The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-12-09
INGENIOUS TRICKS OF THIEVES.

the operations of pickpocket on the
top Of an omnibus in Tottenham
Court road, London, were clearly
seen by policeman sitting behind
him. This was the case, although
the man was covered" by news
paper. The policeman saw the thief
reflected in the shop windows passed
by the vehicle and as a result the
pickpocket obtained six months, inn
prisonment.
A very ingenious trick employed
by poachers is that Of a candle burn
ing in saucer of water in the bed
room. This usually is SO arranged
that the candle will sputter out at
about 10 O'Clock, just as if it had
been extinguished and the man re-
tired for the night. This ruse is Of
ten employed by poachers who dis.
cover that the keepers are watching
the house for signs of the poacher
leaving. In very many cases the
gamekeeper does not discover that
the candle could go out without any
human agency.
A very curious course was adopted
by Burnley man who had illicitly
entered a dwelling house while the
inmates were shopping. He was seen
leaving the yard by woman who
lived across the way. The man, see
ing that he was noticed, leaned on
the wall with surprising nonchalance
and looked up into the sky. as though
seeing if there were any signs of the
abatement of heavy shower. The
woman asked what he wanted, but
the housebreaker totally disregarded
the question. He simply remarked
"It's raining hard" However, he
was arrested some little time after.
Houses have been broken into in
broad daylight in Shrewsbury during
the absence of the householders. A
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 bowling to somebody at the
window of the house.
Sometimes the police are not so
clever as they might be. Four men
determined to rob a Fulham tavern
short time ago, and the police laid
trap tor them. AT night detective
inspector and constables occupied the
house, but, absurd as it may seem,
they forgot to put out the lights. The
burglars duly arrived at 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
however, week, later, and
and this time they were captured.
The police wished to arrest two
men who were living in the hold of a
barge off Brentford. Accordingly
the officers asked the men to Come
up and be arrested" but the thieves,
instead of complying, returned the
cordial counter invitation to the po-
lice to "Come down and join them. "
Naturally, this was not easy, for the
sergeant commanding the besiegers
had recourse to very simple but in
genious stratagem. He noticed that
the men below had kindled fire, so
he told one of the men to fetch tile.
The sergeant then placed the tile care
fully over the barge's funnel and the
investing force simply stood around
carelessly in order to await develop
ments. The suspects stayed 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 well
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 ladder about. In the evening
they return to the house when the in
habitants are at dinner. Then they
take the ladder to the back part of the
premises and raise it to first floor
window. Their practice is always to
work from the top part of house.
When they have made these arrange
ments the next they do is to go
downstairs, wedge the door where the
residents are having dinner, lock
them in the room upstairs and ran
sack it. Sometimes they work with
rope ladders which they make them
selves.
There have been several examples
lately of criminals run to earth simply
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 $25, 900
worth of jewelry from Conduit street,
Regent street. The arrest in this
case was effected in a very clever
manner. AS daylight was appearing
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 arrived at the door
of the criminals house he shouted,
"Milk, oh !'' but the mintue the door
was opened he rushed in, and four
other milkmen, who were disguised
detectives, followed him. Together
the detectives mounted the stairway
to the bedroom.
In each case the man was found ID
bed and in one or two instances he
was asleep, but was awakened by a
hand on his shoulders, with the inti-
nation that he was under arrest.
It may be the case before long that
burglars will not merely have to weal
gloves, but they will have to abandon
wearing trousers. A man was tried