Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1899 — Matches Preferred by Burglars. [ARTICLE]

Matches Preferred by Burglars.

“There te this to be said in favor of the sulphur match,” said the retired burglar, "that it is noiseless when struck; but it* odor is decidedly against it. More than once, when I have struck a sulphur match on the landing, I have heard some light sleeper, when the pungent fume* of the sulphur permeated the atmosphere, turn in bed in an adjacent room. "I stuck to sulphur matches a long time—naturally enough, I suppose—but finally I came to use safety matches altogether. They are noisy, but odorless, and it may be possible to scratch them when carts are passing, or when the wind is blowing, or there is some other noise abroad. At any rate I came to prefer, from experience, the noisy, odorless match to the silent sulphur. "Of course, the ideal match for anybody in my business would be one that should be both silent and odorless. It Is a wonder to me that nobody has invented such a match; it is greatly needed, and I should say that it would be comparatively easy of Invention. Now that I have retired, may be I will devote myself to the invention of such a match and to do something to promote the interests of an arduous and none too remunerative calling.”