Sunday Washington globe., 1901-12-29

governors, pardoning and parole boards
regularly perform is the release of profes.
sioual burglars either by pardon, commuta
tion Of their sentences or parole.
If there is a criminal who will not, who
cannot reform it is the burglar Yet he is
the preferred prisoner by the pardoning
powers for their favors The writer has
statistics to establish the fact that in the
Ohio Peuitentiary ten burglars are paroied.
committed or pardoned for one of any other
class of criminals The counterfeiter is
rarely shown mercy, the burglar has it
showered on him yet the unholy gain of
both classes bear no equitable proportion
whatever The burglar sometimes in
single job makes more than couuterfeiter
could accumulate in a life time And now
Congress is being asked TO make the penalty
for the counterfeiter more severe and his
chance Of pardon less
Here are short sketches of few famous
burglars who have been put out of business
by modern science in the construction of
safes and inventive alarms Old age, too.
has become factor in their present harm.
less condition:
Count Max Shinburn after defying the
vault and safe makers of the world and
looting banks in this country and abroad
for an aggregate gain of SIS 900 ooo the great
criminal fell victim to modern science
He was released not long ago from the
Clinton N. Y. Prison, after a FIVE years
term for rObbing the Middleburg Bank,
penniless, gray with age, broken in health
and spirit. The story of the mans life is
full of chapters which one finds it hard to
believe. In his prime he was truly the
greatest criminal in the world Ruloff, the
butcher who fought his way to freedom
scores of times over the bodies of his own
victims, excelled him in daring perhaps,
but no criminal that ever lived has his me
chanical genius.
Shiuburn is a German who was taught
the trade of a machinist and ocksmith by
his father, came TO this country before he
was seventeen years old and had launched
on a career of crime before he was eighteen
He had wonderful skill as a locksmith and
was taken up by two noted criminals
George Bliss and Fairy Mcclure, whom
he met in a New York gambling house
They used him in robbing a New Jersey
bank, and the success of the venture was
due primarily to his skill. He progressed
rapidly and as his ability became known
in the crook" world his services were in
constant demand re probably engaged in
twenty robberies before his name became
known to the authorities He had scarcely
attained his majority when he was planning
out big robberies for himself
AT that time the only safe in general use
in banks and business houses In this coun-
try was that made by the Lilly Company
Shinburn figured that a man who could
master the secret of the Lilly combination
lock could loot every Lilly safe in the
country. He decided to go and work for
the Lilly Company Bliss and Mcclure
agreed 70 keep him in funds while he
studied Such an expert machinist as
Shinburn had no difficulty in getting the
Job he wanted. 1t took him over a year to
obtain all the information he needed for
the successful contamination of the series
of robberies he had planned, but he kept at
work with patience The most important
discovery he made at the time was that a
person wit acute hearing could, by putting
his ear near rhe lock of the Lilly safe and
turning the dial, discover at what number
the tumblers dropped into place He made
a careful study of difficult combinations
and s credited with discovery that Is said
to have driven the Lilly safe out Of the
market He removed the comb nation
from a safe and then placed an impression
able piece of paper under IT, Then he
turned the dial slowly aud found that when-
ever a combination number was reached
the impression on the paper became more
distinct By using a microscope Shinburu
was able TO tell when the combination
numbers we're With this mass Of valu-
able information Shinburn and his asso-
ciates plundered Lilly safes all over the
country, finally driving the Lilly Company
out of business Time and again the man
was arrested and several convictions are on
record against him, but no prison was ever
strong enough to hold him for long
With the police Of the country after him
Shinburu went TO New York city and in
vested a large sum of money in the stock
market He was warned to ay as the au-
thorities were closing in OH him but he
calmly waited to see how his investment
would turn out sudden rise in the market
brought him a fortune and with over
81, ,ooo, 900 Of stolen money he sailed for Bel
gium, with which country the United States
had no extradition treaty at that time. He
purchased the title aud estate Of decrepit
nobleman and blossomed forth as Count
Shinburu He spent thousands Of dollars
on entertainments, the magnitude Of his
operations on the Bourse staggered the
native SPECTATORS and his enormous win
nings and losings we're commented on all
over Europe For years he kept up this
gate, then came a series Of misfortunes and
the great bank burglar was penniless once
more
He went to Paris, met some fugitive
American crooks there and planned the
robbery Of the Provincial Bank at Vivieres,
Belgium The merest accident IN the world
resulted in the arrest Of Shinbum and his
| pals, he was sent 70 Jail for Ave years, but
escaped in a month.
Some Of the big jobs that Shinburn en-
gagged in we're the robbery Of the Lehigh and
/ Wiikesbarre Coal Company Office at White
/ Haven, Penn, Of So 900 in cash by tunnel
/ ing his way to the vault from an adjoining
building the robbery Of the Walpole IN
II. J Bank Of $50, ooo the robbery Of the ST.
| Albans W. Bank Of $4,000; the robbery Of
the Ocean Bank Of Greenwich street, New
| York, Of 81 900, 600 in money and securities
the robbery Of the West Maryland Bank Of
| $4,000.
/ Shnburn has shot a dozen men, been shot