The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-06-18
Pract.eaI Locksmlth and safe.opener


up IN 'front.' OF the door was the sign:
.............-........... Observation-Disclosures.
Practical Locksmith and Safeopener.
:......s..... ......,.........
"Do you make a profession of break
ing open safes?" asked reporter.
81 open safes when nobody else
cam replied the smith. '.That is, I
open safes when the locks are out of
| order or the com bination's lost. Some
times man will oil the lock of his safe
and it gets gummed up so that the
tumblers won't work and he can't get
it open. Some men are forgetful and
| lose their combinations. Safes are sold
at sheriffs' sales sometimes, and the
owner being mad won't give up the
combination. When any thing of that
kind happens they send for me. -
''Do you blow them open?''
it won't work, l 1riil little hole
alongside the dial and pick the lock
with a small piece of wire. Ii the lock
is all right and only the combination
lost, | go to work and find it and dom t
deface the lock at ALL 1t takes me
from three seconds to six hours to open
safe, according to the kind and the
method employ
"But how can you fud the combina-
ton? Does it not take long tlmen
"By testing. As to time it depends
upon circumstances. If / know the
| man who sets the combination / can
| find it in a very few minutes; if don't
know him it takes longer. You see, /
study the character Of the man, and il
l know him pretty well / can strike
bis combination through his character.
| When stranger comes to me to say
| he has lost his combination, [ make a
study of him, and in nine cases out of
ten hit it the second or third time.
! But If he did not set the combination
himself it is more difficult. Then /
study the lock instead OF the man, ard
I'm sure to get it open in a few hours.
Oh, no! 1t wouldn't do to tell you how.
Safe-openers are dangerous to the
community. They are always watched
by the police. They keep an eye on
me all the time. / have them trying
my door at all hours of the night, and
there's generally one somewhere
around. No, / couldn't teach you
how to, open safes. And you might
not find it easy to learn. There is a
kind of association between me and
locks an understanding, as it were.
We have the same way OF thinking
Gould you open q burglar proof
time-lock?" asked the scribe.
II can open the best lock that was
ever made in five or six hours These
little office safes wouldn't put that
much time on. They don't pay enough.
just take q hammer and break the
knob off and can get into the safe in
about three seconds. -
What do you get for opening
safes?''
''For little three-second safe get
ten dollars. For large safes like those
in banks and brokers offices and where
they don't want the lock injured 1 get
two hundred and fifty dollars?"
Gould you open the great safe in the
United States Treasuryp''
Easily. could get rid of the time
lock and every thing else in six or
seven hours and wouldn't make any
| particular fuss about it either No safe
was ever made but it had weak point
known to the maker so that he could
get into it in case the lock should re-
fuse to respond. If there WASH they
would have to break the concern all to
pieces in case the lock broke. Now,
know where to find this weak place.
can strike within a quarter of an inch
of it every time. 1t is generally COW
cred by thin piece of steel or boiler
iron, and by cutting away block
three or four inches, which is easily
done, | would drill into the best safe
that was ever made. It would not be
any trouble for burglars to get into the
treasury safe if they understood locks
as well as dc"
HAS your knowledge of locks ever
| gotten you into trouble with the POI
lice?'
mo; not seriously; though, as say,
they always watch me. Down in Oil
City, though. created quite an alarm
one night and came near being capt
ured as a burglar. Some fellows got
tampering with the safe in large
| hardware store there, and somehow
got the combination changed so that
no one knew how to open it. The pro-
prietor sent for me. and / told him /
could open it, but, as was quite busy,
| should have to wait until evening.
closed my store little after dark and
| went to work on the job. I had
been working couple of hours when
some one banged at the door and called
on me to surrender without resistance,
| if did not want to be shot. The pro-
/ prietor was fortunately in the store at
the time and opened the door. There
was squad of policemen. armed The
house was completely surrounded and
could not escape The patrolman
had seen me at work on the safe and
| gone off and reused the town and the
whole police force had been called out
to surround the building. The eropri-
etor explained and | went on with the
job. "A. I. Mail and Express.
"A Santa Rosa (Cal.) fruit-seller
who has been boycotted makes the fol-
! loyvinCr onOol1nan1nn ont. ssRur- mr. bor