The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-12-14
INGENIOUS TRICKS OF THIEVES.


cause the arrest of a thief. For in
stance, the operations of a pickpock-
ct on the top of an omnibus in Tot
tenham Court road, London, were
clearly seen by a policeman sitting
behind him. This was the case, al
though the man was covered" by a
newspaper. The policeman saw the
theft reflected in the shop window
passed by the vehicle and as a re-
suit the pickpocket obtained six
months imprisonment.
A very ingenious trick employed
by poachers is that of leaving an end
of candle burning i'm a saucer of
water in the bedroom, This usually
Is so arranged that the candle will
sputter out at about 10 o'clock, Just
as If II had been eXtinguished and
the man retired for the night. This
ruse is often employed by poachcrs
who discover that the keepers are
watching the house for signs of the
poacher leaving. In many eases the
gamckecper does not discover that
the candle could go out without any
human agency
a very curious course was adopted
by a Burnley man who had illicitly
entered a dwelling house while the
inmates were shopping. He was seen
by a woman who lived across the
way. The man, seeing that he was
noticed, leaned on the wall with sur
prising nOnChalanCc, and looked up
into the sky, as though seeing If
there were any signs of the abate-
mont of a heavy shower. The wo-
man asked what he wanted, but the
housebreaker totally disregarded the
question. He simply remarked: at
is raining hard" However, he was
arrested some little time after
Houses have been broken into in
broad daylight in Shrewsbury dur
ing the absence of the householders.
A considerable amount of jewelry
and money was taken from one
house, from which two men were
seen to leave by the front door They
were clever enough to raise their hats
as though bowing to somebody at
the window of the house
Sometimes the police are not so
clever as they might be. Four men
determined to rob Fulham tavern
a short time ago, and the police laid
a trap for them. At night a detec-
tive inspector and constables occu-
pied the house, but, absurd as it may
seem, they forgot to turn out the
lights. The burglars duly arrived at
2 o'clock. but they found the place
ablaze with lights, and also noticed
one of the watchers peering out of
the front door. Therefore the wise
burglars withdrew and decided not
to proceed further in the adventure.
The men returned, however, a week
later, and this time they were cap
tured.
The police wished to arrest two
men who were lying in the hold of a
barge off Brentford. Accordingly the
officers asked the men to Come up
and be arrested" but the thieves in
stead of complying, returned the cor
dial counter invitation to the police
to Come down and join them" Nat
urally, this was not easy, for the
had recourse to very simple but in
genious stratagem. He noticed that
the men below had kinded a fire, so
he told one of the men to fetch him
a tile. The sergeant then placed the
tile carefully over the barge's funnel
and the investing force simply stood
around carelessly in order to await
tc no gtn
below until they were half suffocated
by smoke. when they had to stumble
up on deck and surrender to the
grinning besiegers.
There are two men who are we'll
known to the police who are clever
expert ladder thieves. They were
recently arrested and placed in GUS
tody at Winchester. Their method Is
to select a house by day and make
arrangements and see that there Is a
ladder about. In the evening they
return to the house when the inhabi-
tants are at dinner Then they take
the ladder to the back part of the
premises and raise it to a first floor
window. Their practice Is always to
WOrh from lHt Top part Oh lHe mousse.
When they have made these arrange
ments the next thing they do is to go
downstairs, wedge the door where
the residents are having dinner, lock
themselves in the room upstairs and
ransack it.
There have been several examples
lately of criminals run to earth SIM
ply by leaving finger prints upon the
glass of windows. By means of fin
ger prints the police were able to |
trace the burglars who stole G5 900 |
worth of jewelry from Conduit |
Street, Regent Street. The arrest |
in this case was effected in a very |
clever manner. AS daylight was ap- |
pearing a milkman was seen going
down the street where the criminals !
lived, He was attired in the usual |
glazed hat, and carried the usual
money pouch and milk bucket with
cans around the side. When he ar
rived at the door of the criminals
house he shouted, milk, OH" but