upon the
door. Another is to fill the socket with some substance, a cork for
instance, so that when the bolt is pushed forward, it fails to enter the
socket.

An instance is related of an elderly man coming into one of these rooms,
and casually remarking to his female friend, "I hope I won't be rapped
out of this room by anyone, for I have been in two places to-night and
was rapped out of both." That gentleman was robbed in the first house he
entered, and must have remarked in the second one that he was "rapped
out" of the first, for his companion in this last affair knew what had
happened in the other cases, and that he would not have been treated in
that manner unless they had secured his money. And so his remark being
again overheard, he was unceremoniously "rapped out" of this third and
last house. Here is a case from the records which probably illustrates
the method as well as any other:

An elderly man, about sixty years of age, entered a panel-room with a
dark-haired, flashily-dressed woman, who immediately requested him to
bolt the door. This he did, but he might have saved himself the trouble,
for the door was no more closed then than it was before. These bolts are
very ingenious. The catch on the jamb of the door into which the bolt
slides has three false screw-heads in it. In reality it is not attached
to the door-casing at all, but is fastened to the body of the bolt by an
unseen plate. Consequently, when the door is opened, the catch goes
forward with the remainder of the bolt. This, of course, was not noticed
by the man, as the gas was not turned up by the woman till after the
door was closed. While the man was bolting the door the woman hurried to
the dressing-table and hastily laid her hat on one chair and her cloak
on the other. This action compelled the man to place his clothes on the
couch or on one of the chairs by the folding doors. When all was ready,
one of the operators scratched lightly on the door with his finger-nail,
to warn the woman he was about to enter the room. The next moment the
man boldly opened the door wide, removed the chair out of his way, and
glided rapidly to the other chair, on which the man's clothes lay. At
this moment the woman redoubled her fascinations, for the purpose of
distracting the attention of her companion, in which intent she was
eminently successful. The work of going through the man's pockets, and
what is technically known as "weeding" his pocket-book, was qui