The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-02-24
led BURGLAR
hi. NICELY PREPARED RAlT WAS
EAGERLY TAKEN.

1t Cost the Burglar Four Years
Time.
..Of course, = said the retired burglar,
.'a man in my business is always on
the lookout for traps and most of EN-
he can circumvent without much trou-
BILE. But men go to a lot of trouble and
expense to lay traps, and sometimes
they get up something that is new and
effective. I suppose that any man go
ing into a dwelling house would be sur
to look over the bureaus and dressing
tables in the sleeping rooms. It was
this we'll known professional habit no
doubt that had suggested The idea Of a
trap ] came ACROSS once, which q man
had had built with a view to catching
anybody that might stand in front of
the bureau in his room.
II imagine that this man must have
been visited before and been very much
irritated by it, because he never could
have gone to all the trouble and ex-
pense he did just for mere protection
there was clearly some feeling in it. It
was 2. handsome room, promising look
ing from it's richness, and when Iturned
my light on the bureau, where l went,
naturally enough, to begin, l was not
disappointed. There was a glitter Of
glass and silver in the bullseye, and as
I swept the light along it struck a
pocketbook that didn't glitter much,
but that looked fat and comfortable,
and a watch that did shine, and. take it
altogether, it made me think that here
was the home of a man that didn't
have to work nights to make both ends
meet. And SO I set my lamp down on
one end Of the bureau-it made me
laugh, actually, to think that there was
so much good stuff there that l had to
shove something one side to make room
for it-and put my bag down on a chair
that was there and began cleaning the
things off.
ssI'd just put the silver hairbrushes
in the bag and had turned around to
the bureau again to pick up the pocket
book and the watch when I heard, or it
seemed as though I felt, a little click,
and just the faintest touch of a Earring
or yielding under my feet, and the
next instant, a long time before I could
jump or do anything whatever, a piece
of the floor under my feet about three
feet square dropped out from under me.
and down / went.
"But / didn't give up, by a long
shot. ! was an ablebodied man. and
my hands were frenzy lamp being
then on the corner of the bureau and
my bag on the chair-and I wasn't GO
ing to give it up yet, if I was going
down a trap. The trapdoor was hung
on hinges on the side farthest from
the bureau, and I laughed to myself IS
I put up my hands and thought how
easy it was to grab on to the edge of
the solid floor running along just in
front of the bureau and haul myself up.
Truly it seemed like a waste Of money,
all the expense this man had been to to
put in the trap without guarding
against the chance of escape from it by
just this means, and I already imagined
myself climbing out as I threw up my
hands, which I did before I'd dropped
much more half of my length below
the level Of the floor, gripping that firm
edge very tightly. I was going to make
sure of that.
"And I got it all right, but in about
a millionth part Of a second I became
conscious of the fact that it wasn't
stopping me at all; I was carrying it
down with me. It was the front edge
of another trap cut in the floor under
the bureau, hinged at the back and held
up in place by a spring just strong
enough to keep it in position. I held on
as hard as I could, but if I had had iron
fingers and steel muscles I couldn't have
held on after the trap had swung down
straight. | went down like a ton of
lead, and the next minute I found my
self sliding through a smooth board
tunnel not much bigger'n enough to
let me slide comfortably, and the next
minute I'd been shot into a box or room
about sever feet square through an
other trap in the top Of it that closed
flush after ! came through.
"Now, there was a situation for you.
parently in the cellar of the house, no
opening in it anywhere and my bag
with all my tools in it up there on the
chair by the bureau and me down
there with nothing, not a blessed thing,
to work with. But while there's life
there's hope, and I never should have
thought of such a thing as giving up if
/ could have had chance. But l didn't.
/ hadn't been in the box two minutes
before there was a slide pushed back up
near the top on n side, and a man
looked in. 1t was the boss of the shanty.
And in five minutes the police were
there, and then I found they had a door
in this box big enough to get q man out
of.
II have seen other t, APPS as elaborate.
but none more costly. He had to cut
his carpet, to begin with, around the
traps in this room. OF course that didn't
cost anything much. but it spoiled his