The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-25

Intention, OF COorse, But None the
Less n Good Thing for burglars.
From the New York Times.
Among the many books issued by con-
,-ess. none is more curious or interesting
han the one recently sent out from the
government printing Office entitled Re
s5rt of Special Commission of Experts as
% Means of Improving Vault Facilities Of
.he Treasury Department"
Red" Leary, the bank burglar. If he
xere alive. would probably call this book
sv another title. He would name it The
safe Crackers Handy Guide" or "The
Gank Burglars Illustrated Wade Mecum.
Il is easy to fancy the delight Mr.. Leary
would experience in turning over the pages
# this unique publication. Problems in the
art of blowing open safes which, in his
gay. were extremely difficult of solution,
would now. with the aid Of the copious il
astrations, appear to him so simple as
% be mere 'child's play. 1t is safe to say
ais fingers would itch as he read the COM
Jlete details, illuminated with diagrams,
as to how the government experts tore
apart the latest and most burglariously
2urglar-proof vaults and safes.
There is a frank freedom from re-
serve about this book that could not fail
to charm Mr.. Leary. While he was alive
there were no books in existence which
adequately described the nefarious pro-
resses of breaking open safes. In fact
until the present there has been no work
at all on the subject, except it be the
harmless old essay on locks, published
three-quarters of a century ago in Lon
aon. before burglar-proof safes were
tven dreamed of.
OF course, congress did not intend to
afford home instruction to bank burg
lars when il published this report The
Idea was to find out some way of improv-
Ing the safes in the treasury at Wash
i1gton and in the different sub-treasuries
Ia the United States. 1t was for this
purpose that a commission of experts
was appointed in 1891. The commission
thought the best way to find out how to
build a new safe was to blow open an
old one With this benevolent and scien-
ufc object in view, the commission spent
two years in burglarizing" burglar
proof safes. The safes of all makes were
experimented on. Some were blown open
with powder, some with nitro-glycerine,
some with dynamite. Some were pried
open, some were drilled open, and some
we're wrenched, screwed, twisted, and
hanged open. Some were exploded with
cartridges, some with time-fuses, some
with handy pocket batteries. Everything
was carefully described, and photograph
ers of the government work of safe
wrecking were taken in every stage in
the proceedings.
The first thing about this book that
would naturally strike Red Leary is its
completeness. Nothing is omitted that
would serve to instruct the bank burglar
in his profession.
First, the different kinds of burglar-proof
safes are fully described, and their vulner-
able features are dilated upon. Any burg
far can find out from the book exactly
now all of the modern burglar-proof safes
are constructed.
Next the various methods of cracking
the safes are explained in the order of
their feasibility. The book says:
The methods are:
a. Drilling or otherwise penetrating the
walls of the safe or vault or its doors, and
thus obtaining access to the locks and
bolts, and then, very generally, opening
them from the inside.
e. Stripping the wall of its covering,
layer by layer, tearing off the steel and the
iron sheets, one by one, until the interior
is reached.
81 Exploding gunpowder, dynamite or
nitro-glycerine in some part especially easy
Of attack by this means and thus destroy
ing the locks, tearing open door, or act
ually breaking into the walls of the struc
tGre. Powder is sometimes blown into the
crack left by imperfect construction about
the door, and between it and its frame or
jamb. o-glycerine is often run in the
same crack, where not absolutely tight,
and flowing as freely when warm as wa
ter, it finds its way in considerable quanti-
ties, etc.
If the burglar has not had much ex-
perience and is in doubt which method to
use, the book comes to his relief. 1t tells
him in these words that, if he has ample
time at his disposal, the first plan is the
best:
Of these several methods of securing en-
trance into the safe or vault. the first be-
cause of its comparative freedom from
noise or jar, is the favorite, where prac-
ucable and when time is given for its slow
but usually certain operation.
If the burglar is timid and hesitates,
the book gives him encouragement. 1t
assures him, in simple language, that mo
one of the constructions now in the mar
ket and recognized now as standard can
be asserted to be absolutely burglar
proof"
How many enterprislng burglars have
read this Government Guide to Safe
Burglary" is not known. This is a point
on which safe burglars would naturally
be reticent. In the absence of any posi-
tive knowledge on the subject, the only
recourse is to fall back on circumstan-
tai evidence. Since the book was pubs
Hshed there would have been hundreds
OF bank safes blown open in this coun-
try by one or another of the improved
methods" described in the government
publication. The burglars have shown a
Loneliness for work on postofiice safes.
1t is easy to see, from the pictures, how
nearly alike the government and the pri-
vate safe burglars were in their methods
and results.
The twentieth experiment of the gov
eminent experts was on a safe with a
round screw door. The door was COM
posed of ten plates, each one-half inch
mick, and alternately OF iron and steel.
The government experts first introduced
about one one-hundredth of an ounce of
nitro glycerine into two of the boltholes
IN the door. Then they put a detonator
IN each hole, and tamped the holes with
putty and fire. The defamation, although
producing, as the experts say, the small
est possible Noise" caused the outer plate
10 spring away from the second, so that
second charge of nitro glycerne could