Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-07-11
A GOOD WATCHDOG.
HOW AN INVISIBLE ARMOR OF ELEC.
TRICKY PROTECTS
The Safes Of the Banks and Large Stores
How the U. S. Treasury Is Guarded
Where Watchmen Still
Reign.
New York Mail and Express.l

wires, rings a bell when the connection is
broken by violence, has been relocated al
most entirely to those private houses whose
owners or tenants sleep within call
There is a large pawn-shop in this city that
is fitted up with one Of these alarms, de-
signed by the owner, who is Of an inventive
turn Of mind. He always closes his shop at
night himself, and sleeps over the store To
a casual passer-by, who happens to glance
into the Office, where chairs stand about
the safe in confusion, it might bear the
appearance of having just been deserted
by party Of loungers, who broke up in q
hurry. But tho chairs are not as innocent
as they might seem. Their legs stand on
! electric buttons, and the slightest touch that
I would disturb them would summon the
| pawn-broker from his bedroom, with q
Seven shooter in each hand.
THE SYSTEM IN USE.
The system, however, that is now most
| generally adopted in banks and large stores
is vastly more ingenious than the pawn
brokers' clever device It surrounds the OBJ
jet to be protected with an invisible armor
| OF electricity, through which not even the
| point OF a pin may be thrust without giving
warning of the attack. The armor consists
OF narrow strips of tinfoil charged with
SAcSSA SAty thdt 4tuktu Wise anu WIG
around the object, inclosing it entirely.
The current is supplied by a bat
terry at the burglar alarm company's Office,
where galvanometer Of great sensitiveness
registers the slightest change in its intensity.
The finger Of the galvanometer trembles be-
tween two danger points, not far apart; if it
touches or passes either an alarm bell is
rung and keeps ringing till it compels atten-
ton. The burglars crowbar or gimblet
serves TO bring about discharge Of the cur
rent that promptly gives the signal for
which sufficient force OF men is watching
at the headquarters from the hour at which
the stores close at night until they are
opened in the morning. The tinfoil lining
is sometimes on tho safe or vault. but most
frequently on the inside of wooden box or
covering that is built around the stronghold
II is always out Of sight
In jewelry stores and silk warehouses that
are in danger from house-breakers, it occa-
sonally lines weak or exposed parts Of the
walls, concealed beneath a wainscoting OF
fancy paper or similar decoration. The
alarms registers the opening and closing
hours. and acts as a spy on all hands Every
night the police find scores of store doors.
sometimes even safes, left unlocked by care
less clerks, and the precaution is not need
less one. The mystery is that more is not
stolen in New York than one hears of.
PROTECTING THE TREASURY.
Only where tie accumulation of enormous
values justifies or demands the maintenance
Of corps Of armed watchers, as
in the subtreasury, the stock ex.
change, and some of the large safe
deposit vaults, is this now the chief feature
Of the protection afforded at night Yet
a 4al r.
police station by wires that enable them to
summon aid in an emergency Uncle Sans
funds and the bullion in the assay Office are
protected by a drilled body Of arme1 men
who, from their arsenal in the upper story
OF the sub-treasury. might keep a mob Of
thousands at bay. The stock exchange and
most Of the big safe deposit companies pin
their faith to stone walls and iron bars, and
70 time-locks that, until they unlock them
selves, shut one body Of watchers in and
another out, as hopelessly apart as if the
ocean lay between them. By night Wall
street fairly tbristles with policemen, and
craftsmen give it a wide berth
At police headquarters the treas urer's safe |
and the property clerks office are guarded |
by electric alarms that connect with the |
telegraph office in the basement One night |
some years ago. at a time when charges OF |
dishonesty, which were afterwards dis |
proved, were pending against the then treas
urer Of the b.srd. tho big bell rang in the |
telegraph ofiiea and scared the officials into |
eta The late Inspector Thorne and a po-
iceman made haste up the broad |
stairs to the huge safe to find that it was a |
rat, and not police commissioner. who had |
been fooling with the wires.
WHERE wATCHMEN STILL REIGN.
The mass Of property in the business part
OF the city is yet guarded by night by watch
men who are either the employees of the
owner, or in the pay Of private corporations
who hire them out as special policemen at so
much per night, or per week or month
Frequently a store has an outside and an in
side Waterman, who communicate by cleo
trical signals at stated intervals. Failure TO
send in the signal betrays inattention on the
part Of the man inside. or trouble. The
alarm was silent one night last winter in a
store in The Century building, and the
Waterman could not be reused When tho
door was broken open he was found dead in
his chair. He had shot himself with his re-
volver in a fit Of insanity brou on by
sufferings from neuralgia
Property along the shore is watched at
night by picked men in private employ, as
well as by police. Pinkerton's and other de-
tective agencies furnish men To watch prop
erty when desired, and there is no lack OF
private corporations organized specially for
this purpose
SAFETY FROM FIRE.
Danger threatens the wealth Of the me.
tropolis by night from another source than
the plotting Of thieves. A single fire that
gets a good start in the business district can
easily destroy more property in an hour
than burglars get away with in ten years
In fighting this danger, by giving timely
warning, tie electric, or so-called au-
tomato alarm, has proved invalua-
BILE The automatic fire alarm consists
merely Of a delicate spring made of one of
several metals abnormally sensitive TO
changes in the temperature. The springs
are fixed on the ceiling walls of room,
or in a show window where gas is burned,
ON the line of an open electric circuit end in
such a position that the slightest expansion
Of the metal instantly closes it AMI sets up
current that rings bell at the Automatic
Office. The spring may be al
justed to designate any degree of tempera-
ture by alarm, but for ordinary purposes it
goes Off at 45o degrees. which wouli indi-
cate danger at any time From Automatic
the alarm is transm tied to
the fire and police departments and
ans wered like any other alarm of fire. The
automatic signals 60 on record generally n,
false alarms In reality they were moth
ing of the kind, but notes Of warning uttered
just in time 20 prevent trouble.
Josh Billings: Most people are like an egg,