Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1895-02-28

~ take up bur
glary as a side
line in the winter. Burglars of this
class are seldom. as bold and never az
slzillful as the regular practitioners. 1t
was probably one of these burglars
who broke up the ladies' card party on
Lake avenue the other evening.
To the feminine mind, generally, If
there is anything among fierce wild
animals more terrible than the mouse
it is the burglar. The card party seems
to have been an average assembly in
this respect, for the ladies shrieked and
stampeded, and the visitor got away.
1t was fortunate for him that there
was no one among them who had the
ceolness displayed by the woman who,
while arranging her hair preparatory
to going to bed. saw the reflection of
man in her mirror. He was hidden
just where she had always heard Of
burglars hiding-under the bed. She
calmly went on arranging her hair,
and then, having laid all her valua bles
in her jewel box, walked over and put
them on a shelf in the wardrobe, care
lessly leaving the door ajar. She left
the room for a moment and returned
suddenly, just in time to see the thief
step inside the wardrobe. Then,
of course, she did the obvious thing.
When the door was unlocked again he
was hauled out by two big policemen,
badly frightened and half smothered.
Another case where a thief hid under
the bed and came to grief happened on
Ohio street during the worlds fair,
when the town was full of the light
fingered gentry, He had been shadow
ing a wealthy downtown business man
for more than a week His plan was TO
slip into the house in the evening by
following the owner home, hide, and
later in the night rob the place He
followed his intended victim several
times, as he confessed after his cap
ture, but always encountered police
man somewhere in the neighborhood
and was afraid to go any farther. At
last he succeeded in getting in, how
ever. when the front door was left un-
locked through the carelessness of a
servant, and making his way upstairs
went into n room and hid under the
bed. This happened to belong to the
LHO Ol TIC l4OAotAAO4AA. 4 AlC
bed was low and the intruder passed
several uncomfortable hours until about
ten o'clock, when the young ladies
came upstairs. They had devoted
themselves assiduously to athletic ex-
ercises while at school, and usually had
a romp before retiring. On this oc-
casion they got into an unusually lively
pillow fight The burglar became so
absorbed in the issue of the combat
that he made an involuntary movement
to obtain better view and in so doing
betrayed himself
maud, there's somebody under this
bed!" cried one of the girls, but instead
of running away, as she would be sup
posed to do under such circumstances,
she dropped on one knee, and, find
ing her suspicious confirmed, seized
him by one foot, while her sister,
equally undaunted, took hold Of the
other and they, dragged him out into
the middle of the floor, at the same
same time shouting in high soprano
voices:
"Papa"
'Policev
Burglar
"Papal'
Papa came, and, after awhile, the po-
lice, and among them the burglar was
captured. He is now at Joliet.
Still another instance in which a
housebreaker owed his capture to a
plucl1y woman is found in the police
annals of Omaha. Mrs Mccormick,
wife Of prominent real estate man,
H.. Nsy.rr
about eight o'clock, after brief visit
to q neighbor, saw man just turning
on the landing at the head OF the stair
way. She thought it was her nephew,
who had forgotten something while on
his way down town, and had returned
after it, So she called TO him, and
asked him why he had not gone 20 the
city.
Forgot my watch, came back from
the man upstairs, who, whatever his
other qualifications for his work, was
clearly lacking in imagination.
The idea was so improbable and the
voice sounded 50 odd that Mrs Nc
Cormick, who was all alone In the
house except for a couple Of maid scrv-
ants who were In another part of the
Hph5tf bAhl t'h UP LiiN 'itAii n. ''iiN AAASS
the man just as he was coming down.
Taking his cue from her previous ques-
tion, he tried to put on a bold front,
and said that he had been sent by
Bob" to get his watch and some other
things.
'I'm friend of Boos, " he added reas-
suringly.
"No, you're not. You're Il burglar
and you shall not leave this house.
said Mrs. Mccormick, as she seized him
by the lapcls Of bis coat. She confessed
aftcrward that IL occurred TO her az the
time that burglar would be a white
elephant on her hands, but she was de-
termincd that he should not get away
with his booty. The burglar who could,
no doubt, have broken loose without diff
fculty if lac had not stopped to purlcy,
argued a few moments too long, for
while this interesting dialogue was
going on beth Bob" and Mr. McCor-
mick came in the door, and after "A short
struggle succeeded In getting the man
down, where they held him until Mrs.
Mccormick secured a policeman
Prayer as II specific for burglars
ought TO commend itself 10 preacher
above all men, ana yet only the othcl
day--lcss than "A week ago, in fact
there was recorded in one issue the ec-
count Of one minister down In Mis-
souri, who shot "A burglar who called at
the parsonage in the middle 1f tho
night presumably for something more
tangible than spiritual adviccl and an
other gentleman Of the cloth in In
diana who put bullet into n pugilist.
A pugilist, Of course, Is clearly with
out the pale, but there is always pos
sibility of reform for N burglar-and to