Page:The London Guide and Stranger's Safeguard.djvu/168

152 be deemed the most vulnerable place, one of the party descends, and breaks a pane of glass, which enables him to push back the bolt, and he slides up the window, the shutter whereof he forces with a small crow-bar, and if the house be not fully inhabited, he leisurely walks upstairs, and admits his accomplices at the front door. In any other case they go down the same way he has done; and in both cases it has happened, that the bold rogues have struck a light, drawn a cork or two, and smoked their pipes, while stowing away the valuables in a portable form! Undoubtedly, obstruction in any possible case, within the house, would be attended with blood-shed; but before getting in, the tingling of a chamber bell, the barking of a puppy, or the snoring of a servant on the ground floor, would scare away the boldest attempt that was ever made.

One of the most unblushing methods is, at once to burst open the front door. A small jack, of great powers, was known to have been used in several cases, a few years ago. It has not been heard of lately, and I am thence inclined to believe, there was but one of them made adapted to this purpose. "With a purchase of one eighth of an inch, you might heave St. Paul's with it," was a phrase used concerning the Jack; and as