Evening star., 1901-12-14
THE BANK BURGLAR
His Own Ingenuity Has Driven Him
Out of Business
MECHANICAL DEVICES OUTWIF SKILL
Compelled Now to Go Back to
Petty ThIeving.
FEW OLD CROOKS LEFT

S
Written for The Evening Star.
The modern burglar alarm not only rem
ders it utterly impossible for one to disturb
a vault protected with 1t without detection,
but it also gives a signal at the first at
tempt to raise a window, file a bar or en-
ter door. So thoroughly does ct protect
the repositories Of great wealth that 1t has
defied all Of the wonderful skill OF the
craftsman, until today the few living ex-
perts Of that class Of crooks are found
either In abtect poverty or devoting the
genius which brought them millions twenty
years ago to the practice of crime of the
most petty character. One can scarcely
fail to notice the utter absence of great
bank robberies during the past five or ten
years. A few have been successfully per-
formed in that time, but with one single
exception the money was obtained during
banking hours from the cashier as he
glanced down the barrel of a six-shooter.
The exception was when a stranger en-
gagged bank cashier in conversation while
he hooked out a roll Of bills with the aid
of piece of wire from under the officials
nose.
The electrical burglar alarm of today,
the great modern safes, which will even re-
sist dynamite, are the result of a series of
DdHh TODDeTleS extending over q perlOO OF
twenty or thirty years, which were con-
ceived and successfully carried out by
band of criminals, many Of whom are alive
today. Strange as 1t may seem, these men
have driven themselves out of business.
The almost fabulous wealth which they stole
made the invention of mechanical devices
which would outwit their skill necessary.
and they came IN the course Of time. until
today a robbery like that Of the Manhattan
Bank or one like that Of the Ocean Bank
in New York city, where over million
dollars in money and securities We're car
ried away, is wholly impossible without
collusion with the custodians of the vaults.
Even then 1t is doubtful IL one could be
successfully carried out, no matter how
much care was employed, for experiments
have shown that even the men who safe
guard the vaults Of the great banks of the
country, by surrounding them with net
work of wires, cannot go through these Sd
lent guardians without giving an alarm.
Took Brains and Skill.
Twenty years ago bank robbery with
proceeds up in the hundreds Of thousands
was possible. but could only be success
fully carried out by men Of brains and
skill, who had the patience to study their
enterprise well before entering upon 1t.
Bank officials were not one whit less vlgi-
liant in those days than they are now but
the brain Of the crook had gone ahead of
the brain Of the honest man. a condition
reverse is the fact. Few people have any
idea Of the amount of study put into job
by the cracksmen before any real attempt
to realize is made. One of the best living
illustrations of the old school Of crooks is
Maximilian Schoenbein, better known to
the police Of the world as Count Max
Shinburn. After defying the vault and
safe makers Of the world and looting banks
in this country and abroad for an aggre-
gate gain of s., ,O00, 900 this great criminal
fell a victim to modern science. He was
released not long ago from the Clinton. n.
Y, prison, after q five years term for rob-
bing the Middleburg Bank. penniless, gray
with age broken in health and spirit. The
story Of the mans life Is like q romance,
and 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 free
dom scores Of times over the bodies Of his
own victims. excelled him in daring per-
haps, but no criminal that ever lived had
his mechanical genius.
Shinburn Is German, was taught the
trade Of a machinist and locksmith 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 q New Jersey
bank and the success of the venture was
due primarily to his skill. He progressed
rapidly, AuO as MS aDlllty became known
the Crook world his services were in con-
slant demand. He probably engaged in
twenty robberies before his name became
known to the authorities. He had scarcely
attained his majority when he was plan
ming out big robberies for himself At that
time the only safe in general use In banks
and business houses in this country 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,
Learned 1t All.
He decided to go and work for the Lilly
Company. Bliss and MCGUIRE agreed to
keep him In funds while he studied Such
an expert machinist as Shinburn had no
difficulty in getting the job he warited. 1t
took him over a year to obtain all the
knowledge he needed for the successful
conSummation Of the series of robberies he
had planned, but he kept at work with pa
tience. The most important discovery he
made at the time was that a person
with acute hearing could, by putting his
ear near the lock of a Lilly safe and turn
ing the dial, discover at what numbers the
tumblers dropped into place. He made
careful study Of difficult combinations and
is credited with discovery that is alleged
to have driven the Lilly safe out of the
market. He removed the combination from
safe and then placed an impressionable
piece of paper under It. Then he turned
the dial slowly and found that whenever a
combination number was reached the i'm
preston on the paper became more dis