MR. PUNCH, SIR,--Magistrates are beginning, not a moment too soon,
to protest against the ridiculous pockets in ladies' dresses, which
afford such a temptation to the felonious classes! I should like
to draw attention to an invention of my own which, I think, quite
meets the difficulty. It is called the "Patent Unpickable Electrical
Safety Pneumatic Combination Purse-Pocket," and it does not matter
in the least in what part of the dress this pocket is placed. No
sooner is the thief's hand in contact with the purse than a powerful
voltaic circuit is at once formed, and by the principle of capillary
attraction, coupled with that of molecular magnetisation, the hand is
firmly imprisoned. Scientific readers will readily understand how this
happens. In his efforts to release his hand the thief touches a button,
when an electrical search light of five thousand candle-power is at
once thrown around, a policeman's rattle of a peculiarly intense tone
is set going, several land torpedoes discharge simultaneously from all
sides of the dress, while the voice of a deceased judge issuing from
a concealed phonograph pronounces a sentence of seven years' penal
servitude on the now conscience-stricken depredator.
Yours, EDISON JUNIOR.
* * * * *
John Walter.