Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1887-04-09 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

HOW MURDERS ARE MANAGED IN  PARIS.  A BURGLAR CLEVERLY CAPTURED. A Paris correspondent says :—" An average British householder who ere retiring to his couch for the night goes the round of his "castle," sees that doors and windows are , securely closed and barred, and assures himself I that all his domestics are safe in their respective chambers, can form but a slight conception of the dangers and inconveniences to which his brother in this gay metropolis is exposed. The saying that "They manage things better in France" certainly does not hold good in this instance. The great majority of the residente live here in apartments, in all of which, large or small, the bed- : room accommodation is extremely iusufEcient. Servants' rooms are at the top of the house far away from the rest, and the result is that after retiring for the night they are free to remain indoors or go out as they please, their masters being none the wiser. In casze of emergency or Illness this inconvenience is particularly felt; nor is the system specially conducive to morality. But there is another side to the nuisance. Their employers are left defenceless against burglars; indeed, it is often found that servants are actually in collusion with criminals whose acquaintancto they had made their nocturnal peregrination, at the sonclusion of the day's work. A characteristic instance of this danger has jest come to my notice. A few days ago a lady, moving in good society here and , occupying an apartment in one of the most fashionable streets in the Champs Elyse s guar- I ter, received the visit of a police official,-who informed her that at eleven o'clock that evening ehe was to be murdered, and her rooms plundered. She laughed at the idea, and the more so when the inspector proceeded to ask her for particulars about her servante. Her butler had been for many years in her employment, her cook the same, and so forth. lier own maid, who had come last, had been eight years with her, and thoronghly enjoyed her confidence. Yet, to her amazement, the official explained that this very woman was the accomplice of her would-be assassin. At last the lady was induced to listen to the voice of reason, and measures were arranged accordingly; though she felt convinced that there was no ground for alarm. What was her earprioe when, punctually at eleven p.m., after the butler and at the women, excepting the maid, had gone up stairs for the night, a ring was beard at her door. The maid opened it, and told her mistress that a man wished to see her on particular and urgent business. The lady replied that else could not see him at that late hour, but the maid returned with the message that the unknown visitor in!Fisted on an interview; "And look, madam," she triumphantly exclaimed, " he is coming in." The man entered the room, and was advancing in a threatening attitude towards the lady, when the inspector and two policemen who had been cleverly concealed pounced upon him and took the burglar and the maid off in their castody. The officers had been admitted by the lady, enknown to the servants, a short time before. The plot had been discovered by a policeman on his beat, who overheard a conversation between the : burglar and the maid in a neighbouring street, and followed the latter to the house. The man was already known to the police as a dangerous criminal. But for the accidental discovery the lady would have been murdered without any one interfering on her behalf. The burglar and the servant have made a full confession.  A CRUEL JOEE —A cruel joke was per. pctrated at Manchester on Saturday. An advertisement was inserted for competent omnibus drivers and guards for the Easter holidays and the Exhibition, applications to be made yesterday morning at an early hour. The address in question was besieged by hundreds of applicants, the crowd being so great that the police had to interfere to prevent obstruction. The address was fictitious, and diaappointed She applicants, maw of whom had come hem a distur•