Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1902-06-12
EE PLAYED BURGLAR
BIT He DID IT INNocENTLY AND
DID IT ARTISTlcALLY AS WELL


DID IT ARTlSTiCALLY AS WELL
The Plausible Scheme by Which a
Safe Expert Was Fooled and Used
by a Trio of Notorious Cracksmen
to Get at Their PIunder.
To the man whose shingle bears the
inscription "Safe Expert" and whose
little shop. not far from the great dry
goods district. contains a full assert
ment of implements for the forcible
opening of safes, the writer said,
would you be well qualified to play
the burglar?"
Yes said the little keen eyed man,
running his fingers through his scant
hair relectiyely. 81 once did play
burglar. In fact. l played the star role
in a 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.
81 was in business then in another
city. | was sitting smoking at my
shop door about o'clock one evening
when messenger. boy came with a
note ON the letter paper of a well
known house asking me to come at
once with my tools to the Office of the
firm.
THE Office was lighted up, and
| portly. prosperous looking man sat at
q roll top desk, while two clerks,
/ perched on stools. were working at
/ some books.
/ "'I 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
The combination is 6-27-45. but some
thing must have broken inside, for it
won't open. and we have got to get
some books out of the safe tonight
/ "As tried the combination which the
! man had given me he explained that he
| bad locked the safe when he went out
| to dinner and was unable to open it
when he came back.
! ut was one of those alum filed
safes. and suspected rust had done it's
| work inside.
Nothing to do but drill it open,'
said L.
"'Go ahead said the portly one. and
don't keep me here any longer than you
| can help
"With that he turned to his desk, and
l worked away unsuspectingly. There
was dead silence except when the man
at the desk spoke to one or the other
of the clerks about some account, ant
the tread of the policeman on that beat
could be heard as he passed the office.
II did not realize until afterward that
| was working out of view Of the pass
/ ing policeman, for the safe was behind
the bookkeepers desk, but the shades
were up and the man at the roll top
| desk and the bookkeepers could be
| plainly seen from the street
II got out my bits adjusted the
| brace, and soon steel was biting steel,
but the sound of the ratchet was drown
I'd by the click of the typewriter, for
the portly party began debating to one
of the clerks as soon as l began drilling
the safe When l thought it all over
] afterward, it occurred to me that this
was to cover the sound of my opera
tons.
'In half an hour | had hole in the
front of the safe, and little manipu-
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 l.
"'True, remarked the man. and,
drawing out a roll of bills, he handed
me 500.
lis that right% he asked.
"'Quite right.' l replied. Shall come
in the morning to fix the safe?
NO said he. 4 will have the max
ers of the safe attend to it.
LAS gathered up my tools the port
ly man directed one of the clerks to
get cut the books that were needed.
and he went back to the desk.
II trundled back to my shop. meet
ing the policeman at the corner. and
while was standing chatting with
him the trio came out of the office.
lyon can come down an hour later
thar usnal in the morning. said the
portly ulan as he climbed into a ham
som that rad 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.
.'Refore noon the next day the po-
Iicaman whom had talked with and
detective came into my shop.
That was neat job you did last
night said the policeman.
"'What?' | asked. the nature of the
work | had done not yet dawning on
me-
1.-The footing of IS safe said the
policeman. Come along
THE portly person who employed
me to open the safe was we'll 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 2 place with the firm
to get the lay of the land
They had taken possession of the
office after it 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 S4,
900 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.
Il told my story to the magistrat'
and was released on bonds to appear
as witness when the trio were
caught.
/ ''The papers called me the innocent
burglar the name stuck to me and
hurt my business, and the police were
rather attentive to me. so 1 came here
some years ago."-New York Times
A Very Old Rule.
The oldest mathenatic book In the
world is believed to be the "Papyrus
Rhind" in the British museum, pro-