MIRRORS AS MAN-TRAPS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1511, 14 February 1901, Page 18

MIRRORS AS MAN-TRAPS

LOOKING-GLASSES THAT FRUSTRATE r MAUDS-

Dectective Bruce, of Scotland Yard, ■was riding inside an omnibus - travelling Westward. He had not ventured to seek the outside of the vehicle, because there rod© oh the top .one of the cleverest pickpockets in England. The pickpocket, had the usual overcoat siting on his-left arm to cover the furtive operations of the deft fight hand. From the moment he entered the ’bus, Detective Bruce stared fixedly out of the winuoWS. His gazp Was intent indeed and it re.sted von the huge ; pl.ate-glass windows of the shopk tliat iihbd one side of the road. Reflected in tho windows of one big shop, he saw quite sufficient of what occurred between the pickpocket and at ladyf Hetim Ooif the 1 dtif side of the ’bus to justify a whispered direction to the conductor. And just at that mo-

ment both 'conductor and detective climbed the ’bus steps and seized the

pickpocket from behind. He had in his possession the purses of two ladies sitting in front of him. One purse was aotually in that artful right hand. Neither victim knew of any loss, but the detective had seen both abstractions re-

flected in the windows of the shops. In Victoria street, Westminster, are the rather sumptuous chambers of a. middle-aged professional gentleman. Prom these same chambers have come, the plans upon which the mirrors of nearly every principal jewellery establishment in London, Paris, and elsewhere have been arranged. The professional

gentleman is an artist in mirror arrangement. No matte;, what the size or shape of a. given shop or office, he will so arrange absolutely unobtrusive mirrors that the one person in the secret can from a given point see the minutest movement of every assistant, customer, and even window-gazer. The point of vantage from which all this can be seen is, as often as not, in another, and generally a “glazed off" office altogether. Not even the workmen who fix the mirrors know anything of the arrangement. The reflection can be broken in a moment by drawing a curtain in a careless way. Most people have seen in theatres or halls some sort of variation of the trick whereby people locked in cabinets and cages disappear. Almost without exception these tricks are worked by means of mirrors, and the shop mirror expert in question has invented many of them ' his usual fee being £l2O for a particularly attractive and seemingly novel show, even though the main principle’ of working be the old one. A very few years ago a great sensation was caused by a man of large means being charged with the murder of his wife. The man was the son of a north'country manufacturer of vast wealth. The alleged murderer was a terribly dissipated fellow, and the poor young wife, was found dead, through an awful injury to the head, in the room where the two had been supping late at night. The accused was lying asleep in the same room, so drugged with drink _ that he did not stir for hours. The defence was that the victim herself drank, and that she had fallen against the edge of the table.

Against this defence two remarkable pieces of evidence were tendered, and ~ both dealt with mirrors. One was that of a servant in the house. This girl alleged that on the night in question she happened, whilst spreading the supper table, to glance into the mirror over the fireplace of the room. Both accused and his wife were sitting down, the latter having her back to the. former. The accused, who was bordering on drink madness, was, as he thought, unobserved, .making grimaces and flourishing a knife behind the back of his wife.

To several people, too, the wife had that day told the following story: Two

days before she had been out for a row with her husband on a certain lake.

There were many holiday-makers there,

and her husband insisted upon going into! the most quiet creeks and backwashes. The surface of the water was like a mirror, and at one very quiet spot the wife hadi leant heavily over the side of the

heat, looking into the water. She was about to dip one hand into . the water whilst the boat was motionless, when she saw the reflected figure of her husband 'bent over her. . His fingers were •evoked, aa though to grasp her, and the face was so full of horror and madness that the poor woman gave a great scream, threw herself suddenly up, and, in. consequence, nearly knocked the man leaning very closely over her, on to his back.

There was some obstacle to the recep-

tidn-of this latter evidence, and finally the hiaii vivas', convicted of manslaughter, and to a very- long term of penal servitude. y At a Liverpool boarding house of a high class,-a thief was.lately found under a bed. s^^^^-hnovfrf provincial theatrical -manager :had: gone to bed, and, wishing to redd, had left the light burning. As he lay there he happened to glance at a. full length swinging mirror That nearly touched 1 the r fioor, and that was in the bedroom for the special needs of the many actresses who patronised the house. In the mirror the manager saw

reflected the figure of a man on all fours, for the valance round the bottom of the bed did not touch the floor by several

inches. The manager was saved from a loss of £4OO, which he had in his possession, by tills mirror reflection.— “Pearson’s* Weekly.’’