The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-11-08
THEIR FINISH SURE.
Bank Robbers Rarely in the Clutches OF
8 Etn1he LaW.lE " nsnsu

- Icnthe sLaw!6I u p5nsu
Minneapolis Joarnal:9a zess II1I,
The startling number of bank rob
berries committed I'M the northwest
lately has INDUCED the widest specnla-
ton among burglar hunters and bank
ing associations organized for purposes
of protection In the past few weeks
dozens of country banks in as many
different states have been robbed and
the criminals are still at large. That
men should engage in the hazardous
business of ankaburglarizing in pros
porous times excites wonderment, but
that they should attempt aitat all in
the face of almost certain detection,
surprises the knowledge of police Off
Gals. ~, IS. ...s5~..., ) ,|-n,-. ssj.sr
Il No criminal moves in 80 narrow
an orbit as the bank burglar. When,
for example, village bank is robbed
ofsaS5, 900 or $40, 600, and the masked
robbers make good their escape, it
might be supposed that their chances
of being found out were nil. But the
burglars have not done business with
a. country bank alone. That institu-
ton fisJinsured against burglaries and
holdnps, and the bank really !, loses not
penny. But the insurance company,
| with it's experts and trained thief
catchers in every important city in the
country is affected. No sooner does
| II learn of q, burglar than thousands Of
detectives are put lin touch with the
case, and)the thief who escapes these
argttsLeyed sleuths is one man out of
q t thousand, linn, .sr " mr.
81 The insurance company's power to
ferret out ncrime is as nothing COM
pared to that of he3American Bankers
association with its hundreds of mil
lions of capital. Any country bank
can become member ,of, this as,ocia-
tion by payment of AZ s. membership
fee, and 1t then has thrown around it
| the--best protection that brains and
money can proesye. A gang of burg
lars may elude the vigilance of the
associationss ofdeerA for month, a
year, but in time they will be lodged
behind penitentiary doors. This has
been the historyaof all the celebrated
bank burglars, none of whom ever
wholly escaped the meshes of the law.
! a feature Of the burglary business at
the present day is the apparent ease
with which the vaults and safes of
country banks are blown 6psn. The
explanation ia comparatiyeiya simple.
A few years ago <enly An expert
machinist employingTthe most skill
full Judgment wit his hands and brain
could drill q bank safe and explode it
with satisfactory results. Now, such
is the dissemination Of knowledge re-
garding the use of explosives, that
tramp Of ordinary Intelligence can
soon learn to be a burglar, if he
bankers for that kind:of life
1t might be supposed that.the coun-
try banks, which always have accounts
with the larger banks in the cities,
wousld have been terrified into greatly
increasing these accounts :betause of
the recent robberies. Such has not
been the case, however. The country
banks are almost without exception
insures against burglaries at rate
which sconsidered very liberal. In
suranceTof this kind costs unually
about $95, for So, 900 FOR the first year.
A lowS 6gureS 9 obtains fqrss two years
insurance, but still lower rate is
named for insurance covering term
of years. -
=" The burglars make us spend
money, ''said detective for one of the
companies this morning, "but not one
Of them has ever escaped us. There is
but one finish for the bank robber-
the peniteptiary of the State in which
he commits his. crime. - -,
~ ~ Hiil1s9h, , filtT'b H. ID