Bismarck weekly tribune., 1885-06-26
! A GOOD w .ATCH Dog.
HOW AN lNvlsIBL LES AF7MoR or ELEc.
TRlClTY PROTECTS
The Safes of the Banks and Large Stores
How the Q. s. Treasury Is Guarded
H. Where Watchmen stiII
f, XII. Reign. @
New York Mail and Express.l5

k101Sns
New York Mail and Express.l
The devices employed by electricians to
convey warning Of threaten3l danger are
numerous, and some Of them very queer.
The burglar alarm that connecting with
the doors, windows and scuttle by visible
wires, rings bell when the connection is
broken by violence has been relegated al
most entirely to those private houses whose
owners or tenants sleep within call.
There is 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
q 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 the chairs are not as innocent
as they might seem. Their legs stand on
electric buttons, and the slightest touch that
would disturb them would summon the
pawn-broker from his bed room, 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. Il surrounds the OBJ
ject to be protected with an invisible armor
OF electricity, through which not even the
point of pin may be thrust without giving
warning of the attack The armor consists
OF narrow strips Of tinfoil charged with
electricity that run lengthwise and crosswise
around the object inclosing it entirely.
The current is supplied by bat
terry at the burglar alarm company's Office,
where gal yanometer 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-
tion. The burglars crowbar or gimbIet
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 the safe or vault, but most
frequently on the inside Of a wooden box or
covering that is built around the strong.box.
It is always out of sight. ~, szs<&
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 wainscotine of
fancy paper or similar decoration. The
alarms registers the opening and closing
hours. and acts as 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 the accumulation of enormous
values jnstifies or demands the maintenance
OF corps Of armed watchers, as
in the suh.treasury, 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
even these are connected with the nearest
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 drilled body of armel men
VINO, from their arsenal in the upper story
OF the sub-trea>ury. 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
to time-locks that, until they unlock them
selves, shut one body of watchers in and
another out, as hopelessly apart as il the
ocean lay between them. By night Wall
street fairly bristles with policemen, and
cracksmen give it wide berth.
Al police headquarters the treasurers 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 time when charges of
dishonesty, which were afterwards dis.
proved, were pending against the then treas
urer OF the board, the' big bell rang in the
telegraph office and scared the officials into
nts The late Inspector Thorne and a 20.
hceman 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 store has an outside and an in
side watchman, who communicate by cleo
tr1cal 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
store in The Century building, and the
watchman could not be reused. When the
oAonoA ops0 no was 1OunO DEAD
MS chair He had shot himself with his re-
volver in fit Of insanity brought on by
suHerlngs from neuralgia. .ssgt7'
Property along the shore is watched at
night by picked men in private employ, az
well as by police. Pinkerton's and other de-
tecGlve agencies furnish men to watch prop.
erty when desired, and there is no lack Of
private corporations organised specially for
this purpose. - 90.
SAFETY FROM FIRE.
Danger threatens the wealth Of the me.
rropolis by night from another source than
the plotting of thieves. single fire that
gets 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
warming, the electric. or so-called au.
1omat1e To- as alarm, has proved invalua-
Ole. The automatic fire alarm consists
merely of delicate spring made Of ona of
several metals abuorrnally sensitive to