Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1901-06-06
Saint Mary $ Beacon.
ART OF LOCK PICKING.

When the householder gets ready
to turn ont the gas for the night
preparatory to turning in he makes
the rounds of the house, turns all
the keys to assure himself the outer
doors are locked, and goes to bed
confident that no burglar can get
in unless be saws hole in the door,
says the Chicago Chronicle. But
the householder 10 mistaken. Moth
ing, unless it be an open door, gives
the expert burglar less trouble
than the average lock. "Picking"
q lock has come to be such fine
art that there are only few locks,
and those especially made to order,
which cannot be picked by q man
who knows his business. Some
people think they can fool the lock
picker By leaving the key in the in
side, so that the burglar cannot in
sert skeleton" key. This only
makes things easier. The man
who knows how and has the proper
tools can turn o key just as easily
from the outer side of a door as
though he were on the side where
the handle Of the key projects. A
slender. strong pair Of steel pliers
properly applied will clutch the lit
tie end of the key which extends
below the notches and turns it cas-
lily and silently.
But that ia not lock picking.
That is child's play. To open a
door which has been locked and
from which the key had been re-
moved is a different proposition,
but old policemen declare there are
few, il any, doors on ordinary dwell
ings and fiat buildings which are
secured by locks able to resist the
advances Of the burglar. What are
known as "skeletol" keys are made
like ordinary door keys, only the
guards. which in regular keys con-
tain several notches of different
depths. ere very thin and delicate.
In a bunch Of these keys each one
has q guard just o shade wider or
longer than the next one, aud the
burglar tries them one by one until
he usually strikes one which will do
the business, raise the proper tumb-
Ter in the lock and shoot the bolt
back. Where the old fashion 'rim'
locks are used, the sort which are
used, the sort which are screwed to
the door and are now found only in
very old frame buildings, or in the
cheaper class Of hotels, this is easy.
Any one who has ever lost the key
to one Of these locks must have dis
covered that almost any old key he
borrowed from the neighbors would
turn the bolt. A button hook will
usually do it. Any slight projec-
ton on a slender rod which will
raise the simple tumbler in the lock
will allow the bolt to be removed.
But "mortise" locks, the variety
in use in all modern buildings,
which are fitted into the edge of the
door and leave nothing showing but
the brass plate on the edge and two
keyholes, are a bit more intricate in
their mechanism and are likely to
hold the burglar q moment or two
longer. But they will eventually
yield to the gentle movements OF
the expert lock pickers. When
several skeleton keys have been
tried and none is found to be the
proper one the "picks" which give
the art its name, are introduced.
These are slender bits of steel,
with one turned up at right angle,
resembling buttonhook with the
"hook" Strengthened ont to form
an L. The long end in the hand
of the burglar Is so slender that
several of these can be inserted at
once into the circular part of the
keyhole, and they are put in one by
one. each. one raising q tumbler and
holding it up until the proper num-
Der Of tumblers are raised, when
the bolt moves back and door 10
open.
There is scarcely q lock in town
on which an expert cannot perform
this trick-that Is, of the common
variety of locks which can be Open
ed through keyhole from either
side Of the door. With spring locks
or 'tnight latch" locks as they
are called-the work 10 bit more
difficult sometimes, and is more
performed with . skeleton key than
with the picks. The expert burg
lar In nrovidad With a rockakfr1 90