Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1895-05-16
IFrOm The chirAgo Trib une. Sunday. Apr. IS. %.
CRACKED ON A WAGER.
EPFINGHAH BANK SAFE GIYEE AN EX-
PERIKEETAL SMASH.
Maker of New Style Takes a Nov
el Method to Demonstrate the
Weakness of a Rival Strong Box
Men Interested in Keeping Money
From Burglars are Spectators.

From Burglars are Spectators.
Three men blew open a safe in
broad daylight at Pullman Friday
afternoon and escaped arrest. The
job was done in the presence of thir,
ty-five or forty well-known men, in.
cluding VIM. A. Pinkerton, but, in
stead of lodging a complaint with the
police, or even attempting to stop the
performance, they heartily applaud
ed its successful termination. In fact
Mr.. Pinkerton shook hands with the
principal safe blower and said it was
the neatest bit of work in that line
he ever had seen or read of.
The job was practical demonstra.
tion by maker of new style safes
that the best of certain old STYLE forms
are not burglar proof. The safe ex-
perimented upon came from a bank
at Ellingham, ILL.,, and was the sub
ject of an interesting wager. The
banker said he could now defy the
thieves who have on more than one
occasion made rich hauls in that To-
cality. This was laughed at by the
new style safe man, who offered to
pay the bank $40 minute for all the
time it took him to open the safe by
the latest methods of scientific bur
glars. AS the estimated time was 30
minutes the banker didn't like to sac
rifice 81 500 safe for $500 and declin-
! ed the offer. This caused another, that
the bank should buy, new style safe
and turn over the old one in part paw
ment, the value of the latter to be
| fixed by the time it took to open it.
Ii the job were done in three hours
or less the bank was to get $3.50; if one
minute more than three hours was
spent in the price would be 1.500.
This satisfied the banker, and the sus-
pected safe was sent to an expert
mental station at Pullman.
This experimental station is small
brick building, to all practical pur-
poses, so far as interior arrangement
| and fixtures are concerned, bank.
There is an ordinary vault at one end
of the room, and in this the safe was
placed. There is a large assortment
of crooked implements, such as
sectional jimmies aud powerful drills,
in the Office. In the safe-blowing
case in question, small hammer, an
electric battery, few detonating
| caps, and ten-ounce vial of nitro
glycerine did the work.
1t was o'clock when the safe blow
ers and their guests reached the sta
tion. In the party We're.
E. d. Hurlbert, VIce-President Mer-
chants Loan and Trust company; r.
]. Street, cashier First National Bank:
VIM. A. Pinkerton; f. G. n Robert
son, Auditor Pullrnan's Palace Car
company; A. S. Weinsheimer, Secre-
tary Pullman's Palace Car company:
Edward F. Bryant, Cashier Pullman
Loan and Savings Bank; A. Camp
bell of Effingham, ILL.,; J. Partridge,
Jr. of Et1ingham, ILL; Mr. Buckley of
Effingham, Ill. Horace E. Stump of
the American Express company; W.
f. G. Shanks of New York.
The cashier of the bingham bank
first examined the seals and satisfied
himself the safe had not been tam
pered with, and then the fun began.
When the head safe-blower, adelicate
looking young man, who unhesitat-
ingly admitted he had been in the
business for fifteen years, drew the
bottle of nitro -glycerlne from his
pocket and carelessly tossed it on the
desk most of the guests made a break
for the door. But they came back,
and took seats around the vault door,
when this same young man cody said
nitro-glycerine never went off with
out cause. He didn't mean it, but
the harmless fib made the men feel
easier, and they watched the subse-
quent proceedings with much inter-
est
''If / desired merely to open this
safe would pour half of this fluid
into it and touch it off, said the dem
onstrator as he again reached for the
nitro -glycerine. "But don't want
to smash it into smithereens. What
] am after is to show the faulty style
of construction by stripping the plates
apart one by one WITHOUT using tools
or making any perceptible noise.
This will take considerably longer
than the mere blowing open of the
safe would, but / am confident the
work will be done inside of three
hours"
The chief blower hit the door
of the safe two or three smart blows
with the hammer and q chunk of the
metal was broken off Into this crew
ice teaspoonful, or perhaps a little
more, of the nitro-glycerine was pour
ed. Despite the assertion of the MAX
er that the safe was impervious to
explosives in any form, the liquid
fast disappeared in the crack. Then
detonating cap was stuck over the
creyice with a little putty, the cleo
trio wires were attached, somebody
pushed the button, and there was q
report like that of d small pop-gan.
The first result was not satisfying to
the spectators. They saw no signs OF
the attack, but the demonstration
smiled and said the next charge
would start something, and it did
| Twenty-Five charges of teaspoonful
| or so each were used and all the plates
of the big screw door were stripped
off one by one. Some of the plates
were warped and broken and all the
screws which held them together
were snapped off like cotton threads,
many of them being blown into mi.
mute particles. The job was done in
just two hours and fifty-seven min
utes and all of the spectators so Ger
titled.
| The bank cashier from Effinghan
didn't like the idea of getting onl,
$3.50 for his safe when delay Of fou.
minutes more would have brought
him 81 800, but he swallowed his cha
1 grin and said nothing. Later in th,
day he expressed the belief that it wa
$3.50 well dropped, as it may hav'
| saved him a more expensive call from
burglars.
HE DECEIVED THE PEOPLE
And is i'm the Penitentiary for /: