A house of
ill-fame, to which persons were enticed by women who act as
decoys, and where, after making sure of the
victim, a man - usually playing the assumed part of the woman's
husband - suddenly enters the room by a
panel or other
secret passage and
extorts
money and
valuables by threats of
violence or, if the sufferer be asleep,
robs him of whatever valuables he may possess.
Reportedly, one of the more famous victims of the use of a "panel room" or "
panel house" was none other than
Phineas T. Barnum who, having coined the phrase "
there's a sucker born every minute," really should have known better. Staying with a woman "for company", he was accosted by a man claiming to be the woman's husband, who threatened to kill Barnum for the
injustice done unless Barnum coughed up enough cash to settle the man's temper.
Apparently, no blood was shed.
Source: T. Zell's Popular Encyclopedia, 1871.