News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-11-04
RASCALS ANDTHEIR WAYS
A FEW NOTES SHOWING HOW TIE
CRIMINAL OF TO-DAY WORKS.
Inspector Byrnes, of New York, Tells Us
ZONE Stories About the Crooks" in
His New Book.
HOW BANK SAFES ARE BROKEN OPEN.

HOW BANK SAFES ARE BROKEN OPEN.
Some extracts from the book published
by Inspector Byrnes, of New York, will
show how he treats the various classes
of crime and of criminals. Bank bur
glars. for instance, those adopts with
| the "iackscrew" and the drag" are
treated of in a special chapter. Here
are some of the Inspectors comments
upon their methods:
| Some burglars make their own outfit,
but almost any blacksmith will make
any tool he is called upon for, if its
construction is within his capacity,
without asking any questions about the
uses to which it is to be put, provided
he gets his price for it. 1t is, of course,
more than probable that he guesses the
use for which it is intended, but that, he
thinks, is not his business. The making
of such implements is, as rule, confined
| to those mechanics who are actually in
| league with the criminals who expect to
use them. The heavy and unwieldy
tools of years ago have been abandoned
| by the modem bank robber with his
new inventions. While some bank
thieves use the spirit-lamp and blow
pipe to soften the hardened metals and
take the temper out of the steel vault
or cases, others use only small dia-
mOnd- pointed drill. Then again, others,
who do not care to spend time manipu-
latIng the intricate combination, use a
simple sort of mechanics, technically
called the "drag" and jackscrew."
The former, simple as it looks, Is ex-
tremely powerful and so quiet. By
means of bit hole is bored through a
safe door; nut is set inside; the point
of the S rev passes through the nut,
which rests inside the surface that has
been bored; then the screw is turned by
a long handle, which two men can OPP
crate. As the screw turns, the nut is
forced forward further and further. 1t
is power that hardly any construction
of safe can resist. Either the back or
the front must give way.
The 'jackscrew" is rugged so that by
turning it will noiselessly force into the
crack of a safe door succession of steel
wedges; first, one as thin as a knife
blade; soon, one as thick as your hand :;
and they increase in size until the hinges
give way, Where the size or the loca-
ton of the safe or vault to be forced
precludes the use of these machines, and
explosion become necessary, dynamite
and nitro -glycerine are used with the
greatest skill, and with such art in the
deadening of sound that sometimes an
explosion which rends asunder a huge
safe cannot be heard twenty yards away
from the room in which it takes place.
The patient safe robber is aware of
several ingenious ways of picking COM
bination locks. In following their ne
fariOus calling these men attain a deli
cacy of feeling by which they are able
to determine to nicely the exact dis
lance necessary to raise each tumbler of
the lock. The burglar masters a com
blnation with almost mathematical ac-
curacy, and manipulates its complex
machinery with the same deXterity and
precision that music teacher touches
the keys CT a piano. He is trained to
detect one false note in a swelling chorus
produced by the click of reverberating
rachets within the loo =, and marks the
period and duration of the drops. When
they come across some new kind of lock
they will manage to get possession of
one, whatever its cost, and whatever
roundabout means may be necessary to
get hold of it, and, taking it apart, will
study its construction until they know
its strong and weak points, and how to
master it, just as well as its inventor or
maker could. They are always on the
alert to utilize for their purposes every
new appliance of power.
WARN Nc TO CASHIERS AND TELLERs.
The Inspectors chapter on bank sneak
thieves will probably have mournfui
interest to the cashier or the paying
teller of many country bank, and there
are some bank employees in the eiAi@aa-
who will profit by careful perusal OF
the methodsNof these slippery gentry.
This is what Mr.. Byrnes says about
them
For many years bank sneak thieving
fourished to an alarming extent in New
York City, and under the old detective
systems it seems impossible to put a stop
to that form of robbery. While it may
have been true that the detectives in
some cases were not as vigilant as they
might have been, subsequent develop
ments have demonstrated that the fnan-
cial quarter Of the city was in the past
but poorly protected. Well-knOwn
thieves no longer haunt that prescribed
locality, and since the establishment of
a suD-detective bureau in Wall street,
six years ago, not dollar has been
stolen from any of the wealthy concerns
In the great money centre by professional
criminals. The Inauguration of patrol
service by experienced detectives during
business hours and the connecting by
telephone of all the banking institions
have been the means of putting a stop
to the operations of that particular class
of rogues known as bank sneak thieves.
Still, in the other cities of the country,
where these precautions have proved
such great preventative against the
preparation of crime have not been
adopted, the thieves succeed in carry
ing on their depredations and reap rich
rewards. Bank sneak thieves are all
men of education, pleasing address,
good personal appearance and faultle s
in their attire. With astonishing cool
ness these determined fellows commit
the most daring thefts. The handful of
rogues who have attained |
such exalted rank in the criminal pro-
fessien despise the thousands of other
robbers who live by the commission of
small crimes
In robbing country banks, where the |
clerks are few, and generally during the |
dinner hour the cashier or paying teller |
is the onl y man left in the institution,
Sneaks have simple and easy scheme |
for plundering. One first enters and en-
cages the cashier or teller in converse
ton upon subject in which the latter be- |
comes deeply interested. VI lille this is 60
ing on carriage halts at the door, and the |
driver is sent in to tell the official inside |
tnat a gentleman who hurt his leg and |
is unable to walk desires to speak 10 |
him outside. The unexpected cashier |
Dr. teller excuses himself to his first Wis
tor and goes out to speak to the injured |
man, and in his absence the bank is |
ransacked. Robberies of this kind are |
quite frequently, and gangs |
of sneaks travel all over the country |
with a circus or wild beast show. In |
the towns and small cities the parade |
Of the Performers create considerable |
and when the calvacade |
happens to pass a bank, the clerks, !
cashiers and paying tellers seem to |
forget themselves and run to to the |
to look out. The sneak thieves |
take advantage of the opportunity and
quietly slip into the institution. In a |
twinkling their work is complete, and
before the procession has passed they
have escaped with whatever they could
lay hands on.