The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1894-01-10
BURGLARS AT WORK.
How the Merry ''Cracksmen" Open
Safes.
No Safe Strong Enough to Re-
sist Nitro-Glycerine.

withdrawing journal, the American
Machinist. The professor who fur
nishes the advice classes all bank safes
according to the kind of door with
which they are provided. The square
door is generally held in position
when closed by eight round bolts of
about one and one-hnlf inches in dia-
meter. These are shot from behind
the door across the joint to the rear of
the jamb of the door, and the strength
of these eight bolts or the strength
of the door inmb to resist being torn
out is the maximum strength of the
safe to resist the quiet but forcible
eloquence of the burglarious visitor.
The second or round class of doors
are built up of plates similar to those
of the safe, and generally have a coarse
thread cut on their periphery, the
door being screwed into the safe.
The square doors are generally more
open to persuasion than the other
kind. Formerly the b.rglar used
very fine gunpowder as the final ar
gumcnt. His plan was to putty up
the entire joint between the door and
the safe, except n small space on the
top and the bottom joints. He then
applied the mir pump at the upper un-
puttied crack or joint and fed the
powder into the lower one, the in-go-
ing air carrying it into the safe. This
was all possible and in many cnses is
yet, owing to lack of contact be-
tween the door and the jamb. This
method was finally headed off by the
introduction of felt, cement or rubber
between the door and the jamb. But
nitro-glycerine will penetrate a crack
1-1000th of an inch, an opening so
much finer than it is possible to make
between the square door and the jamb
that the operation of opening such n
safe is a short one. In opening a
modern bank safe the burglar putties
up the entire joint of crack except for
about an inch at the top and bottom.
A well of putty is then formed about
the top crack where it is uncovered
and two and half or three ounces of
nitro-Plycerine poured into it. If the
safe is not protected by felt or rubber
, it will require but three or four min
utes for the glycerine to distribute it.
self over the entire joint of the door
and drip out at the lower crack. An
ordinary detonating cap, such as is
used in exploding dynamite, is insert
ed in the upper well and the fuse lit.
When the explosion occurs the door
comes off. When the operation takes
place i'll II vault there is rarely any
noise more than fifty feet away owing
to the safe inside which the explosion
occurs being itself within a solidly
built inclosure.
The burglar does not carry nitro
glycerine with him. He goes to n
hardware store and buys few pounds
of dynamite, which he breaks up in a
convenient vessel, rs n wash-basin
covers with alcohol, and allows to
stand until the glycerine has all com
bined with it, The alcohol and gly-
cerine are then poured off and an equal
amount of water added; the water
and the alcohol combine, and the nitro
glycerine sinks to the bottom, where
it is ready for use.
The chrome steel, of which the
safes and vaults of banks are now
largely built, is easily drilled by first
heating the steel. A basket of wire
netting is made to cover space OF
about six or eight inches square, and
this is wired to the side of the safe OIL
door. 1t is filed with charcoal, which
is ignited and a fierce heat generated
by q pair of bellows. In four or five
minutes the basket is removed and the
heated spot allowed to cool 1t may
then be drilled or cut like ordinary
boiler iron. The author of the arti
Gle states that he has seen hole suffi
ciently large to admit mans arm GU
clear through chrome-steel bank safe
four Inches thick in two hours, so tha
mans arm was passed through nn(
the locking bolts disconnected with ,
wrench. In little less than two hour
q similar hole was cut through tn,
back of the safe into the money vault
and its contents taken out through thi
hole.
The large vault door, behind which