The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-09-10

"'Not bit Of it.; says 1; Il don't propose
you shall get look at our faces, if / know
it, With that we parted. taking the stuff
with us, and the fellow never reported the
loss or said aughtregarding it. That is what
l call q brave man.
"If man meets you in his house at the
dead of night, is his life in dsnger?"
"Not if he lets Us alone, and allows US to
escape. We know well enough that man
finding US in his house has
"PKRFRcT RIGHT TO KILL US,
will give US the slightest show of escape, we
will dust, and almighty lively at that. If he
corners us. then he must look out for resist
ance, and generally he gets the worst of it.
1 remember, on one occasion, got into
pretty tight hole and only escaped BY diving
through a second story window, taking glass;
sash and all with me. 1 was cut pretty bad
ly and terribly bruised, but I got away"
"What preventives can be resorted to that
you may be kept on the outside of our
houses?"
"None. We can break in with compare
tive ease, though sometimes we have to work
slow just to save making noise. If strong
bolt is placed on the inside a sleeping-room.
in nine cases out of ten that room will not
be troubled. We can unlock the door with
our nippers, but rather than force it
with our jimmy, and thus make enough noise
to awaken the sleeper, we pass the apart
ment for one not provided with bolt. Bolts
on the outer doors are good thing, for they
might catch us without a jimmy and only
set of keys, and then we should look else
where. Ofcouse most of our house-break-
ing is done in the suburbs, for we couldn't
crack house in the city and get into the
street with any heavy plumber, without be-
ing collared before we had gone block.
We lay around until we get good diamond
or jewelry job that we can pocket and then
we sail in. About the best thing know of
is the burglar alarm, and if we find a house
is provided with it we let it alone. 1 was
alone one night, and started off to crack
house in small village not a thousand miles
from New York. 1t was situated on the
outskirts of the town. / tried to force q
rear window and succeeded. As pushed it
up heard whirring sound, but thought it
was some noise in the village. it was SO indis-
| tinct. 1 raised the sash higher and heard the
same noise. / 'tumbled' in second that it
was an alarm, and lodged behind tree
pretty lively you can just bet. / waited
some time and concluded that 1 would get
around to the front of the house and see if
any lights were lit. Jumped from tree to
| tree, and just as 1 turned the corner of the
building felt something cold brush against
my face, and on looking up saw the proprie-
tor of the house
with SHOT GUN IN HIS HAND
and my head evidently at the end of the
barrel. Snap went the hammer, and / was
in luck for the cap did not explode, and thus
have whole head to tell you this story
The fellow seemed to think it was my turn
then, for he dropped the gun and put into
| the house like good one. l commenced to
make lively time over the fence and down
the road. hadn't got far before 1 heard
the report of the gun, and 1 think he must
| have got fresh cap and put it on. 1t
| alarmed the village and they rang the bells
and made great noise, but l had no diff
Guilty in getting away.
| "Are you not sometimes pretty desperate
when a season of bad luck attends your"
| Eyes; but that is only upon rare occasions.
| l can give you one specimen that happened
to me, and, from that, you can judge how
| hard pressed a man must be to do what l did.
1t was in midwinter, and in the midst of
driving snow storm. / started off to go
through house that expected should get
good haul from. L wore no coat for ex-
pected to bring one away with me. bunked
| down behind stone wall until concluded
/ should freeze to death. and determined to
get into that house and get warm, whatever
might happen. The wind was bowling and
the snow drifting about so l took my jim
my and broke pane of glass in the kitchen
window. Throwing up the sash l entered
the room and sat down before the fire until
got warm. Then 1 hunted up the coffee
pot and set that upon the stove, found some
cold meat, bread, pies, etc, and set
| the table, and when all was ready made an
excellent feast. When finished l went over
the house and picked up what wanted, and
taking pillow laid down in front of the
open CRATE in the parlor and stayed there
until morning, when 1 cleared out. That
was q time when didn't care whether was
| caught or not"
"What does good set of burglars tools
cost, and how are they manufactured"
"a good set of tools will cost 5000 or $700
Our tools must be made of the finest steel
and tempered to just such degree, or they
are good for nothing. Some men have Ger.
tain pieces in set, while others have differ
ent ones. In every set however, you will
find
ga FULL ASSORTMENT OF JIMMIEs,
skeleton keys, jacks, levers, etc. We have
certain ways of getting our tools, and there
are certain men who make business of man.
ufacturing them for US. 1t is rarely that we
pick up set in any one place, but it is more
often that we gather our collection from
dozen different localities. OF course it i.
dangerous for US to have them in our pos
session, for if detected, we are liable to a long
term of imprisonment,fo for it is a State prison
offense to own or have a set about US. How
ever, we take the risk and sometimes pay
dear for it,
"How do you work safes?"
"That depends upon the safe. Some VIZ
work one way and some another. The mair
thing in all safe work, however, is to cut the
1 no nQnfc 1nal xufft
the bars. We generally go to worl
upon the iron over this bolt and then, by
using the blow-pipe, we take the temper ou1
of the iron and then bore and cut until VIZ
get through, Some safes are being made
now that have double row of plates ovel
the bolt and that bothers us. for it take.
more time"
. sis there any isafe you can not breal
open?"