BURGLARY AS A "PROFESSION."

Waikato Times, Volume XLI, Issue 3344, 2 December 1893, Page 5

BURGLARY AS A "PROFESSION."

r . /,■ : i |,i V f-H-'fA \' signs .(in j, soine vof Vthe,, countriesthat, different ionijs of crimG are changing/- places j in ; ■jjrofessipiial > estimation. Burglary used to be considered"a' business adapted! only to my l! roughand ; rcjady, and we may Almost say brutal,, practitioners. Jack Shepherd i had a certain iaiuount pf chivalrjK .lUil.ihis: compositiqn,V bill; Blueskin-.was decidedly; of..coarser/ mould; and in l general the artist in. housebreaking of .the f-lastv century, ■ knowing that his, o\yn .life was .at .stake if he were caught, used to resort to very summary methods of suppressing eyideiice. There have been •two; great; changes' since 'that day.' TKe law has been made more .and it is safer for ,the professor' of burglary, to eschew' violence, and on •the other hand th£ police haw lief' .come, incomparably more efficient' than they were. 'The;' actual guard kept over houses worth robbing in cities like London or New Yorkis'so •vigilant that it cannot be defied, and can only be'evaded by the: exercise of very great skill. The modern burglar accordingly, in the highest examples of the class, is an educated and wellmaimeredgentleman. One practitioner was arrested the other day in London j whose method was to saunter hoiiie ,in evening dress,'and let himself in

by a false key into a house' wheie he had .previously, ascertained that the

family was' not at hoaie!' 'Xhat lit - foiled the. police , for years is the bes • proof of 'the admirable way in which he played'his part' of the' walking gentleman. Even this case, however, -is less' remarkable than , that of the American artist, who, having amassed

a fortune of a hunted thousand pounds by the forgery; of ' bank notes, decided to transfer himself to burglary, instead of subsisting upon inglorious ease or standing for Congress.' This

gentleman, Ave ' are told, 'made a scientific study of safes, and worked •for year's iu his own laboratory till he had constructed' keys with which he vcouid open every.lock. Having started in business, he displayed a ; gentlemanly regard, for?the ..victims in whose -house, •he operated/taking great care riqt to damage ih thq, 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 his talents on the side ofi society,l patenting ;a ; form of bank note that could not be forged,! .or a lock that couTdjnot be-broken, so .as to escape the involuntary seclusion to which he has 'now been condemned; 5 Perhaps/ be was a^ctinyicted' Nihilist,, who ( belie v jthe ? wlible ; J f ounda-; tionsof-,the civic order were rotten,and made his protest against them in this effectual way. Should this class .of highly-trained operators become common, one can - imagine the father; of a family revolving the problem whetßer e 1 his son a stock broker, a lawyer,'a lank director, • or a ]Each>of the professions in qiiestion has a dash .of 'iminoralityj but the/burglar will fjerhaps; (^bave ,, the " retrospeCtt 1 as"' he 1 has only levied

the wealthy, and the f cash or plate or jewels earned 5 off ',ouglit"not to be a very' part 'of the victiWs 'capital.- jthe i other .ihaiidhi th'e' ; ruin r)j bi ought .about, ( by ipeculation or chicanery, is' apt' to be Very far spreading.' The' difference' in '-social' consideratibh!is therefore ithat which at present j ■ desides, the]choice, a profession; and if the class of highly educated ■becp,me T more numerous, it is not unreasonable to! assume that their intellectual'distinctiou and breeding and large gains will • gradually secure-them admission:into society. Indeedr they may come? to be courted,'if it, is understood that the' practitioner in this line never operates house: 'wherejhe; and where the wine is undeniably, g00d;.,;. Besides,'^,burglar with, social talents, would be a,perpetual feast; a {(ponan : : 'Doyle,y,with ; incomparably; more linowlege of detail and a greater' ; yarietjr, of . adventure to recount. Of; ./course,,:he/ - never, confess,' to; ,-j having, beenthe chief actor, in 1 the scenes he' t i described';/ and society would humour . him in the little deception,,andqaffect to, believe that he was only a;,fashionable trifler. Scores of men who follow a more Vfiisgvacef|il occupation than, burglary, political . spies in ;;Franc# and. Russia, are received on terms of this ~sort, though' the real character of their I '' i&' perfectly Hvell known.