The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-11-18
SAFE OPENING A BUSINESS.
An Experts Experience in Finding
Lost Combinations

hQTRl1Est All PACScA wing DOOkS huu
pspsrs in case Of fire, but sometimes the
combination refuses to work, aud then there
Is embarrassment in the counting-room.
Books and money are locked up so that the
custodian cannot possibly get access to
them. Usually after hours of fruitless
experiments with the combination it be-
comes necessary to send for an expert to
omen the safe.
There is one chance in twenty-five that
the expert will be able TO open the safe
without drilling into it. He is furnished
with the figures in the order in which they
are remembered, and there's about one
chance in twenty-five that the man who is
sure that it is 10, 20, 80 is mist AIKEN, and
while the numbers are correct, the order in
which they are given is wrong, and the ex
merit takes these numbers and works them
in different order, and sometimes he can
open the safe in that way, but the odds are
against getting in without using the drill.
Nick Marin is the expert safe-opener of
this section, having been in the business in
savannah since 1868, and before coming
here he worked for three years In the Her
ring factory in the north. Mr.. Marin talks
very entertainingly about his experience
with safes in the past twenty-nine years. He
was quite young man when he came here
in 1868, and set to work for a lock and gun
smith by the name of Stephens. The latter
was called upon to open Herring safe, and
it took two men all day to open it, and then
they cut out a panel of the iron door.
When they returned to the shop with the
door Marin laughed at them and said that
the safe ought to have been opened in a few
minutes by one man, and with little or no
injury to it, as the doors of safes in that
day were of soft iron.
Shortly after a clerical employee Of the
t1,ar flo rio and (Ht1If RAILROAD hO bod
the combination and charge of three safes,
decamped, and Mr.. McDonough, father of
Alderman McDonough, sent for Stephens
to open them. Marin had then gone into
business for himself, and Mr.. Stephens re-
commended HIM for the work. He went
and opened all three Of the safes in one
afternoon, and then he says he had to de-
lay the work somewhat so that it would not
appear too easy.
Since Jan. l, this year, Mr.. Marin says
he has opened about 200 safes, seven or
eight Of which did not require drilling into.
After the big fire in April he opened seven
in one week. The great mistake made, he
says after fire is to let the safe stand too
long, and the heat chars the papers and
books just as soon as the safe can be re-
moved from the ruins Of fire it ought to
be opened, and if this is done, in nearly
every instance the papers can be saved.
Mr.. Marin knows just where to drill for
every make of safe. In some makes he
drills to the right or left of the knob; in
some either over or under the knob, and in
one make Of safes he drills directly through
the center of the knob. He has accurate
measurements, so that he knows just whore
to drill, and in a majority of cases he inserts
small tool and picks up the combination
readily. In other cases he may have to
break the lock- which is done with light
tap at the proper place.
The question was asked if there are not
some safes which cannot be drilled through
on account of alternated layers of iron and
chilled steel, to which Mr.. Marin replied
that there has been SO far no composition of
metal which cannot be drilled into. 1t can
not be done so easily or as quickly as the
old fashioned iron doors, but drills can be
tempered to go through the so-called bur-
glar proof safe, and he cited the fact that
last week he had drilled into a Herring
safe with the chilled steel and iron con-
struction, in 40 minutes.
Directly after the war, Mr.. Marin says
there was quite a harvest of safe openings
Combinations were lost, locks and bolts had
grown rusty.and he was kept busy, but now,
while there are a great many more safes
there is a less proportion to be opened, and
sometimes he makes long journeys. He
tells Of an amusing incident coming under
his observation on the Ocmulgee river A
safe at Doctortown had got out of order and
an engineer had been called in aud drilled
hole in it, but he couldn't open the safe after
drilling the hole, and Marin was sent for
and In a few minuteJ had the safe open.
This feat led to his being called to store on
the Ocmulgee, where there were two safes.
The partners in the business being at outs
neither would tell the officer who had at
tached the safes in the litigation, nor the
combination of the respective safes. One had
the combination of one safe and the other
knew the combination of the other, and
both were stubborn. Marin opened the
safes, and made $50 and expenses, and was
at home the next day.
Most safes are left on the combination
sent out with the safe from the factory,
Mr.. Marin says. and the slip Of paper is
often mislaid or the numbers forgotten, and
the safe then must be drilled. Others in
changing the combination fail to turn the
key to set the combination and the lock
Tails to work. Sometimes the sudden death
OF an owner of the safe, or an employee of a
nrm, to whom the combination is only
known, makes it necessary to drill into the
safe.
Bank and deposit safes are provided with
much better locks than the ordinary fire
ana burglar proof safe, and i'll most of these
safes two combination locks are attached,
and double Yale clocks are inside of the
JOCK so that at only at certain hour of the
gay the safe can be opened, and even then
tne two who know the combinations must be
| present. In banks one of these locks is
Known as the presidents lock and the other
the cashiers, but in many of the banks
only one of the locks is used, as the cashier
3 usually trusted with the double combina-
uon, but if the Yale clocks are attached he
can then only open the safe at stated
uour. This prevents the garroter from
compelling the cashier after banking
hours to open the SAFE and it also permits
S1e cashier to open the safe only at a time
Snen the other employees Of the bank are
present
Inc skilled breaker studies every new
aie lock and every new safe door, so that
10 may know just where to attack the
weak points. With a powerful magnet he
9yps the mechanism of the Yale Locks, and
alv a drills of different degrees of hardness
10 Drills hole into the hardest doors. If he
oaiheS the right place in the lock he soon.
esVS into the safe. or he may put in charge
some powerful explosive and blow the
,uor on Its hinges. For the same reason,
Wv with an honest purpose the expert
sAsinlth studies every new safe lock, dia-
ans II, and when called upon to open
.e knows just where to drill. A hole
o1V one-tourth of an inch in diameter is
ate. and when the lock is picked, or the
mn nation picked up, the hole is filled up
a S1 close fitting piece of chilled iron or
81 Ia irE an1 syNic