The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1895-10-25
TO SCARE BURGLARS i At.
A FEW DEVICES SOMEWHAT OUT OF
TIE COMMON RUN.

Are Not burglars, but There Is No Doubt
That Most of Them Arc Calculated to
Scare Every Time.
A little party of women, brought TO-
gethcr last week by family reunion
over Ill Brooklyn, had under debate "a
communication recently printed in Tho
Sun respecting domestic devices to serve
as burglar alarms.
eve believe in tin, said one "John
cut little groove like half of an anger
hole across the tops of the front and
BACK doors, few inches buck from the
outer edge, and before we go to bed we
poke into each one stick supporting
some old tinware on the extreme end.
a leaky watering pot, with some old
tin cups inside, hangs on one, and on
the other an old dishpan, with q couple
OF baking tins tied to it. So long as the
door stays shut nothing happens, but if
1T is pushed open the least mite of q
crack down comes tho tnware with
cIatter fit to wake up everybody in tho
ward. "
"That's all we'll enough for your
doors, but how about the windows? 4
thief can open one Of these new tangled
catches by poEing table knife up be-
tween the sashes, as easy as you'd sly
scat
But that wouldn't open our wiz
dows. John has bored holes slanting in
through the window casing into the
sashes and put long iron pins in them.
1t is just as if every window was nailed
fast, and burglar, to get in, would
have to cut away the whole SASH"
Did any of you over try newspa-
Ders?" asked another. "No? Well, let
me assure you, from my own experience.
there is nothing better Lay one or two
dry newspaper sheets in the lower hall
and pin couple on the stairs 1t is i'm
possible to step OH them without max
ing noise that, in the stiffness of
night, would surprise you if you never
tried 1t before. And you can't pick them
up or fold them or slide them ont of the
way or step over them without more
noise AS for the ones on the stairs,
they arc simply tho thief's despair Nv
husband laughed at mo when first put
them down, but within week, as it
happened, their efficacy was proved I
was awakened ono night by the rustling
of paper in the hall below and awoke
my husband. We lay quiet and listened.
Presently there was another rustic.
Then long silence. Then more rus
thing, and as the sound of it died away
we could hear somebody swearing in q
whisper. IL was so funny that nv hus-
band burst into a roar of laughter, and
the follow down stairs jerlSed the front
door open and fled"
81 don't think soaring burglar
away is enough punishment for him, -
commented an elderly woman. Gle
ought to be hurt somehow. Mr. 3.
thinks so, too, and his warm welcome
for the uninvited' is something that, as
he says, just about fills the bill The
bolts on our front door and the arc light
before it free us of all apprehensions of
attack from that direction, but twice
our house was entered by petty thieves
through tho back door, which faces @
dark garden and is in tho shadow of a
vine covered porch. The second time
inspired Mr.. B. with MI idea At one
side OF the door, about the height of
man S face, no fastened to tho wall n
sprlngy bamboo cane, with tin Gun
wired to its free end. During the day
it can be turned up Oh the wall out Of
the way, but at night, when he sets it
for business, it is sprung out about II
feet and held there by short stick and
figure 4 trigger SO set that opening
the door will trip it, The tin cup, I
omitted to mention, holds good ounce
or cayenne pepper.
For month after Mr. B. rugged
that contrivance up nothing happened,
and he was getting low spirited over
the neglect of the burglars to take note
of his new invention. Then, one night,
tho sharp 'spang' of tho cane against
the wall rang sharply all through the
house and woke us up That was fol
lowed immediately by language on the
back porch fit to make your blood run
cold. We got to the window in time to
SEQ two men i'll the garden, ono leading
the other, who was bowling and swear
ing terribly. We fancied that some of
the pepper had got into his eyes Before
MIR. b. could get his pistol they had
disappeared in the shrubbery, and we
have not been troubled since'
THAT trigger, set to go off when the
door was opened" remarked another
woman, reminds mo of a horrid thing
my husband brought home with him
from trip out west last year. 1t was
like pistol barrel, with long screw
ON one side for fixing it to the door
frame and long spring on the other to
project over the edge of the door A lit
tie touch would make the spring fall
hard on cap and fire the thing Off
The first night after Jack got home,
when Twas setting chair upside down
against the door, rs always did, he
stopped mo and Dut On his now controD