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The Sewer Burglar

It was dark as my dad burst out the back door. He was very fast, I obviously inherited my speed from him (and my son Andy also received that gift as well) The lights from the distant parking lot gave enough light for dad to see a man running toward a car parked in the parking lot. However there was an eight foot chain-link fence between him and the walkway leading to the lot. If dad ran to the end of the fence he knew the man would get away so he hit the fence running, scaled it, and crashed landed below on the sidewalk badly skinning every knee and elbow he owned…. I don’t want to leave out this part; The fence was on the upper level walkway. There was about a four foot drop to the lower level which means that dad scaled an eight foot fence then dropped twelve feet to the walkway below! He came up running and actually caught up with the man jumping on the trunk of his car as he began to drive away. Dad was flung off the trunk as the burglar made the turn out of the parking lot onto the street taking more skin and meat off his hip, back, and shoulder. F.Y.I. He did all these things in his underwear!

Remembering Dennis

Well, it was quite a night and as daylight showed up, the police showed up too. I could hear the official sounding police voices downstairs. You know the voice: “Mrs. Stanley did you know the suspect? Had you ever seen him before? Can you describe him? Did the suspect say anything?” All questions were responded to with a sobbing NO! There were SO many questions to my mom, but when they turned to my dad it only took one question: “Mr. Stanley did you see the suspect?” Then they got the entire story just as I told it above. I’ve heard that story 1000 times along with the regret dad has always carried because he neglected to pick up his Smith and Wesson laying “right there” on the TV as he ran passed. Dad always said “that burglars career would have ended that night.”

At some point my parents remembered “me.” I’m betting it was around the time the police asked if anyone else was in he house. My little brother Alan was also screaming at the top of his lungs. So, they all came bounding up the stairs, everyone talking at once. I could hear mom calling my name but I thought the best thing for me was to remain quiet under the covers. It had been working for me so far, why change it? Mom threw back the covers and was sobbing as she wrapped her arms around me. She was asking if I was alright but I couldn’t answer because she was squeezing the last bit of life out of me. Everyone had a chuckle as I was asked to explain why all my toys were with me under the covers. But I knew I had done the right thing when it was determined that the burglar had come in through “my” window; the window that was inches from my bed. So let this be a lesson to everyone; “hiding under the covers actually does work.”

Dirty Flatfooted Detective Work

The police noticed muddy footprints on my window sill and noted that it hadn’t rained lately. Then dad retraced the route of his chase out to the parking lot with the police. When they got to the spot where the burglars car had been parked they saw the nearby sewer drain lid had been removed. Dad also mentioned that he believed the burglars car was left there running because he didn’t hear it start and the man was able to drive away quickly. From this information and maybe other things the police already knew, it was surmised that the burglar would always park near a sewer drain. He may leave his car running then go through the drain system and pop up at a location of his choice within the housing project. He would then burglarize, sometimes touch women, then return to his running car back through the sewer. In this way, he wouldn’t be seen for the most part and could escape quickly if needed.

Our Burglar Becomes Famous

The next day, one of the newspaper headlines read: “The Sewer Burglar” Strikes Again! (No, I can’t read yet) Then dad went on to read the events of our burglary, the details of many other burglaries, and how the burglar had evaded capture for so long. I don’t think the police do things this way nowadays, giving out all the details about crimes. But I don’t think the burglar read newspapers because he struck again right away using exactly the same “method of operation”. However, the great thing about giving out details of a criminals MO is: everyone knows what to look for. As I mentioned in a previous chapter, tenants in our housing project had been on guard each night hoping to catch the burglar. There were no streets within the complex so they assumed he had to travel the walkways. Of course that’s where the guards had been until the burglar earned his title “The Sewer Burglar” and his modus operandi made public.

Since the “Sewer Burglar” didn’t read newspapers and everyone now knew his technique, he was quickly caught during his next caper by our enthusiastic project guards. Every sewer drain was guarded by several possibly over-anxious men. A day or two after he was captured, the police actually brought this man to the housing project and showed him to every victim for identification. I was there when they came to our house and the man’s face was so beaten and battered I don’t see how anyone could identify him. However, if you are the man coming up from the sewer during the middle of the night you are a suspect. If you are in the housing project where there have been a string of burglaries, you are a prime suspect. If it is also well known you have been using the sewer to come and go from these burglaries, then you are….”The Sewer Burglar”.*

*Since I was in the first grade at “Peoples Street School” when the sewer burglar was active, the story would have appeared in an Atlanta newspaper circa 1958.

“THE PIG MEN” Living Large At The Amazing Housing Project (Part 3)