Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1900-11-08

Splndie Is tnen inserted, ana win one
sharp blow from a noiseless leaden
hammer the works Of the lock are scat
tered into the safe An ordinary piece
of bent wire is now sufficient to disar-
range the tumblers. and, the handle be
ing turned, the safe is open to the
hands Of the burglar
According to Detective Sergeant
Thomas Adams, who has spent a busy
lifetime in the detective service cf
New York, no known device can equal
this innocent-looking piece of iron
junk. An additional advantage lies in
the fact that it can be carried in the
pocket OF an ordinary coat. Just
imagine fassive, imposing and ex
penslve contrivances of the safe manu-
facturers yielding so readily to tool
the making of which, in the burglars
hands, does not cost over so cents
One Michael Cody invented it by sit
ting down before the latest and most
improved pattern OF safe and studying
its construction closely. 1t struck
him at once that the lock was the most
vulnerable part of a safe, and from the
birth of that idea grew the completed
invention.
Louis Lund, a Frenchman, nick
named French Louis" burglar and
house thief, also has an invention to
his credit of which Edison might be
proud. II any one criminal In the
United States can be said to have
made burglary a science it is Lund.
He invented a safe-drilling appliance
that is almost perfect in it's way, its
only weak feature being its bulk and
the number of parts Of which it con
sists This drill Lund used himself \
many robberies, but. not satisfied with
his earnings in that manner, he had
several Of the instruments made, which
he loaned out on royalty to other bank
burglars less inventive than himself
This instrument was one Of many de-
signed by Lund for safe-cracking, and
1t was while serving a term in Sing
Sing for its use that he made the n
yention of which have already spok
er. II was to him that our prison
system owes the lever lock now in use
in every jail in the United States BY
means Of this lock the mere shifting Of
a lever in the warden's Office securely
seals, instantaneously, every cell door
in the entire establishment. Lund
gave his invention freely TO the author
tiles. Had il been invented under or
binary circumstances II would certain
ly have brought fortune TO its maker.
Lock manufacturers have for years
been fighting with more or less sue
cess, the skeleton key and the profess
sional lock picker. The lock Of today
Is infinitely more complicated than
that OF fifteen or twenty years ago, but
the improvements In locks only seem to
call forth a greater degree OF skill and
cleyerness from the lock pickers. One
professional house thief, at least, has
fought the lockmakers TO standstill
His name is Henry Klein, and II was
confined in Sing Sing prison that he in
vented and manufactured set OF keys
OF most delicate workmanship and In
genlous construction. The police are
now IN possession OF lne SET anu ic'
gard It with wonder and admiration as
the most complete lock-picking outfit
ever made II consists Of several dis
tinct shafts, with wards, removable or
extendaole at will by turning a screw.
They can instantly be converted into
pivot or hollow keys and the size, posi-.
ton and number Of the wards can be
altered into large variety Of combi-
nations.
TAXING him altogether the modern
burglar. bank breaker and swell cracks.
man IS a shrewd, inventive fellow
skiIlsIl in his unlawful profession. He
would escape more frequently than he
does were it rot for that kink In bis
character which stamps nearly every
criminal II is not what he does when
actually committing a crime ~ how he
conducts himself afterward that frs
ouently gives the police the cle@ 10 his
capture. The criminals clcyerness
and shrewanees ends and his reckless
pess begins once the job is over