Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-05-09
FEW BANK CROOKS LEFT
THE BURGLARS INGENUITY DROVE
HIM OUT OF BUSINESS.

The modern. burglar alarm not only
renders it utterly impossible for one
to disturb a vault protected with it
without detection, but it also gives a
signal at the first attempt to raise a
window, file bar or enter a door.
So thoroughly does it protect the 1e-
positories of great wealth that it has
defied all of the wonderful skill of
the craftsman, until today the few
/ living experts of that class of crooks
are found either in abject 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
performed in that time, but with one
single exception the money was OBJ
tained during banking hours from the
cashier as he glanced down the bar
rel of a siX-snooter. The exception
was when a stranger engaged a bank
I cashier in conversation while he
hooked out roll of bills with the aid
of piece of wire from under the Off
cial's nose.
The electrical burglar alarm of to-
| day, the great modern safes, which
| will even resist dynamite, are the re-
| suit of a series of bank robberies ex-
tending over period of twenty or
thirty years, which were conceived
] on I1pancCfl111u orrio hu n 4
of criminals, many of whom are alive
today. Strange as it 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
| a million dollars in money and securi-
ties were carried away, is wholly i'm
| possible without collusion with the
custodians of the vaults.
Twenty years ago bank officials
were not one whit less vigilant
than they are now, but the brain
Of the crook had gone ahead of tle
brain of the honest man, condition
hard to understand today, when the
very reverse is the fact
One of the best living illus
trations of the old school of crooks
is MaXimilian Schoenbein, better
known to the police of the world as
Count" Max Shinburn. After defy
Ing the vault and safe makers of the
world and looting banks in this coun-
try and abroad for an aggregate gain
of $5,000,000, this 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 Middle.
burg bank, penniless, gray with age,
broken in health and spirit. The sto-
ry of the mans life is like romance,
and is full of chapters which one finds
Il hard to believe. In his prime he
was truly the greatest criminal in the
world. Ruloff, the butcher, VINO
fought his way to freedom scores of
times over the bodies of his own vic
Tins, excelled him in daring perhaps,
but no criminal that ever lived had
his mechanical genius.
Sninburn is a German, was taught
the trade of machinist and lock-
smith 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
! hal yNnn6nrft,1 chill h
and was taken up by two noted crimi-
nails, George Bliss and Fairy" Nc
Guire, whom he met in a New York
gambling house. They used him in
robbing New Jersey bank, and the
success of the venture was due pri-
marily to his skill. He progressed
rapidly, and as his ability became
known in the crook world his SER
vices were in constant demand. He
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
! 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.
He decided to 60 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 wanted 1t took him over
a year to obtain all the knowledge he
needed for the successful consumma-
tion 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 per-
son with acute hearing could, by put
ting his ear near the lock of a Lilly
safe and turning the dial, discover
at what numbers the tumblers
dropped into place. He made a care
full study of difficult combinations,