Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1896-01-11
TO SCARE BURGLARS.
A FEW DEVICES SOMEWHAT OUT OF
THE COMMON RUN.

They May Happen to Brighten People Who
Are Not burglars, but There Is No Doubt
That Most of Them Are Calculated to
Scare Every Time.
A little party of women, brought TO-
gether last week by family reunion
over i'll Brooklyn, had under debate
communication recently printed i'll The
Sun respecting domestic devices to serve
as burglar alarms.
eve believe in TIM p" said one "John
cut little groove like half Of an auger
hole across the tops of the front and
back doors, II few inches back from the
outer edge, ard before we go to bed we
poke into each one a 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 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
crack down comes the tinware with
clatter fit to wake up everybody in the
ward. -
"That's all we'll enough for your
doors, but how about the windows? A
thief can open one of these new tangled
catches by poking a 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 and put long iron pins in them.
1t is inst as if every window was nailed
fast, and burglar, to get in, would
have to cut away the whole sash. "
odd any of you ever try newspa-
pers?" 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 a couple on the stairs. 1t is i'm
possible to step on them without max
ing a noise that, in the stiffness of
night, would surprise you if you never
tried it before. And you can't 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 thief's despair. My
louSSliSt aU lilC w liCI uIoU pun
them down, but within a week, as it
happened, their efficacy was proved. I
was awakened one 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
Ting, and as the sound of it died away
we could hear somebody swearing in
whisper. 1t was so funny that my hus-
band burst into roar of laughter, and
the fellow down stairs jerked the front
door open and fled. "
81 don't think soaring 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 apprehensions of
attack from that direction, but twice
our house was entered by petty thieves
through the back door, which faces
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
man S face, he fastened to the wall
springy bamboo cane, with tin cup
wired to its 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 business, it is sprung out about .
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
OF cayenne pepper.
"For a 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,
the sharp 'spang' of the 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
see two men in the garden, one leading
the other, who was bowling and swear
ing terribly. We fancied that some Of
the pepper had got into his eyes. Before
Mr.. B. could get his pistol they had
disappeared i'll the shrubbery, and we
have not been troubled since.
"That trigger, set to go off when the
door was Opened,' remarked another
woman, "remiIds me of horrid thing
my husband brought home with him
from a 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
hare on cap and fire the thing off.
The first night after Jack got home,
when was setting chair upside down
against the door, as I always did, he
stopped me and put on his new contrap-
ton. When [ got up first in the morn
ing, as usual, had forgotten all about
that thing, which was down as low as
my knees, and did not notice it when
l went to go out. Then it suddenly
seemed to me as if the world had ex-
ploded. The thing had worked all right,
and i'll addition to making noise louder
than the sunset gun at the fort, had rid
died the vestibule wall with buckshot
Jack said 1T would have filled a bur-
glars legs with Lead and L believed
him, but / never would allow him to
put it on the door again. One such scare
is enough for lifetime. New York