BURGLARY AS A "PROFESSION."

Timaru Herald, Volume LV, Issue 5790, 6 October 1893, Page 4

BURGLARY AS A "PROFESSION."

There aye, says the Age t curious signs m boiuo cf the long settled countries that different forms of crime are changii g placeo m professional ealimation. Burglary ÜBod lo be considered a business adapted only to very rough and ready, and we may almost say brutal, practitioners. Jack Bhepherd had a Cdrlain amount of chivalry m hiß composition, but .Blueakin was decidedly of coarser mould; und m general tho artist m housebreaking of the last oentury, knowing that hiß own life was lit atake if ho were caught, used to reßOrt to very Bummaty methods of suppressing evidonce. There have bean two great changes since that day. The law has been made more humane, and it is safer for the profesßor of burglary to eschew violence, and on the other htt-d the policohavebeoome incomparably more efficient than they wore. The actual guard kept over houßes worth robbing m cities like London or New York is so vigilant that it cannot ba defied, and oan only be evaded by the exercise of very great skill. The modern burglar accordingly, m the highest examples of the class is an educated end well mannered gentleman. One practitioner was arreßted tho other day m London, whose method was to saunter bom m evening droaß, and let himself m by a false key into a house where he had previously ascertained that the family was not at home '/hat he foiled the police for years is the best proof of the admirable way m whioh he played rU part of the walking gentleman. Even this case, however, is lees remarkable than that of the American artißt, who, having amassed & fortune of a hundred thousand pounds by the forgery of bank notsß, decided to transfer himself to burglary, instead of snbeistin^ upon ingloriouß ease or standing for Congress. This gentleman, we are told, made a ecientific study of safes, and worked for years m his own laboratory till he had constructed keys with which ho could open every lock. Having started m business, he displayed a gentlemanly regard for the victims m whose houses he operated, taking graat caro not to damage the furniture, and never allowing himself to be provoked when his gains were inadequate. One is tempted to wonder why so able a man did not use bis talents on the sidejof society, patenting a form of bank note that could not be forged, or a lock that could not be broken, so as to escape the involuntary seclusion to whioh ho has now been condemned. Perhaps be was a convicted Nihilist, who beliered that the whole foundations of the civic order were rotten, and made hiß protest against them m this effectual way. Hhould this class of highly trained operators become common, one can im aaine the fa<her of a family revolving tha problem whether it will be preferable to make his son a stock broker, a lawyer, a bank director, or a burglar. Each of the professions m question has a dash of immorality, but the burglar will perhaps have the most peaceful retrospect, ac be has only levied contributions on the wealthy, and the cash or plate or jewels carried off ought not to be a very important part of the victim's capital. On the oilier hand, the ruin brought about by speculation or chicanery is apt to be very far spreading. The difference m social consideration is therefore that which at present decido3 the choice of a profession ; and if the class of highly educated burglars becomeo more numerous, it is not unreasonable to assume that their intellectual distinction and breeding and largo gains will gradually oeoure them admission into society. Indeed, they may come to be courted, if it ia understood that the practitioner m this lino never operates on a house where he has the entry, and where the wine ia undeniably good Besides, a burglar with social talents would be a perpetual foast ; a Conan Dojle, with incomparably more knowlego of detail and a greater varitty of advantura to recount. Of course he would ncvor confess to having been the chief ao'or i" i,hv* scenes 'ho described ; and society would humcui' him m Ihe little deception, and affect t.' believe that he was only n fashionable triflsr. Sc-imb of men who follow a more di«praceful occupation than burglary, political spies m France and Buesis, are received on terms of this sort, though the real obaracler of their occupation ia perfectly well known.