The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-13
Bad Memories and Accidents Make
Their Calling Profitable.
From the New York Times.

From the New York Times
There are other persons besides burglars
who spend their lives in breaking open
safes. The faulty recollection of man. the
loss of memoranda. deaths, broken appar-
atus, and number of other causes make
it profitable for some half dozen men in
the city of New York to spend their en-
tire time getting into the inside of large
iron and steel safes. The business is a
profitable one. and the greatest care has
to be exercised by houses who employ
men for this purpose.
One of the large safe manufacturers of
the city has three of these safe openers
in his employ. One of them is Henry
Reuter-, who opened the safes for Justices
Jerome at the gambling house a Ill East
Fourteenth street last week
II have been in this business nearly
thirty years. said Reuter- to a New York
Times reporter, but this was my first
experience in opening gamblers safes.
That second safe was one of the most Sc
cure L ever saw, and no Wall street
house ever had it's money better protect
ed than those gamblers did the papers
in the inner compartment of that safe.
1.-THE easiest kind of a safe to get into
is a lock safe. BY boring into the lock,
il can be dismantled, and the bar holding
the door easily pulled aside. OF course,
we sometimes have to bore through
pretty thick piece of iron but that is sim
pie compared to other difficulties with
which we have to contend.
1T is these burglar-proof safes OF chill
ed steel that cause the most trouble. IT
is almost impossible to tear them to piece
or to make any impression upon them
with hammers. Then. when they are held
by combinations, the problem is all the
more complicated.
"A combination safe always presents
plenty of resistance to an intruder. 1t is
often necessary to bore into the combi-
nation wheel as well as to reach the bars
holding the door to the safe.
"All sales can be opened, however, II
you have the proper tools. 1t is never
necessary to blow open a safe. even the
largest vaults opening before the skilled
and persevering workman.
Everybody almost forgets the combina-
ton to their safe sooner or later. Those
who open the doors every day are not go
apt to do so, but il Is well for even them
to keep a memorandum Of the cOmbind
ton. No safe company retains any rec
ord of the combina tion once the safe
has been. transferred from it's hands. The
combination must be remembered or the
safe must be broken open at one time
or another.
MANY people place valuable papers in
small safes in their homes, only to find
when they want to get at them that the
combination to the safe has been lost
good safe opener can sometimes chance
upon the combination and open the safe,
but this seldom happens.
1T is the custom Of most financial con-
Germs TO intrust the combinations to their
safes to only one or two men. Oftentimes
II is necessary for the regular man TO be
away, or he leaves for a vacation. The
substitute will forget the combination
sometimes the very fMt night. immediate
access to the safe md be had. The only
recourse is to have II opened forcibly.
81 knew of one man who carried the
memorandum of his safe combination in
his hat. He left this hat at home one
morning taking another by chance. The
servant I'm brushing up the house knock
ed this memorandum out OF the hat and
suyent Il away The man forgot the COM
blnation that very day. and the safe had
10 be bored into.
when a safe is opened II is usually
not damaged other than on the door. The
old door can then be taken Off and new
door with a new combination be placed
In it's stead The loss Is not very great
II is often less expensive TO do this than
Il Is TO sacrifice the time necessary for
, thorough search for the combinatiou
IAN expert can get into almost any me-
diuern- sized safe In two or three hours
unless II is burglar-proof proposition.
Tbe theory Of the burglar-proof safe il
maj n will take so long to get into II
that people are apt to come round before
the lob Is completed. No manufacturer
NJ safes thinks he can make a safe that
cannot be broken open II sufficient time Is
given"
The sole survivors OF Grants class,
that OF 49, al West Point. are now Gen.
,,r.,,t- ID teranLNp Hcn Samuel q