The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1907-10-09
THE FIRST BURGLARY.
It Occurred In the Treasure Vaults Of
King of Egypt.

Robberies of treasure reach back into
of the twentieth century craftsman Is
paralleled In the time of the pharaohs.
Ever since civilization has been, and
wealth measured In precious dollars,
Jewels and metals, mans cupidity has
been aroused and thieves striven to
gain ease and luxury by stealing the
treasure of others.
The first burglar of treasury vaults,
SO far as known to history, occurred
when Rhampsinitus was king of
Egypt. He possessed SO much money
that none of the kings reigning after
him in Egypt was able to rival him in
riches.
Thinking to have his. treasure safely
kept, he had constructed the best bur-
glar proof vault that the builders Of
that day knew how to make-a solid
chamber Of stone. The builder fitted
one Of the stones SO that it might be
easily removed by two men or by one
exceptionally strong. After the COM
Dletion of this chamber the king laid
his treasures In It, thinking them safe
from designing hands. But when the
builder came to die he called his two
sons and directed them how they might
get the kings riches.
After his death the sons went to the
palace, quickly removed the stone In
the wall and almost depleted the kings
vessels Of their money and treasure.
When the king opened the vault he
found it nearly empty, yet the seals
on the entrance door were unbroken
and the chamber apparently secure.
He determined to set trap. He seal
ed it as before. Again and again he
broke the seals, each time finding the
precious treasure diminished, and then
he had traps put about the treasure re
ceptacles. One day the trap caught It's
victim, and, the man being unable to
free himself, he ordered his brother to
cut off and carry away his head that
both should not be ruined by the dis
aster. This was done by one stroke of
the others sword.
The next day the king came and
found the headless body of man in
the trap, while the chamber was still
apparently without means Of exit.
Much mystifed, he had the headless
body suspended from a gallows in full
view of the populace, thinking that
possibly the dead mans relatives would
betray themselves by their agitation at
the spectacle. .....z.
Then a new difficulty arose for the
remaining son. His mother COM
manded him to cut down the body and
bring it to her, else she would expose
him to the king. After little time
he succeeded in giving the kings SEN
tries knockout drops" and took his
brothers corpse to his mother.
The king was angrier than ever,
not only because of the theft Of his
treasure, but because Of the disappear
ance Of the body of one of the villains.
Then his daughter was set to catch
the thief. She was to seize him by
the arm, yelling furiously when he
should reveal himself. The young
man heard of the plot, however, and
circumvented it. He took with him
an arm cut from the corpse, and when
she seized him he placed 1t in her
hand and escaped.
This last incident made the king
think some. He wisely concluded that
q clever thief like this would be q
better ally than an enemy. So he
issued proclamation offering the rob-
Der pardon and his daughter for a
wife If he would reveal himself. This
offer was shortly after accepted, and
the robber became the kings son.
Such is the story Of the first known
burglary of history Cincinnati En-
Ouirer.