The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1902-05-22
He PLAYED BURGLAR
BIZ ne DID IT iNNOCeNrLY AND
DID IT ARTlSTlCALLY AS WELL


inscription safe Expert and whose
little shop. not far from the great dry
goods district, contains full assert
. ment of implements for the forcible
opening of safes, the writer said.
Would you be well qualified 10 play
the burglary"
Yes" said the little keen eyed man.
running his fingers through his scanl
hair reiectively. 81 once did play
burglar. In fact. played the star role
in safe cracking enterprise. was
the innocent means by which whole.
sale house was robbed Of several thou
sand dollars which had been taken in
too late in the day to be banked.
Il was in business then i'm another
city. l was sitting smoking at my
shop door about O'Clock one evening
when n messenger boy came with q
note on the letter paper Of we'll
known house asking me to come Mt
once with my tools to the office of the
firm.
The Office was lighted up. and
portly. prosperous looking man sat at
roll top desk. while two clerks.
perched on stools, were working at
some books
Il am Mr.. - said the portly one
| giving the name of the head of the
! firm. Something has gone wrong with
/ the safe, and | want you to open it,
1 The combination is G-2T-4j. but some
thing must have broken inside, for II
won't open. and we have got to get
some books out OF the safe tonight
"As l tried the combination which tho
man had given me he explained that he
had locked the safe when he went out
to dinner and was unable to open It
when he came back.
cit was one Of those alum filled
safes. and suspected rust had done its
work inside.
Nothing TO do but drill IL open.
said 1.
go ahead said the portly one. and
don't keep me here any longer than you
can help
with that he turned 20 his desk, and
] worked away unsuspectlngly. There
was dead silence except when the man
at the desk spoke to one or the other
OF the clerks about some account, and
the tread OF the policeman on that beat
could be heard as he passed the Office.
81 did not realize until afterward that
was working out OF view OF the pass
| ing policeman, for the safe was behind
the bookkeeper's desk, but the shades
were up and the man at the roll top
desk and the boOkkeepers could be
plainly seen from the street
81 got out my bits, adjusted the
brace, and soon steel was biting steel.
but the sound OF the ratchet was drown
cd by the click of the typewriter. for
the portly party began debating 10 one
OF the clerks as soon as began drilling
the safe. When l thought il all over
afterward, it occurred to me that this
was to cover the sound Of my opera
TONS
ain half an hour had hole in the
front of the safe. and little maniDu-
lation got the tumblers into place. and
the door swung open.
"'Here you are, sir said l. and the
portly man came around to the safe.
"'Very neatly DONE he said. You'd
make good burglar
but the sound of the ratchet would
bring the Cops said I.
TRUE remarked the man. and,
drawing out a roll of bills. he handed
me $50.
Ills that rightT he asked.
"'Quite right,' replied. Shall come
in the morning 10 fix the safer
mo said he. 4 will have the max
ers of the safe attend to it.
~ man directed one of the clerks to
get out the books that were needed.
and be went back to the desk.
IL trundled back to my shop. meet
ing the policeman at the corner, and
while l was standing chatting with
him the trio came out of the office.
"'You can come down an hour later
than usual In the morning. said the
portly man as he climbed into han
som that had rolled up to the office.
and. shouting the name of well
known club to the driver. he pulled
the doors to and was driven away.
before noon the next day the pO-
lIceman whom ] had talked with and
a detective came into my shop.
THAT was neat Job you did last
night said the policeman.
"'WhatT | asked. the nature of the
work 1 had done not yet dawning on
me.
1.-The footing OF IS safe said the
policeman. Come along
"rhe portly person who employed
me to open the safe was a well known
burglar who had made up to imper-
senate the head of the firm. and the
two clerks were confederates. one Of
whom had got a place with the firm
to get the lay OF the land.
''They had taken possession OF the
office after II was closed for the day.
and. not daring to blow open the safe.
because that would have made the po-
lice swoop DOWN on them. they had
boldly sent for me to do the job neat
| ly possessed themselves of nearly $4,-
600 that was in the safe and were
across the Canadian border before the
robbery was discovered when the Of
fee was opened the next day.