Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-04-13
lErsz Ia L1..11 E=ss
Protectfon Against Thieves.

each other In such rapid succession. partook so
largely OF the same character, and we're com
mitted with such uniform success. that Il was
impossible rot 10 connect them With the exist
ence Of an expert, active. and daring gang Of
thieves, established in the midst OF us. They
were all robberies OF bullion, lewelry or watches
They az gave evidence of deep design and bold
execution. To each case the amonnt Of spoil
was unusually large Dir. Johnston, the jeweller
10 1headneetle street lost e. 600 worth OF
property; Messrs. Baum. the bullion dealers in
Lombard street. nearly El0 600 worth. AZ Mr.
Abraham's in the Strand. the plumber was valued
az above El 900: at NJ. Walkers 10 Cornhll.
at G6,0OO. In every instance the robbery was
effected ia spite Of what were considered spih
cieut precautions, and the thieves eluded the wig
lance OF the police and broke into the strongest
safes With complete success. Al last, however.
IL present suspicious should DE verified. the gang
has been tracked. The discoveries made by the
police on Friday afternoon, Ssrran. a strong be
lief that the prisoners nov uhder examination
we're concerned in tso, ii not three. Of the re
cent burglaries, and the public will follow Nth
no common interest the development OF so re
narkable story. Great credit is given to the
police for their successful ezertions, and not
without reason.
They have evidently been ~ work for the last
three weeks 10 redeem reputation which bad
we'll for their professional science that We should
have heard nothing Of their operations till the
end bad been accomplished. Not a syllable
Ianspired OF their proceedings or their expecta-
tons till toe house in which the prisoners lodged
suddenly surrounded. is contents SEX d aud
its inmates captured. Whether the charges can
actually be brought home TO the accused. re
mains 20 be seen. but, at any rate a large pro
portion OF the stolen property has been recover
ed. Thieves nova days are prudent well
dextrOus. They require a. good investments for
their money are sought for more honest game.
A year or two ago there was felou with "a OOO
in consols. In the presen. case the robbers, who
ever they we're. had selected the London and
Westminster Bank eligible place OF depOs
Il for the realized portion OF their spoil. Besides
the jewelfy found on the premises and identified
by it's lawful owners. Two deposit notes" were
discovered, one for f250, and Que for ESQ The
thieves of Jack Sheppard's time never reached
this mark. With them it ill-gotten, i'll
spent; but now your burglar works on far
grander scale, with more scientific appliances
and a more frugal mind to boot. No sooner had
the police effected the 6rst capture than they pro-
ceedsd with equal success 70 a second
Two houses had apparently been used as re-
eeptscles OF plunder, end both have been search
ed 20 good purpose The suspicion is that the
" investments represent the produce OF some
earlier burglary. and that the spoil obtained from
Mr. Walkers safe had yet TO be converted and
put out % interest. Ga Monday very extraor-
binary fact transpired The police bad not only
arrested. they believed. the perpetrators of the
robbeIies and recovered much OF the plumber, but
they had Obtained information which induced
them TO search the bottom of the Thames for the
remainder So an eIpef. diver was sent down
near Blackfriars bridge. and five gold watches
have actually been hshed up already. Alarm
| must have succeeded 10 confidence pretty abrupt.
| y when people who could plan and execute such
robbeIies ss these no longer dare TO retain even
| a few gold watches in their possession. Meau.
| time. while the inquiry is proceeding and the
| charges against the prisoners are tested by evi
| dence, IL will be OK some advantage 90 consider
| the circumstances by which these great burglar
les have been characterized and the lessons
| which they ought 10 teach Ii is now known
that the most experienced and responsible of our
police authorities 90 not approve OF sanction the
practice OF trusting TO gss-ight and publicity for
the security of valuable property left without :
guard.
| The system may not be without lis recon-
mendatons; in fact, We are told that it is adopted
to the exclusion Of all other precautions in Wall
street, the Lombard street Of New York But il
implies what IS apparently an excessive reliance
on the resisting power Of safes and, besides that
Il
| quite far enough in Wall street, as understand
the shops OF the bullion dealers and money
| changers have no shutters at all, so that their
| whole fronts of plate glass are blazing with ga;
| all through the night. Now. in London, our
jewellers, on leaving their shops and safes to the
custody of the stree, patrol, only cut peep hole.
in the shutters, through which the policeman oil
the passerby has 10 get his glimpse OF the interior
| la the case OF the Cornhill robbery the securt,
haI l.A
| another circumstance In the back shop, which
contained the safe. partition mad been raised
which. to a considerable extent intercepted the
view OF the safe from the peep-hole, and il was
under cover of this partition that the thieves frs
assembled into the shop through a hole IN tn,
floor. and then operated upon the door of the
safe. But the chief of the police distinctly stated
his opinion that the whole system wss unsound
De said that the main duty OF the police consisted
in the protection of houses from the outside
Their beat was in the street They were bounC
TO see that no house was broken into. but they
could not guard equally against operations con
Quoted by thieves left snugly locked Up in house,
| by their own occnpiers, and indslged with six
| sld thirty hours of license. That was the expla
na ion Of the Cornbil robbery.
The thieves gained their first great point.ir
bsing left alone in the house on Saturday night
with which, of course, the police had nothing Il
| 10 Whatever, ana then they Obtained so muct
protection from the PARTITION recently erected in
the back shop. tia. they eluded the detection o.
the police from the outside
Another feature OF these robberies deserving
special attention is the unexpected insecurity o.
the best iron safes. Ii should be remarked, too
that in no instance have the locks been pick et
or otherwised opened The safes were forced
open by sheer violence. and il il supposed by
steel crowbar acting at powerful leverage. Ii
| Lombard street the door of the safe had beer
lifted clean off its hinges; but though the wards
OF the lock were shattered to pieces, there wer,
no marks Of force either upon the door itse' oil
upon the croWbsrs which had been left in III,
! room
In the Cornhil burglary. again. the door Of
Mr.. Walkers sale was left apparently so ntac
that when the shopmsn me in the morning ht
could no. az first sigh. detect that il had beer
forced open. Now, what do our leading lock
smiths say to all this? Are their strongest
safes so weak that simple crow bar judiciousl,
applied can pry them open and that as an en-
gineer suspects, in ten minutes timer We ar,
not prepared for so complete failure oftheir CT
when matched agains; TIA, of the burglar. Nc
doubt. IN the example before Us, the robbers wert
irstrate hands, but then they operated sgzins
6rstrate articles and il il unpleasant TO find then
winning so easily. Better apparently, the ok
system of good Waterman than that OF q faith
less strong box and a perforated shutter
The I4th OF April.
IL II