CHAPTER XXXVII.

COMMON HOUSEBREAKERS —THIEVES WHO LAUGH AT LOCKS
AND BOLTS — RECEIVERS OF STOLEN GOODS — HOW A
"FENCE" IS CONDUCTED.

Useless Locks and Bolts — The Sneak-Thief and His Methods—Masks on
Their Faces and Murder in Their Hearts — Faithless Servants — Fright¬
ened Sleepers — Criminals but Cowards — Scared Away'by Rats — Dog¬
ging Their Victims Home — Tliefts of Diamonds — Second-Story Thieves
— Pillaging Houses During the Supper Hour — Ranks in Crime —
Hotel and Boarding-House Thieves — Unsuspecting Prey — A Hotel
Thief's Tools and Methods—A Man Who Laughs at Bolts and Bars —
A Bewildering Mystery — Manipulating a Thumb-Bolt — Watching the
Hotel Register — Disastrous Female Vanity — Why the Boarder did not
go Down to Dinner — Prompt to Escape but Hard to Track — How
Stolen Property is Disposed of — Receivers or "Fences" — Roundabout
Methods to Avoid Detection.

THE housebreaker and house-sneak are the most numerous
of the thieving fraternity. Locks and bolts cannot be re¬
lied upon as protection against these men, and there are but few
dwellings that are proof against their assaults. It is a popular
belief with most people that their homes are perfectly secure
when the doors and windows are fastened. The average sneak
thief laughs at the flimsy barriers, and can undo every one of
them with a few simple instruments which he carries in his
vest pocket. Even the chain-bolt, which has been considered
so formidable, is no protection at all when pitted against the
skill and science of this class of rogues. When massive bank
vaults offer no serious obstacles that the trained and experienced
burglar cannot overcome, how can it be expected that ordinary
contrivances for the security of houses should be effectual?
While the operations of bank burglars are comparatively few
and infrequent, on account of the multiplied risks and difficul¬
ties to be encountered, a Y'ell-organized army of sneak thieves

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