Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-02-10
BURGLARS' TOOLS.

of the s.fe5 "a :hR market can be
opened by the average burglar with
very little trouble. Indeed, the burg
lars have so fer advanced in the art
and mystery of burglary that the latest
experts work with but trifling noise,
and carry unobserved about their per-
sens powerful tools of novel construc-
ton. The typical burglar of romance
and the stage is coarse, brutal, ugly
looking, and altogether unattract We in
dividual. The actual successful burg
lar is an intelligent, skilled mechanic,
who knows the construction of all the
safes in the market, because he has
studied them carefully. and knows their
weak points. Very often he is able to
fix up so as to look like n belated busi-
ness man going home from the club.
1t requires a first-class man to do q
tirst-class job.
Experience has shown that as fast as
new safeguards and inventions for the
strengthening of safes are made the
expert burglars get posted. They keep
up with the times. They buy the new
est locks and learn how they work.
Often by simple and ingenious devices
they produce results in unexpected
ways. When the time lock was new
the burglars got around it by setting
the clock movement whizzing without
tho pendulum, so that the time for
quicker than was intended. This led
to other improvements to protect the
ctock of the safe, so that the burglars
could not run it down before the proper
time had elapsed. So when the COM
bination lock was new the burglars
found out a way to drive in the central
pin, and then turn the wheels at leisure
10 shove the bolts. This led to the
adoption of new devices to secure the
pin.
As a matter of fact, most safes are
Euilt for fireproof and not burglar
proof work. Some short-sighted peo-
pie attempt to use mere fireproof safes
for the storing of valuables, and they
often come to grief. Such safes can
be taken to pieces in an incredibly
short time, and the expert burglar
would rather prefer to get in any way
than by the door. lie will take out
panel or the whole back or side of a
mere fireproof safe and leave the doors
unmolested.
The safe itself supplies to the skill
full burglar the most solid fulcrum,
and the combination or sectional 'tjim-
my" a tool whose power is almost un-
limi cd. The different sections of this
immy are adjustable, so that burglar
nay carry in his pocket enough sec
tions to make lever twenty feet long
if need be. Such tool inserted in a
crack or a hole made for the purpose,
or n fissure in the framework of
safe, will tear tie stoutest iron as
easily rs woman tears a strip of cloth.
One of the burglars most effective
fools is the screw. BY simple ad-
justmcnt so as to hold the end of
screw once inserted through hole,
with the safe itself as a fulcrum, the
side or back or top or bottom of safe
has been bent or bulged or torn out.
The truth is that the utmost that can
ta expected in the strongest safe that
can be made is that it shall delay the
work of the burglar more than forty
eight hours. If a burglar has a tough
job to do he will generally prefer to
take the longest available time to do it.
Therefore a favorite time for burglars
is from Saturday night to Monday
morning, or upon a holiday. The
best protection against burglars has
been found TO be the placing of safes
within safes, each independent of the
other, so that much time must necessa-
rily elapse before the breaking can be
accomplis.
burglars can get into any ordinary
house with case. In many cases it is
only necessary to break a pane of
glass and thrust hand in and turn
la f,f
ings of window. An ordinary jim
my will open any wooden door or
window. To force open any of the
ordinary iron fastenings that are placed
outside of dwellings is but the work
of a few moments with modern burg
lars tools. Bars are pried apart with
slow and powerful jack screws that
are strong enough to raise buildings.
The iron framework of an ordinary
iron gate is easily displaced with
jimmy.
Ordinary locks are not the slightest
protection against burglars. Simple
skeleton keys will pick common locks.
If key is left in the door il is the
rasiesS thing for a burglar to put a
wire through the keyhole and, working
from the outside of a door, turn the
key on the inside. This is common
practice with hotel thieves, and to
guard against it bolts have come into
general use. But even bolts can be
showed back by expert burglars. The
latest plan of doing this is by working
through keyhole with a piece of
steel wire and a strong cord. The
location of the bolt is obtained either