Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-12-20
TO SCARE BURGLARS.
A FEW DEVICES SOMEWHAT OUT
OFTHE COMMON RUN.

! A FEW DEVICES SOMEWHAT OUT
OF THE COMMON RUN.
They May Happen TO Brighten PeO-
pie Who Are Not Burglars, but
There Is No Doubt That Most of
Them Arc Calculated 10 Scare
Every Time.
A little party of women, brought to-
gether last week by family reunion
over in Brooklyn, had under debate a
communi alton recently printed in
The Sun respecting domestic devices
to serve as burglar alarms.
| ave believe in tin" said one. "JOhn
cut little groove like half OF an auger
hole across the tops OF the front and
back doors, few inches back from the
! outer edge, and before we 60 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 a couple
of baking tins tied to it. So long as
the door stays shut nothing happens,
but if it is pushed open the least mite
OF a crack down comes the tinware
with clatter fit to wake up every
body in the ward"
"Thats all we'll enough for your
doors, but how about the windows? A
thief can open one OF these new tangled
catches by poking table knife up be.
tween the sashes, as easy as you'd say
scat"
But that wouldn't open our win
dows. John has bored holes slanting
in through the window casing into the
sashes aud put long iron pins in them.
1t is just as if every window was
nailed fast, and a burglar, to get in,
would have to cut away the whole
SASH"
Did any OF you ever try news
papers?" asked another. "No? Well,
let me assure you, from my own ex-
perience, there is nothing better. Lay
one or two dry newspaper sheets in
the lower hail and pin couple on the
stairs. 1t is impossible to step on
them without making noise that, in
the stiffness of night, would surprise
you if you never tried it before. And
you cant pick them up or fold them
or slide them out OF the way or step
over them without more noise. As
for the ones on the stairs, they are
simply the thiel's despair. My husband
laughed at me when first put them
down, but within a week, as it hap
pened, their efficacy was proved. /
was awakened one night by the rust
ling of paper in the hall below and
awoke my husband. We lay quiet and
listened. Presently there was another
rustic. Then a long silence. Then
more rustling, and as the sound OF it
died away we could hear somebody
swearing in q whisper. 1t was so
funny that my husband burst into a
roar OF laughter, and the fellow down
stairs jerked the front door open and
fed"
81 don't think soaring a burglar
away is enough punishment for him"
commented an elderly woman. "He
ought to be hurt somehow. Mr.. B.
thinks so, too, and his warm welcome
for the unlimited 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 ap-
prehensions of attack from that di.
rection, but twice our house was
entered by petty thieves through the
back door, which faces q dark garden
and is in the shadow of vine covered
porch. The second time inspired Mr.
B. with an idea. At one side OF the
door, about the height OF a mans face
he fastened to the wall a springy bam-
boo cane. with tin cup wired to it,
free end. During the day it can be
turned up on the wall out of the way
but at night, when he sets it for bust
ness, it is sprung out about II feet snt
held there by short stick and &
figure A trigger so set that opening
the door will trip it. The tin cup,
omitted to mention. holds a goot
ounce of cayenne pepper.
"For month after Mr.. B. rigget
that contrivance up nothing happened
and he was getting low spirited ovel
the neglect OF the burglars to take
note OF his new invention. Then, on,
night, the sharp 'spang' of the can,
against the wall rang sharply al
through the house and woke us up
That was followed Immediately by Ian
guage on the back porch fit to make
your blood run cold. We got to the
window in time to see two men in The
garden, one leading the other, who
was bowling and swearing terribly
We fancied that some OF the pepper
had got into his eyes. Before Mr.. B
could get his pistol they had disap
peared in the shrubbery, and we hav,
not been troubled SINCE"
"That trigger, set to 60 off wher
the door was opened" remarked
another woman, reminds me of 6
horrid thing my husband brought
home with him from trip out wes
last year. 1t was like pistol barrel
with long screw On one side for fix