The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-09-30
TO CRACK OPEN A SAFE.
AN olD-Tms BURGLAR TELLS HOW
THE JOB is DONE.

Until a year aso safe manufacturers
constructed safes with the design OF
guarding against illegitimate access by
three methods--vlz, by fraeturlng or
wedging by drilling. and by the introduce
tion Of sranulated explosives. saws an old
time burglar in the st. Louis Dispatch.
These three methods represented the
principal weakness in the old-time burg
lar-proof chest, AMI when the cunning OF
the inventors brain made 1t possible 10
construct safe so tough that 1t could not
be fractured, so hard that It could not be
drilled, and no place left unprotected In
which powder or dynamite could be in-
jected 1t was thought that the safe
cracker would be forced to earn his liveli-
hood by the swest OF his brow In soma less
arduous vocation But the species peter
man OF the genius thief Is possessed OF
the genius of perseverance,.
!" Can open bank safep" you ask.
II | couldn't I'd quit burgling and go to
ploughiHg. for there's no money ON the
road nowadays for man unless he can
do" a burglar-proo
Need lot Of fine tools to do 'em WITH"
l hear the reader ask. Listen to me for n
minute need no tools at all. I'm no
Hermann nor one of those Indian Jug
glers we read about who can put piece
OF macaroni up one sleeve and take dago
hand-organ and monkey out OF the
other. 1t Is only a question OF science.
When the safe people got To making
| their old boxes so tough that they couldn't
be drilled we had to 40 hustllng for new
points. Before we got through wo found
out that the old style OF work and all the
tools which had been handed down to us
through years OF approving use by gem
erations of illustrious crack smen--may
they rest easy wherever they are--had to
be discarded, and now all need In going
against the stoutest kind OF bank safe Is
u copper cylinder, screwdriver, tin syringe
with rubber tube and couple OF ounces
OF nitro-glycerIne.
! Yes, nitro-gycerine. and It's fact too,
that every rood safe made is packed with
some sort oi absorbent material calculated
to protect i against just that explosive.
! Now, I'll ell you how we discovered thu
present system. Not long ago an old
partner OF mine down In Syracuse, N. Y.
got to experimenting with nitro-glycerine.
and he found out tat he could heat 1t up
to ninety and 100 degrees Fahrenheit
without causing an explosion. You know
glycetine Is soft. greasy substance.
thicker than oil, and runs very slowly,
but after II Is heated IL becomes thin and
runs as freely as petroleum. This was n
find. Lots Of people say 1t can't DO heated
so MS TO make II thin. and even II 1t could
II could not be used in safe-blowing, as It.
would explode the minute 1t touched
metal OF ~ less temperature, but tnat Is q
mistake.
Well In course OF time my partner
won't little further. He bought a line
bank safe with double com animation locks,
anti-dynamite device and all the other
modern improvements which are designed
to freeze us Woodworking men out. l
struck Syracuse about that time, and
both of us went to work on that safe. We
stripped off plate after plato until the net
work OF bots and bars was laid bare, and
when we had gone that far we found what
we had been hunting for.
Around the spindle running through
the door and connecting the lock with the
combination dial on tho inside was va
cant space n gu lrter of an Inch wide In
some puces That night Bill and stuck.
an old syringe, n funnel and II bottle OF
glvcerine in our clothes and hit the road.
| 1t used TO be that the safe-malxers in
genuity was coutended against Wet armis,
or words 10 that effect, and the expert
craftsman OF ton years ago had To carry
trunkful OF heavy tools ON the road,
which were sure Of having the un-
pleasant effect Of mailing him In case be
was 'pinched." Now, with his little tin
syringe and bottle OF nitro-glycerine in
his pocket, he can travel through the
country like any other honest man who IL
not afraid OF the police. 1t may sound
strange to talk about blowing a safe with
these simple instruments, but when tell
you how its done you won't be surprised.
Once In the bank you knock the turn-
n off Of bn nd of In al Ia
closing the door behind you. Now you've
got all night to work on tho box standing
before you In all its glory Of FURNISHED
chilled steel plates, double combinations
locks, anti-dynamite devices and air-tight.
gearing apparatus. Kneel down ON one
knee and take off the dial with screw
driver or jack-knife. Reach around in
| the caboose Of your pants and bring out
your syringe and nitro-glycerinc. Screw
"A cylinder over the spindle-head and pour
! IN he glycerlne.
| D'ov gently on the cylinder tub, ani
| the law Of ,sravtatiOn carries the exp"-
| sive- in through the plates TIL IL rcaches
the /, OK. Wrap to safe In u coup OF
wet bAnsets 10 denden the noise of the ex-
| plosion, ioucl it off with Illuminating
CAP, aua hen walk Off with tne boolle.
T az the operation In n NUTSHELL OF
| course. haven't tol,i everything ] know.
AMI 10 one cou d go out and open safe
| in this manner without serving an APP
| prenti.r-hip, hut what have told consii-
| tIies the main features Of the work re-
CURED, and its very simplicity IL axes peo-
pie think it's fraud. But it isn't.
can do any safe made with b spindle
running through the door in less than
half an hour. This includes opening three
sets Of doors When there are three doors
we usually blow on the first one wit COM
Inon Illuminating gas. but this can't be
used on the inside doors, as the gas
would burn the money, and when we get
| the door open we wouldn't find enough
currency to pay the gas bill. All tais talk
about burglar proof safes is nonsense. l
| never saw a safe that could be unloc@eI
from the outside that couldn't be blown
open, and you don't have to work on some
Of them much longer than you would on
an oyster can.
| Gold Paved Streets.
| The contractor, who in the excavation