St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-22

bureau to prevent crime as well as catcn
thieves. Thieves know this, and 90 not
60 around as they did years ago, with
kit of tools under their arms, ready 10
take advantage of every opening III thel
line. Burglars tools. however, are not
scarce by any means, and can be OBJ
tanned at any time when there is
trick" to be done. The only thieves
who need a full kit of tools are those
who make specially of safe-breaklng,
and. as burglars always go in gangs OF
from four to ten, one set of tools will do
for the gang, no matter how pressing
thieves and ordinary house burglars
require but few tools. The most
important are the paper blade"
which is a very thin piece of elias
tic steel used to set back win
dow fastenings; augers, 10 remove locks
by boring holes around them: diamond
points, to remove paneS OF glass, and
lockpicks and jimmies, to force doors
open, by wedging them in cracks. 1t
is easy enough to obtain all of these
tools. with the exception OF the lock-
picks, from stores in legitimate way,
without question, as they are all used
in trade. These tools can be carried in
small package and are not kept in
stock. They are bought when needed
and thrown away when used.
The most expensive tools in the bur
glars kit are the drag, jackscreW, dla-
mond drill and sectional Jimmy. The
best jilnmies now in the market are
made in Pittsburg, and one OF the finest
sets ever seen in this city was captured
last week in vacant lot in West Tenth
street, where thev had been left by
Mark Hanley. toolmaker from the
West. Haney got away. All the tools
that are used in Safe-breaking are not
stored in one place, as they cost from
$3.50 to $500 for full set, it is
cheaper to pay rent to store them than
to get new ones made. The sectional
ilmmies are often carried in gun cases
when the gang is OH the road, and the
other tools are hidden in trunks and
handbags.
The Improvements in safety devices
to protect safes. such as time locks and
other electrical Appliances, have
rendered the burglars kit useless Oh
vaults, but there is plenty OF room to
use them all over the country in small
banks and other places where the latest
improvements have not been adopted.
Time locks are now attacked with dyna-
mite and nitro-glycerine. exploited on
the outside of vault doors, which causes
the delicate machinery to run down
quite often. or throws it out of gear, so
as to facilitate the work of opening
doors by the use of the diamond drill,
blow pipe and lock pick.
There IS now q gang OF Safe-breakerS
making the rounds of the country who
are working without tools. They have
with them Jerry Minor. nephew of old
RUDE Minor, the partner of Jimmy
Hope, who has such tinely-trained ear
and delicate touch that he can catch
safe combinations by working the
ratchet back and forth with the spindle.
He is said to be the best man in this line
of business, but cannot get into any
safe with the time lock.
Some of the best mechanics among
thieves are the keymakers. who can
make keys to fit any locks. These
thieves keep constant watch of the
patent office reports for new locks, and
by carefully studying the mechanism
are able to make keys to fit them.
These experts can tell by glance at
lock Just the right sort of key to open it.
All the good keymakers are so closely
watched here that they go elsewhere to
do their work, usually to some suburban
town, where there is little chance of de-
lection.