THE CONFESSIONS OF A BURGLAR.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12571, 14 August 1906, Page 3

THE CONFESSIONS OF A BURGLAR.

BY EDWIN PTTGH. THIS HONEST BURGLAR. ".Speaking off-hand,"' began Dunny, "there's throe kinds <>' burglars. Tl ore's, finst of all, the general, (k-aler, so called because, in a general way, lie pinches a deal tliat don't Wong to him. But he ain't no proper tcrowsir.an—not him! He'll turn his hand to anything to earn a honest penny. -, ' "Honest r" "Moneys honest enough, you lay your life. You wouldn't find him taking any dud stuff." "I see." "Then there's t<ho casual buster. Hcs a sort of out-o'-work and out-o'-morals gonoph he is. An' he t>eus a window open, or a door, or a shop that wants attending to, and in ho pops, and lilts what ho'can, and out again. But it ain't what you might call his regular proH'sh, you see. Ho just drops into it, so to speak. The real, proper, honpst eiacksman goes into the business for keeps." "Well, tell mc about him. i( I don't mind, old son, seeing it's •'Afler all, though," I ventured, "do you think it will do mc any real permanent good to be told these things?" "Thought you wan/ted to know," ho growled, aggrieved. "So I do," I hastened to assure him. BORN", NOT MADE. "One tiling," he said, with a lieker- J if.li grin; "it won't do you po harm. Nor anybody else, cither. You can't !>" taught burgling, aaiy more than you can be taught to have blue eyea or to write po-try. If 1 was to put you up to every move, on the board, "till you'd got ail* the. tricks o' the trade right and pat. down to the sort o' matches to use. you'd still h:> as fur off doing any good—or harm—at it, as if you'd jiut come out of a young ladies' boarding school. To be- a proper cracksman you got to be born into it. It runs i.v families, like big oars. There's the tr.ols to be got, aud the fences to bo found —fences are receivers of stolen property, and very shy birds, too, it you don't happen to be in the know, y' know. They don't advertise, to -any 1 large extent. '.So that cay you was to 'go in for a little casual busting on ! your own you'd never bo able to get quit of the swag; so you might as well or better—put in your time singing outside pub-doors to a banjo. In f-ct •'•■ Raid Dnnny, comprehensively, "the game ain't hardly worth t3ie cp.n'dlo", aud that's the holy truth. It certainly ain't worth the dark lantern, anyhow." '•3lL?h.t as well ask. why do fellers back horses? It's the excitement in it. The risk and all that. And t : h«n ycu cet your money— whon you do get any, which ain't often—m a lirap. But burflmg is worse Uian Motk*, for "two reasons, at least. Oucjs: Kβ blooming har<l work. And i:t can t lot you take no liberties vn , yonreelt either, mind you. I mean that when a screwemaai's" "-ot a job on ho daren't go on the ni-i;ht. before. He's got to keep hkself in strict training same as if ho was a footballer up afiin a cuptie. Or out goes he! And anotJitT reason wliy burgling ain't exactly danner for t<va* is Uiat lw's bound to c«i> wit at the finish—get la:2god. praps, for iui>-tliin<; up to ten stretch. •■Thfji, agin, you've get to br built fer it. You've 'got to be a bit of a" athlete. You go: to be a lust-cla.'e workman at liali-a-dozen tradea. lou