Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1892-01-21
BURGLAR PROOF.
HOW A JEWELLER GUARDS HIS
MANY TREASURES.
Safes Within Safes-All Enclosed in
Frail but Sensitive Cabinets
Alarm Bells and Watchman.


Here are 200 feet of show cases, half
OF them on each side of long room. and
back of them are as many feet of up
right cases stood against the wall. In
the rear of the room are moro cases, and
wherever there is room for them are
costly music boxes, bronze statuettes,
and other valuable articles of European
and American make. All the show cases
are full of jewelry and other articles
made of gold and silver. For twenty feet
near the front the cases hold nothing but
real diamonds and other precious stones,
for the place is a big jewellers sales-
room up town, where no imitation articles
are sold-nothing but real gold and sill
yer and real stones.
"What do you do with your goods at
night?' the. reporter asked the propri-
etor.
you'll find it easier to get them in
the daytime" Mr.. Jeweller smilingly re-
sponded.
"But you have some system of secur-
ing them. Tell me what it is, for the
information of the public-if it is no
secret"
"There is no secret about it," the Jew
eller replied. "Do you see those three
cabinets, those black walnut cabinets,
against the east wall? We put every
thing in those at night"
"You trust to u black walnut cup
board all these cases of gold and dia-
monds, do you, valued at-at about how
much?"
eff you take the entire lot" Mr.. Jewel
nj In 1p hnt e.,
600. But come behind the counter with
me and let me show you the cabinets.
The jeweller led the way to the middle
Of the east side of the room, between
cases full of diamond. and costly stones
on the one hand and upright cases full of
silver teapots and trays and sugar bowls
on the other hand.
"Here," he said, when the cabinets
were reached, sis where we keep every
thing at night, except such large articles
as would not go in. In our business it is
not the big things, but the little ones that
are valuable"
They were ordinary looking walnut
cabinets, each perhaps seven feet high
and five feet wide, and each with folding
doors, an upper and q lower panel in
each door. A boy might break them all
open with hammer in one minute.
But Mr.. Jewelcr threw open one of the
pairs of folding doors and disclosed in
side an immense safe, that seemed to say,
"Come on, now, if you're burglar; let's
see what you can do" 1t was one of the
polished steel sort, with tremendous re-
sistance written all over it.
"These are called burglar proof safes,"
said the jeweler; "But need not tell you
that no safe is burglar proof. Nothing
has been or can be made that cannot be
broken, and an expert burglar can open
any safe in the world. However, think
these are as nearly burglar-proof as any
safe in New York. 1t is merely a ques-
tion of time with burglar, and these
safes are warranted to resist any attack,
except with explosives, for twelve hours.
There is not much danger from gunpow-
der or dynamite in such an exposed place,
and TO operate with tools successfully re-
quires twelve hours"
AS he spoke he opened the safe doors.
Three-fourths of the interior was divided
into shelves, all of the same heighth and
breadth. The other fourth was taken up
by another safe, apparently complete in
itself,
"There is where we keep our most val
liable goods, the diamonds and other very
costly articles" the ieweler continued,
tapping the small inner safe. "There
is one of these inside of each of the large
safes, and each small safe is separate
and complete in itself, with its own sep
arate combination. If burglar man
ages to reach the inside of one of the
large safes he still has another safe to
open before he can get the most valuable
goods"
"But what an immense labor it must
be to put all these goods in the safes
every night and take them out again
every morning." the reporter suggested.
"Not so much as you might think"
Mr. Jewoller replied. II will show you
how it is done. Look at this showcase.
You see the articles do not lie on the
bottom of the case, but on little shallow
velvet-lined trays. Those trays are made
to fit the showcase, three of them being
just the width of the case. Tho compart-
ments in the safes are made to accom-
moda'e the trays, each compartment
holding two tiers of six trays each. So
before closing we have only to slide the
trays into the safes, and everything is
secured"
cha is very convenient" the reporter
acknowledged, "and it seems to be very
secure"
"Ah, but that is only the first step to-
ward security" the ieweller exclaimed.
"1ou have seen that the safes are as
strong as they can be made. That is all
that steel can do for us. Now we call in
electricity to stand guard. Each safe is
connected by separate wires with the
Burglar Alarm Company. If an explo-
sion or any other jar should move one of
them sixteenth of an inch out of its
place, bell would ring in the headquar-
tiers of that company, and within ninety
seconds two policemen would be here. If
anybody should turn the combination
knob hairs breadth that would have
the same effect. | used to have the wires
run into my sleeping room, but found
that two or three times year there
would be some trouble with crossing
wires, and | would be called out in
hurry in the middle of the night and it
gave me too much worry. SO | had the
wires connected with the Burglar Alarm
Company, and now when go home | do
not give the goods another thought"
Mr.. Jeweler here closed the safe
doors and turned the little knob that
locks them.
ave can lock or unlock them a hun
dred times a day" he continued, "but
when we once lock them for the night,