The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-26
WHERE BURGLARS GET TOOLS.
EVERY CRACKsMAN BECOMES HIS
OWN SKILLED MECHANIC.

implements for safe Breakers Al
WAYS Under SurveiIIance-A Kit
picked Up Piece by Piece, to
Avoid Suspicion.
From the New York World.
one of the show places Of the town to
visitors from other cities interested in
crminology is the large case Of burglars
tools at police headquarters. British
detective who came over 20 see that moth
ing happened to Joseph Chamberlain while
he was here a few days ago looked it over
and said:
Yes. as a collection It is the finest
have ever seen, perhaps the best in the
world. But there are few implements in
it that would be Of much use to The up-to-
date safe-breaker. Burglars tools are like
school books and dictionaries. You must
get new ones every three or four years"
There is always more or less mystery
surrounding the tools that burglars work
with. Where are they made? Who is bold
enough to sell them? What respectable
citizen of ordinary information would
know where to purchase a sectional jimmy
or a diamond drill?
Simplest thing in the world. They are
Iold in every hardware store on Broadway
aad the most notorious craftsman that
ever picked a lock has not the slightest
difficulty in purchasing them.
Getting out of the store with these is an
other matter A burglar who understands
his business never takes away his pur-
chases from a hardware store. He knows
well that Capt McClusky has men on his
tran and that every time he is seen on
the street by a policeman he Will be taken
10 headquarters for a little questioning,
no matter whether there is anything sus-
picious about his conduct or not. A fine
thing it would be for him to be caught
with a package of tools in his pocket!
The burglar takes no such chances. At
ter spending an hour or SO scruunizing
and selecting bits, drills, augers, blades
and things of that kind with a care that
is exasperating to the salesman attending
TO him. the safe-breaker has his goods
wrapped up pays for them and hands the
parcel to a lad, or perhaps young wo-
man, who comes in with him and letters
about patiently while he makes his pur-
chases.
Here. take these goods up to the fac
tory as quickly as you can"
There is nothing to arouse the suspicious
of the clerk. He has made a good sale.
The customer fingers for ten minutes or
so after the person who took his package
goes away. He inspects a new lock or
gathers other information that is sure to
be useful to him some day or other Then
he says good day and strolls up the
street
II one of McCluskys men happens to
run across him and march him off to
headquarters for a talk, what of ii? He
Il. III .mNm
cts. He has been laying off since he did
his last Bit and isn't going to give the
police any more trouble. Away he goes.
Al another time and In another store
that burglar will purchase jimmy. When
ever he does the salesman asks him for
his card. He produces the card of some
carpenter or locksmith-easily obtained
and gives his purchase to somebody who
came into the store with him. What is
there suspicious about that?
And there is nothing more to the diff
Guilty of securing burglars tools or the
materials for making them.
IL is the man who knows what to do
with the fine steel instruments after he
gets them that is the successful safe
cracker. A few years ago there We're
several machine shops in town where bur-
glars could have their kits" licked into
shape without any trouble. There was
Frenchman in Blocker street, not half a
mile from police headquarters, who made
such fine blades-thin as paper and keen
as a sword-that cracksmen in London
and Paris considered themselves lucky IT,
they got one of them. There was an
other famous machine shop in Cherry
street, kept by a man named Heinrich.
But the police soon got on the trail Of
these shops. They did not interfere with
them. The information picked up there
was too useful in following clues. But
the burglars stopped patronizing them. Il
was tempting fate too much.
Every burglar became his own me-
chanic. Experience with them In the pris-
ons shows that they are the best I'm the
business. Former Detective Sergeant
Charles Heidelberg. who was given a
great deal of work to do in the burg
lar line during Supt. Byrnes' time. says
that the cleverest safe crackers In the
country come from Troy, with Pittsburg
a close second. They are mechanics from.
sole to crown, and they manage to keep
pace with every invention of the combin-
alton safe manufacturer 10 defeat them.
The burglar who goes to a machine shop
for his tools nowadays might as well go
out of the business He increa ses his
chances of capture 100 per cent.
Men who follow this business say that
Philadelphia is the safest city IN this
country for a burglar to make a home
in, and that more of them do live there
than anywhere else-outside of the pris-
ons. 1t is easy in Philadelphia for
burglar to hire a small house and come
in at any hour of the day or night with
out attracting the attention of his neigh
bors. In New York 1t is almost imposs-
tble. Janitors talk women are curious.
and the man who lives a life differing in
the slightest degree from his neighbor Is
pretty sure to have inquiries made about
him
Nevertheless there are more than
thousand burglaries a year reported to
the police in Greater New York. and many
are not reported. Most OF this is In sec
ond-class work. such as houses and stores,
but il keeps the police busy watching a
floating population of clever criminals who
ere real burglars-not mere hall thieves
and second-story men who get sent up
for technical burglary.