Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-07-08

showed lack of mental ingenuity
Any muscular fool can bludgeon tn,
senses out of half-awakened house
holder aroused from his first deep sleel
by the noisy entrance of a thief through
the kitchen window, but bludgeoninl
Billy looked upon as clumsy and un
necessary. The consequence was tina
Billy, by strict attention to business
and the endeavor to please customers
soon began to build up for himself al
enviable reputation among the police
They never caught sight of Billy or hi
pals, but they always recognized hi
handiwork by the neatness and dexter
ity of it. They did not even know hi
name, but they called him anon;
themselves Billy Haven out of respec
for the memory of detective of tina
name, who WAS especially good a
tracking crimes of kind whose origin
was obscure, and the clue to which wa
not visible. They said among them
selves when their attention was frs
directed to the kind of burglary tn,
new burglar was doing, that this was
job Billy Haven would like the unrav
cling of if he were alive, and SO the,
drlfted on, never getting sight of til,
burglar, until the crimes were called
Billy Haven jobs, and finally the I'm
known cracksman came to be called
Billy Haven.
Asa general thing, where Billy Haver
was at work, the inmates of the house
never knew robbery had been com
mitted until next morning. Billy anC
his gang left almost no trace of then
visit except the disappearance of III,
most valuable things in the residence
At last these neat burglaries ceased
and there were no traces of Billy fur
years. 1t is probable that the authori-
ties would never have known any par
ticulars about Billy's career, if it haG
not been that convict dying il
one of the prisons told about Billy.
last and successful coup, which enabled
Haven and his gang to retire into re
spectacle, but monotonous private
life.
Billy, it seems, had long looked
with hungering eyes on lal ge man
sion that stood in lonely part of &
lonely suburb. 1t was entirely sur
rounded by high brick wall, and
Billy felt that If he and his mates ever
got inside that mansion they could
work in uninterrupted security.
Inquiry showed Billy that il was the
residence of Mr.. Slider, the we'll
known banker, man intimately con
nected with numerous prosperous
companies, and man of great re-
puted wealth. The name of Slider was
n power i'll the clty Billy's investiga-
tions led him to the knowledge that
MIR. Slider was most careful man. who
had arranged every electrical appliance
then known for the discovery of 4
burglar. He appeared to realize that
if once a burglar got entrance into the
big house, the family would be, com
paratively speaking, ut his mercy; and
SO it was that every window was pro
tected by half dozen different de-
vices. The door-mats and windows
were so arranged that after everybody
went to bed the lightest football on
any of them would light all the electric
lamps in the house would ring IA large
bell in the tower would telegraph r.
warning to the nearest police station,
and would set more gongs ringing all
over the place than burglar who was
Mt all nervous cared to hear.
Billy realized, then, that the
ordinary methods would have ten
dency to fail if applied to the big
house standing IN its own extensive
grounds, and so he resolved that when
he and his pals entered the house il
would be by the door, and not by one
of the windows, and it would be at II
time when the family had not retired
to rest.
Billy's plans, when matured, were
very simple. He obtained the costume
of police inspector for himself and
the clothes of an ordinary policeman
for each of his four pals. He got,
likewise, very good imitation of a
warrant of arrest, made out in the
pane of Mr. Slider Billy was the man
of brains i'll the gang. and the other
four, realizing this, did exactly as he
told them. They were in perfect
state of discipline and had the utmost
confidence in Billy's ingenuity. The
plan was this: They were to obtain
entrance into the house at about nine
o'clock in the evening, III perfect legal
form the inspector was to arrest Mr..
Slider, who might, of course, be in
1ignant, but the conspirators expected
that the respect banker has for the
forms of law at least insured submis-
sion under protest and while the in
spector stood guard over the arrested
man, two of the alleged policemen
were to be posted SO that no one could
leave the house, even if Mr.. Slider
wanted TO send a messenger away,
which was not likely, because of his
certainty that this was mistake
which could easily be cleared up. The
other two alleged policemen could then
search the house under the protection
)f II bogus search warrant, and quietly
,ecrete all the valuables and money
that they could lay their hands on.
The inspector then intended to tell Mr..
Slider that because of his DrOtests he