The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-27
Burglary as a Business.
From the Washington Star.

GA man must be good mechanic to be
burglar-a safe blower" remarked an old
detective. He must have good tools and
know how TO use them. Now, if you had
drill and undertook to drill hole through
that Stovepipe there you would probably
make a mess of it. How, then, is an I'M
skillful man going to make out when he has
to drill through the hardest steel! An expert
burglar must be a good mechanic, know
how to use his TOOLS and where TO work on
a safe. He has to do his work quickly, and
use blOw-pipe or some other means of
sOfteniug the steel. The tools used by eX-
pert burglars, the men who rob banks, are
of the finest workmanship, and kit costs
81 600 or more 1t takes some capital for
one to get a start as a burglar But these
men who tried to blow the safe the other
night were 'chumps.' Whenever there is a
successful safe burglary it is always
followed by other attempts. The lower
order of thieves say we can do something
like this and go off and try it."
"Do these burglars get much of the
proceeds of their skillF" asked the reporter.
"Now,n said the detective, 1--WE will sup
pose burglars rob bank safe in Washing
ton and get we will say, 100000 in negOtia-
BILE bonds-Chicago & Northwestern, or some
thing like that--bonds that are not register
ed. but are numbered. The bank has list
of the numbers. They cannot, you see,
dispose of the bonds in open market; but
they will take them to man who will give
| them about about one-third of their value.
| If the bonds are worth par, he will give
| them. say $4,000 cash. That is all they
get. Now tho man that buys the bonds
calls in another man skilled III his line, who
goes over them and alters the numbers. For
this he receives 10 per cent. of the value of
the tonds, or $4,000. The man who bought
the bonds has paid out for them SO far
d. n
spectacle broker and easily handle them
himself After ..the bonds are altered he
calls in n man known As a layer down. 1t
is this mans business to dispose of or lay
down the bonds For this he gets one half
of the profits. He sells them at the full
market va ue say 500 600, and gets half of
the $50, 600 remaining, after the money paid
to the burglars and to the man who altered
the numbers is deducted
But thieves who get diamonds and
jewelryW
"Well, suppose" said the detective that
thief has got into mans house and taken
the mans watch, worth, say, Sl5O, his
wife's diamond earrings, worth, say, $500,
and perhaps a diamond ring, too, making
the value of all about 81 900. lie goes to
fence, who looks at the watch, calculates
how much the gold cases viii amount to
when melted down, says he will have to
have a new plate put on the works, So as to
alter the number OF the watch, and finally
gives S25 for it. He takes the diamonds
from the settings, examines them aud
weighs them, and gives perhaps $50 for
the stud, $3.50 for the stones from the ear
rings, and so on, making in all about $3.50
for the lot. That is all the thief will get for
his Job. The settings of the stud and ear
rings will be thrown aside. 1t is the stones
that are valuable, and, except in the case of
very large and valuable diamonds that are
registered, no one could swear positively TO
them after they are reset. The fence, of
course, has 10 take risks, and many have to
keep the stolen diamonds for six months or
more If fence becomes known, thieves
won't put anything away with him. If it is
a choice between two, and one of the two
conducts his business so quietly that he has
not been discovered, the thief viii go o him,
though ne knows he will get a much smaller
sum for what he has 10 dispose Of"