The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1891-11-20
TALK WITH BURGLAR
MEANS AND METHODS USED Bf
SUCCESSFUL CRACKSMEN.

Safe Breaking Operates-He Says That
to Open Safes Is Comparatively Easy
Work-Time and Money Spent on Tools.
Did you ever meet a real live flesh and
blood burglar? mean a man who has
made a living by cracking other peoples
safes, by housebreaking and robbery
who has done time" in various prisons
and who is under police surveillance
everywhere he goes? The man with the
cast iron cOuntenance, the shifty eyes
and the hunted look?
Of course, no. You would shrink
from such society. Yet there is a GER
tain novelty in the sensation. Such men
pass you on the street and leave no more
distinct impression than the touch of a
bank president who has absorbed the
money Of his depositOrs, and is yet at
large u~nexpOsed. It is only when you
are brought face to face with the bur
glar in a dark room. with his blinking
Dullseye shining in your face and the
cold muzzle Of his pistol pressed against
your temples, that the sensation is ex-
perienced in al its blood curdling in
tcnsity. And I feel sure you would
rather be excused from such a meeting.
To have an Old friend ION the force"
say to you suddenly some day: Would
you like to meet a burglar? Here he is
now," and raising a significant finger
draw q plainly dressed and shambling
figure from the passing Broadway throng
into a back room and say, This man is
q bank sneak and burglar" That con-
veys a different and perhaps more agree
able sensation. And that is the sensa-
ton | have just experienced.
EAsY WORK TO Open N SAFE.
"WhenIl you fellers let up on a man."
was the first and rather p~laintive in
curry Of the ~ex-convict. His face took
on an innocent and woe begone look.
The policeman addressed him familiar
ly, asked him what he was doing on
Broadway and a string Of questions;
not severely, but rather inviting con-
fdence and conversation. When the
man found he was not wanted, and that
q newspaper man was his other auditor,
he talked glibly. He had been reading
q recent interview with a we'll known
safe manufacturer.
There isn't Il bank vault or safe lock
made" said the burglar, "that can't be
opened by an expert. [ became an
adept at the business while in the en-
ploy Of a safe manufacturer. l picked
locks as a legitimate business from New
York to San Francisco. Every safe
company has men who can do the same
thing. The first thing a bank official or
anybody else does, when the safe lock
gets out Of order, is to send to the manu-
factory and they send an expert who
opens the safe. The ordinary combina-
ton lock is easily picked. There are
time locks which cannot be worked so
easily, especially modern ones. Some
combination locks have a micrometer
proof attachment. That? Why, it's an
arrangement which is supposed to pre-
vent the successful use of the micrometer,
u little machine which can be attached
to the handle Of the lock and has an in
diCator which shows the thickness and
variation Of the tunblers.
"SOme Of these cheap combination
locks have o bell-like sound or click and
these can be easily read. And some COM
binations run in grooves and can be de
tected at once. You might as we'll have
a house door lock and latchkey on a safe
as one Of them. The latest and best com
bination lock gives out no sound what
ever, and, while it may be opened, it
would take an expert a good deal of
time. There is a good deal Of sameness
about the old style combination locks,
and when you get used to them they are
as easily opened as a street door.
BADLY MADE SAFES.
"While the modern bank burglar must
be and usually is an expert on combina-
tons, he by no means relies upon that.
A dozen years ago | could open any lock
within forty-fve minutes. The improve
ments have been such, however, that
that method cannot longer be depended
upon. It isn't true, as stated in this safe
manufacturers interview, that the safes
operated upon successfully by burglars
are simply freprOof safes, and that no
so called burglar proof safes are being
cracked. All that formidable looking
array of bolts you see on a burglar proof
amount to nothing if You can pick the
lock. The two side bolts are the i'm
portant ones. The others catch the eye,
but don't make the safe any stronger.
The weight of material is not SO for
midable to a burglar as the quality, and
there is much poor material put into
safes. Now, there is a weakness in al
most every safe, and it is the burglars
art TO find it out. Some have better
steel in the back than in the front, and
sometimes the steel is tougher and bet
ter tempered in n part than another.
| a tell at one as to the hardness and
thickness of steel plating. I've had
drills, however, that would go through
anything. | could put a hole through
two average steel plates in thirty min
utes. The skill and genius that have
been expended upon burglars tools is
something extraordinary, and the pains
that are taken sometimes to lay the
foundation of great burglaries or a sys-
tenn Of small ones would be astonishing
to honest people.
Il know of a case where a valuable