Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-06-07
BEAT THE COMBINATION.
CexxopoRE noBBs TELLS now aR HCKgD
EVERY LOCK MADE.
while in This City in isas ne Learns
OF q New Jerseymsn's Ofer Of $500
TO the Person Opening His saSe.
bridgeport, Conn, Dispatch 70 n. Y. sun.

COmmUtOre A. y. Hobbs, superintendent
of the Union Metallic Cartridge company,
though IN his 7sth year, is one Of the most
expert lock pickers in the world, aud ne
consented recently To give some Of his ex-
pcriences In lecture before the Bridge
bort Scientific society. Commodore Hobbs
was born in Boston In 1912, and when 10
years old did chores ON farm. In four
years he had seen enough Of farming and
got place In dry goods store. Then he
tried wood carving. carriage painting, and
glass cutting, and finally went to selling
locks and safes. He became acquainted
with Day 4 Newell, the bank lock makers,
and took entire charge Of the sale of their
locks. In order to succeed II was necessary
to prove that all other locks were not secure,
and he IN Ide a set Of fino tools with which
he could demo nstrate that the vaults and
safes Of bankers could be easily opened.
He made his first call on bank at Stam-
ford, In this state, In lSi7. and found on
the doors of the vault a paddock which was
Considered perfectly secure. This paddock
held an iron strap over the keyhole of an
Andrews bank lock which had cost $3.50,
aud In addition there was a warded lock,
making three locks, any one of which was
supposed TO be sufficiently safe. Mr.. Hobbs
held long conversation with the directors,
who finally consented to allow him to at
tempt to enter the vault, and promised to
buy one Of his new locks ii he succeeded
without doing damage to their property.
With his instruments he opened the out
side door and picked the three locks of the
vault in twenty-thrce minutes.
In lS4S, While putting lock on at the
bank of Lancaster, Pa, Mr.. Hobbs at
tontion was called to the advertisement of q
Mr.. Woodbridge, of Perth Amboy, offering
$500 to any one who would open his lock,
then on one of Herripg's safes in the Mer-
chants Exchange reading room In New
York. He started for New York, found
Mr. Woodbridge, and accepted the offer.
The reward was to any one who would
open the lock in thirty days by any instru-
ment of their own, or he would let them
have the use of the key for 81 per hour,
first having the movable bits tax en- out and
mixed. There being many bits to the key,
only one ofabout 479, 900, 900 changes would
open the lock. A check for $500 was
placed In the safe, and Mr.. Hobbs arranged
with the janitor to remain at night while
he worked. Mr.. Woodbridge had so con-
structed the lock that If any attempt was
made to withdraw the bolt before the
tuinblers were all in proper position any
key or instrument which might be In the
lock would be fastened there and made
immovable. Mr.. Hobbs began his work
atg o'clock in the evening, and at II o'clock
had all the tumblers in position and ready
to be withdrawn. He then went to hts
hotel, and carly in the morning sent word
to Mr.. Woodbridge TO be sure and come to
the Exchange at 10 o'clock, as something
was the matter with the lock. Mr.. Wood
bridge thought, of course, that his trap
had caught the picking instrument. He
sent for the directors and the officials to
accompany him. When the men arrived
Mr.. Hobbs sat by the safe and Woodbridge
accosted him with:
Hello, Hobbs, what Is the matter?"
Something is the matter with the lock"
"What is it?"
"Why it won't keep the door shut"
and Hobbs threw back the bolt and opened
the safe. The check was handed over, and
Woodbridge had to provide big supper,
which was an expensive affair in those
days.
MFR. Hobbs had often heard of a wonder
full lock in the window of the celebrated
lockmakor, Bramah of London, and the
offer of 200 guineas to any one who should
open it without the key. He left in April,
1851, on the steamship Washington for
Southampton, with his box of locks to ex-
hibit, and his chest of tools to test the Eu-
ropean locks. At the Crystal Palace, the
Duke of Wellington was much interested
In the exhibition of locks by Mr.. Hobbs,
and finally the queen, with Prince Albert
and the Prince of Wales came to see the |
great American locks.
Mr.. Hobbs spent much time in looking
at all the Bramah locks in the exhibition,
and also stopped at tho lockmaker's store
window and figured out how he would |
open it when the proper time came. A Mr.. |
Chubb challenged the American to open |
one of his locks, and the offer was accepted |!
and the feat performed in thirty-five
minutes.
Having disposed of the Chubb lock, Mr..
Hobbs went into the shop where the |
Bramah lock was on exhibition and asked |
the attendant If that was real lock. The /
man asked the stranger If he was a lock- |
smith, to which negative reply was given. |
Placing the lock in Mr.. Hobbs hands, the |
attendant turned to wait on a customer. |
Mr.. Hobbs at once began to feel with his |
penknife the points of the interior of the |
xvh hop 10 hn nix aap mar In, p,f n ppyaI Il
and took the lock. One of the proprietors |
was called, ana attention was called to the |
challenge, which read "The artist that |
will produce an instrument that will pick /
this lock shall receive 200 guineas reward |
the instant it is produced. Mr.. Hobbs |
then said that it was generally understood |
that the offer was to any one who would |
pick the lock without inuring it, regardless |
of how it was done, and that if they would |
not submit il to test they must take it /
out of the window or he would make il /
known to- the public as "a fraud. Arrange |
ments were then made for a trial and arb- /
traitors were chosen. On July "a Mr. Hobbs |
began his operation, and on August . he |
exhibited the lock, opened, before the |
judges. The number of days he was actu- |
ally at work was sixteen. The key was |
tried, and the lock was locked and I'M |
locked as before, showing that Mr.. Hobbs |
had done his work without iniuring the |
mechanism, and the 200 guineas was paid |
over. |
Mr.. Hobbs had been In London but
short time when he received a letter from |
William Brown of Liverpool, the head of |
the banking house of Brown. Shipley |
Co., requesting him to call at the ST. James |
hotel. There Mr.. Hobbs found that Mr.. |
Brown was the inventor of the lock then |
in use on the bank of the company. This |
lock, he thought, was very secure and he |
explained that it had many thousand coIn- |
binations and only one way to open 1t. |
Mr. Hobbs said he thought it could be |
again pointed out the impossibility OF pick |
ing it. Mr.. Hobbs said he would look at |
tho lock some time, Five months later Mr.. |
Hobbs received copy of the proceedings |
of the Archaeological society of Liverpool, |
which. contained paper on locks, by |
William Brown. NJ. r., in which the same |
lock was described, and it wound up as |
follows:
During the time of the exhibition in |
London saw Mr.. Hobbs, and described |
this lock to him. At first he seemed to |
think he could open it. but after more
thorough explanation was made to him, |
SO that he more fully understood the lock, |
l again asked him, and his answer was SO |
evasive that concluded he could not open |
1t, and am having another made like 1t to
put on new safe now being made for our
bank"
Mr.. Hobbs went to Liverpool and was
met cordially by Brown. He said the new
safe was just coming in, but the old lock
like to test it, as it was an exact duplicate
of the one making for the new safe. Call
ing in his cashier, Brown directed him to
lock the safe. Mr. Hobbs then began To
explain what he should do if he should at
tempt to pick the lock. There was no KEY,