The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-10-02
SUPERSTITIONS OF THIEVES.
Happenings That are Regarded b

Happenings That are Regarded py
 Crooks as Forerunners of Bad Luck.
 Professional criminals have many superstitions Not one in one nun dred will commit a theft of any daring on a Friday or on the 18th or the month. In support of this superstition almost any old-time crook will cite the instance of Charles Mclaughlin, alas McLain, an expert hotel-sneak and all round thief who worked in New York
 city in the early seventies. In 1872 he, a pal named Howard and two other
 thieves, planned to rob an office in
 Brooklyn. The only date on which
 the job could be done with profit and
 safety was on June 13. On that day
 the cashiers money drawer would be
 full and the office force would be small
 All the crooks regarded the date du-
 biousIv and would have selected an- other with less prospect of success, but
 for the expostulaton of Mclaughlin.
 So the raid was made on the day ori-
 ginally determined upon. It proved
 disastrous failure All the men were
 caught except Mclaughlin, Who es-
 capped through window. Ihose Who
 were captured were sent to prison TOT
 seven years each. Mclaughlin never
 had any good luck after that. lie was
 caught in the Westminster Hotel, New
 York. loaded with plunder, and' was
 sentenced on a Friday, the 18th Of the
 month.
 Thieves can tell many anecdotes to
 prove that Fridays and the 18th Of the
 month are days set aside for rest For
 instance they will tell you how Dan
 Kelly. a bank burglar, who worked in
 and around Louisville, Ky, in the early
 eighties. was killed on the 18th Of De-
 cember while robbing a safe in small
 town. and how his partner was struck
 by lightning while making his escape
 Crooks in general avoid black cats
 and blind dogs. It is regarded as
 challenge to disaster and misfortune to
 kill either. If a thief on his way to
 commit a theft sees black cat or IS e followed by a dos he will probaply ' abandon the job for the time being II ], il black cat runs in front of him he Will
 duit work for q week. In 1SS2 Frank
 Mccormack, James Leonard, Tom
 Treemont and Mike Duffy, safe-blow-
 CTS who were making their headquar-
 ters in Buffalo. went to Lockpoft one
 night to rob a safe in the office Of a , aouring mill which stood close to the Central Railway tracks. It was an
 ideal spot for q burglary, because the , noise of passing trains would deaaeE , the sOunde mode while drilling ana blowing open the safe, The quartette were passing through the railway wards about 3 a. m. when black cat
 darted across the tracks not two yards f ahead of them, and, stopping in the
 shadow of a switch, howled hideously { All the men stopped.
 , "You can count ne out" said Duffy to Leonard.
 You going to let that cat scare you?' 3 asked Leonard.
 "vtat's just what ! am" Duffy re- Q tortet
 P Mccormack and Fremont stayed , with Leonard. The trio got into tht . place and had just blown the door OH S inc safe when they were surprised by I two men fully armed. Freemont anc
 | ecnard were dangerously injured 0 They and Mccormack were sentenced - to six years in Auburn prison Leohare |, told the story as here related to . 1 Buffalo detective present at the trial ], Most crooks lose their money at some . sort of gaming. A thief, especlally - ouse-breaker, believes in working e while his luck is good tot instance f he will often leave game ne IS VIII V ming to go out and commit a rpppery |, believing that good luck Will cohtlhu' Il to attend him. When he loses and E 1t compelled to go out and rob he Is het t vous. feeling that his il-luck will con S tinue. If a burglar can touch hunch ; hack he is confident that his lucky sta1 Il will rise immediately,
 n Once inside house there are many Il things which are omnous to the sus d centible house-breaker. For instance a inc sobhinp of a child is looked upon al - fcrerunner of discovery and man!
 burglars will immediately depart ol a bearing such noise, Another thn' g which is regarded as a bad sign is t ,- get in a room where a clock stops l q if stnnued before the thief sees it. m s, notice is taken but if it stops while n # is in the room he will make haste U d get out. Burglar Tom, who 20 year e ago was an expert, had great faith Il a inc clorl5-stopping sign and he relate 't this story:
 70 "I got into a house in Montreal on  5 time. and was going throuh man le trousers pockets when a smal! clock II t. the room stopped. l went on With m - search and was about finished when IS man in the bed beside me said Hand s- up" He had a gun and It wa le pointed at me I surrendered and dl 'e seven years in prison for burglary
 first degree
 d Pickpockets have superstition c 1t their own. They believe that to pic r. the pocket of one-armed man IS fo T. lowed by bad luck of some sort The es sometimes believe that run Of tn Id hardest kind of luck will befal tn of thief who robs a blind man'-Ne' York Sun.
 n THE NEGRO IN HOT WEATHER ,, It has often been said that the capac