Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-03-10
he USED TO BURGLE.
The Retired Burglar Relates an Ex-
perfence In "a House with Rat
Ting Windows.

Hear EN- rattle?" said the retired
burglar, in the New York Sun. Hear
'em rattle?
When | was nuew in the business l
used to get scared half out of my
senses by doors and windows like that.
ia be in a house that was still as
death, and be cropping my way around
in it about as still as thai myself, ana
then all of a sudden I'd hear a door
SIAM. don't mean an open door slam
ming shut, but some door that was
warped or shrunk fAld hanging loose
between the door Jambs, and with
maybe half an inch play on the latch.
"a sudden gust from outside would
draw in through the house and strike
that doc and slam it against the door
frame, and even with only half an inch
play the bang of it, when it brought
UP, would make my heart stand still.
And then when that gust let up the
door would sag back with another
lighter kind of a sound on the latch.
And then maybe everything would
be quiet for a minute OF two and then
we might get a blast that would make
all the windows of the house shake,
and make that door boom again. And
then I'd lie low and wait, scared half
to death to begin with, and l never
knew but what all that rafting and
banging would wake somebody up.
And sometimes 1t did.
81 remember one house | was in one
windy night. There was a particularly
vicious window in a room on an up
stairs floor, A number of times when
the wind got it I thought the whole
window was going to blow in or out,
and I'd about made up my mind that
it would be a sensible thing for me to
do, maybe, to go away, when 1 heard
somebody stepping around on the floor
upstairs, in the room where that win
dow was, and in a minute l heard that
window stop slamming, and l knew
somebody was at it, wedging 1t up
somehow so that it wouldn't rattle.
"And he got it fixed all right, and
went back to bed and things settled
down quiet as could be for about a
minute. and then:
Zip! Br-r-r, bang! Biffboof! Bang!
Bang!' went the window suppose,
really, that about as impossible a thing
as anybody ever attempted to do was
TO stop a rattley window from rafting
and up jumps the man again, out of
bed, to try to fix it again.
And he wedged it once more, so
that it didn't make a sound, and
turned toward his bed, and had got
about half way there, as near as l could
guess from where l was below, when:
"Br-r-r, blink, blink, biff, bang!
Bang! Bang! Bang!' went the window,
and l couldn't see my man, but l knew
well enough that he had turned around
right where he was and was standing
there, shaking his fist at the window,
and l heard him say:
well, rattle, damn you, if you want
to! If it wasn't so bloody cold I'd kick
you out the window!'
"And then I heard him throw him
self into his bed again, and he broke
a Stat doing that, and went through to
the floor, and this all, of course, was a
great relief to me; but still l thought
I'd better go, anyway, away from a
man of that wakeful temperament and
violent disposition, and so l did go,
with that window up in his room still
a-rattling.
Sand actually that first winter l was
in the business l stayed home on a
good many windy nights because l
didn't want to hear the rafting doors
and windows. But, of course, that
wouldn't do, the wind might blow 1865
nights in the year, and where would I
be then? So | started in again,
whether the nights were windy or not.
and let the windows rattle, and pretty
soon was not SO much disturbed by
them; for we can get used to most any
thing.
"And then | soon discovered that
people get used to their own rattley
doors and windows, so that they are
not so likely to be awakened by them.
And then, of course, l very o o came
to be able instinctively and instantly
to distinguish between a sound made
by windows or doors ratified by the
wind and the sound of the same win
dows or doors when touched by human
hands; and l guess | have told you be-
fore that l came to know instantly by
the effect of the vibration caused by
their movements, if l didn't actually
hear them, when anybody was moving
about in the house.
FINALLY I got SO that the rafting
and banging of windows and doors in
houses l was in on windy nights didn't
disturb me so very much: but still, as
a matter of fact, those sounds always
made me start a little, and l never
really enjoyed hearing windows rattle
in any place but home"