Then turn
} ing to his wife, he remarked to her il
a low voice: ''Take the children IL