The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-01


pairs that afternoon. The man was
sent: He found the banker fretting and
tuning at tAe safe, and declaring he
would get anether one first thing The
next week. s
Let me see, you work the lock-"
asked the mechanic.
Tut, man, | can't work it. Do you
I lllI nave Incurred such expense and
lost days business for nothing? Il
sent for yQQ to4open this safe and you
me-"
Inc mechanic insisted, and the bank
er went to his. safe, beginning to turn
the knob from right to left, instead
OF from left to right.
Hold on there" shouted the me-
chanic. What is the use Of doing
that? Try the other direction"
The banker glared. Didn't 1 tell
combination"
Yes" was the reply, but you have
not changed the principles of your
lock-
He tried the new combination nv
way said the MECHANIC in telling the
story, ''and in minute his great doors
swung open as easily as though they
were doors in a stage banquet hall as
the royal procession appeared. Then
ne tried to hedge on expenses because
IL was so simple. However, / had
nothing to do with his bill that was
the affair of the house. But 1 insisted
on having my special engine home, in
stead of taking a regular train later
tnat would have kept me all night in
the cars, and had a pretty good dinner
at his expense in the hotel near 'the
bank before I started home. I was
not economical"
But the lonely hotel meal gave birth
- q
IacIuferS were held up in this manner
why We're not others, and why should
not safe opening be made profitable
profession.
The young mechanic took two others
from the different safe makers into his
confidence. They consulted with safe
dealers and won their confidence to the
plan, under certain conditions of safe
W, which will be mentioned. They
were provided with the opportunities
OF borrowing money. They have pros
pered. Said one Of them last week:
our charges for attending to a
balky safe vary from $50 to as many
hundreds. That does not. of course.
include travelling expenses. We are
obliged to be extremely careful in the
selection ofshour men. We have use
for only the hi CHEST class of skilled
mechanics and men who are specialists
IN the works that we shall have for
them to do. There is not a safe made
today, burglar proof or any other kind
OF proof that will not yield to the prop
er kind of mechanical appliances.
The strictest inquiry must be made
into the antecedents of men who come
to work with U.S.. Ample means are made
for the Identification Of the eompany's
employees, or by those who have charge
OF the work To- be inspected, especially if
1t Is a bank case. In no instance is our
employe told Of the combination by which
any iocked-oiH safe Is opened 1t is his
business to find that out. By system
of duplicate letters we can certainly
detect any man frequently representing
himself to be one of our employees in or
der to gain access to the vault. We. never
find 1t necessary to use photographs.
Another thing. for their own protec-
unaccompanied by an official of the bank
Strange charges of theft have been made.
1t makes no difference what sort of a
safe we are called upon to open. We
ance underwater looks upon all buildings
and we charge for the amount of work or
risk incurred. Andsthis leads to q point
| would like to emphasize. It is the
height of folly for any person to lock
money or securities In an ordinary fire
proof safe. These safes were never in
tended for any such purpose A three
sixteenths plate Of iron is no protection
against burglars. It is only tempting
thieves when one puts money in such
safes.
1T Is always interesting to me- con-
tinued the safe breaker. ssto read in the
newspapers that a bank burglar was
caught by the police with full set OF
burglars'etoolS. Man aIfve,a full set OF 4
tools NECESSARY 10 open "a burglar proof
safe. properly Constructed, would require
a two-horse- wagon to carry them. We
have tools IN our business that no bur-
glar ever saw. Here, for instance, is one
drill that we have in frequent use, but
one man has all he could do to carry it.
but none could escape with 1t if detected
at work by the police.
yet no one has ever seen such
burglars tool in q kit captured by the
police I cannot give you the cost of it.
for such piece of mechanism represents
years of experiment But it is altogether
too intricate and expensive for a burglar.
Here Is a diamond drill that you could
put In your pocket, but it costs $105 to
make 1t.
''I have no doubt cracksmen could i'm
itate our tools,'' concluded the profess
sional safe breaker. "if they once see
them. A burglar who cracks a safe for
its contents does not care how much he
destroys the safe so long as he gets away
with the goods. We do care, for all dam
ages we make to the safe must be repair
ed without additional cost to the own
ers."-New York Times.