Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-11-07
BURGLARY AS A SCIENCE.
THE KNIGHTS OF THE JIMMY KEEP
PACE WITH IMPROVEMENTS.

THE KNIGHTS OF THE JIMlIY KEEP
PACE WITH IMPROVEMENTS.
Personnel of the Expert Gangs that Ope-
rate on Bank Safes-The Care, Skill and
Cost With Which Burglafs Lay Their
Plans.
ISan Francisco Call.
Progress is not coufned to the fine arts.
the exact sciences, religion or education
The mendicant of to-day unfolds a tale OF
woe as mendacious as patent medicine
aabel- AM - full OF tropes and gilt-edged
rhetoric as transcendentalist. The pro-
fessional ''crook'' is just as wide-awake as
the guardian of coin and coupons.
Bankers and brokers! Breakers and burg
lars! What an everlasting amount OF
smash there exists in these little busy BIS!
Belonging to the same line are bolts, bars.
beaks and beats. Boiling cashiers, the
bars of bank, the bars of bridewell, not
to speak of the bars where brandy batters
the brain. There is the ''beak," who binds
and travels on his 'beat," bestirring some
beat behind the bars, as we'll as the
bounced beat" The BIS seem to beat the
balance of the lie tiers in the criminal book
There has been marked advance in the
science of doing things, and the trade of
doing" mankind keeps step to the music
of progress. The rascal has advanced his
craft and cunning nearly as fast as his vic
tim has invented burglar proof safes and
chrOnOmeter locks.
When the combination lock was invent
al hat
more 60 a-burglarizing. In 1872 or. 1873,
however, this fond hope was found falla-
cious, when Louisville bank was nearly
ton was followed for period of four years
by number of robberies and attempted
robberies which have never been equaled.
The gentlemen of the jimmy" had the
best of the combination lock.
Some idea may be had of the serious
character of this fact. when the reader re-
fleets that during those years nearly three
millions of money and bonds were stolen
most skillfui robberles were the work of
one gang of men, nor was the proof nee
essary to convict obtained until the famous
Northampton bank robbery, in the winter
of 1876, when four masked men took from
the vault money and bonds of the face
value Of nearly one and one-quarter mill
ion.
propose to tell the story of the exploits
of two of this gang, which, although not
altogether successful, Will show, in part, the
amount of work required to break a bank.
1t may deter lethargIc persons from adopt
ing the profession, because it will be found
that even burglars have to work for liv-
ing. Robert Scott and Jimmy Dunlap
were the brains of the combination, the
former born in Warsaw, ILL.,, and the latter
in Scotland. They were both ''nervy,"
muscular and nobby. They lived in con-
siderable style and Jared sumptuously every
day. Scott owned the celebrated trotting
mare Knox. He, in company with the
blonde mustached Dunlap, created no end
of sensation one season at Long Branch,
being voted stunning good fellows by the
men. while they attracted considerable at
tention among the ladies. Billy Connors,
a New York crook was also member Of
the syndicate.
The Second National bank of Elmira
was selected for attack. 1t was decided to
S'work the bank through the floor of the
Young Mems Christian association room,
directly above the vault. But they were
met at the outset by an unexpected diff
culty-the door of the room was an iron
one, and locked with Hall lock. They
did not understand its mechanism.
One party entered the house of the sec
rotary of the Young MEMS Christian as
ISOLATION while he was asleep and searched
his pockets to steal the keys long enough
to get an impression in wax. The young
man, however, had placed the keys under
the carpet in his room, and the robber was
thus foiIed
They were now sin quandary,' and
were almost ready to give up, when Con-
nors heard of a lock expert who was en-
ployed by one of the great New York safe
makers. Considerable diplomacy was en-
ployed and some half dozen interviews
held before the expert consented to reveal
the secrets of the Hall lock for $4,000.
COnnors came back to Elmira, and Dun
lap, by some means, managed to have a
letter sent the New York safe men making
inquiry in regard to their goods. AS was
expected, the expert was dispatched to
Elmira to ''buz'' the customer. He was
careful to make known his business. 1t
was mentioned in an evening paper. Scott
inserted ball of paper in the Hall lock,
in consequence of which it was quite nat
ural that the expert should be summoned
to repair the same. The expert took an
impression of the key, and that difficulty
was surmounted. About this time a GER
tain Mrs. Davis came to Elmira from Bal
timore and rented small house in the sub
urbs. She represented her husband as a
commercial man, who was almost always
on the road. 1t was queer kind of house
keeping she kept. There were a full set of
window curtains to the house. few blank
cts and few culinary utensils. But she
was very careful to sweep the pavement
every day and hang cut an occasional
N'washing."
Here the gang" spent their time, never
going out in daytime, and using every pre-
caution against discovery. The reader will
see at once the value of this cover. These
men, it must be remembered were suspect
ed; some OF them were known bank-break-
ers. Had their presence been known in
Elmira dozen of detectives would have
been at their heels and all the banks wonld
have been warned. By this plan, however,
they were enabled to defy pursuit, for had
a robbery been committed during their
stay there, no one knew they were in the
city. They were strangers to everybody;
nebodywas familiar with their faces. Ii
this house they lived nearly two months.
"