The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-08-14
"YEGG MAN" IS OUT
He's the Man Who Blows Country
Bank Safes With Nitro.
Glycerine.
Fall, When Banks Are Full Of
Wheat Money, Is His
Harvest Time. RI. .5sz, :;

There is season for everything, and
this is the season for the .yegg men, I"
said Charles H. Van Campen of the Fred
l.. Gray company, after looking over dis
patches indicating that the authorities in
the grain belt are getting ready for safe
''Altho itfis not generally known, the
'yegg men, asv the Safe blowersfwho work
the rural districts are technically de-
scribed have their own times for work,
just as other people have, and they are
just beginning to get out into the coun-
try, where you will hear from them soon.
In the old days safe blowers of the
better class-l mean bank robbers-were
generally expert mechanics from eastern
safe factories or machine shops. It was
a case then Of drilling into a safe before
getting it open; but with the increased
use Of high explosives the expert safe
dr1ller has disappeared, and IN This place
has come the nitro glycerin operator. or
yegg man. -. -
ssr. He's Plain Tough. . - /; ~
1.-THE, yegg man is generally plain
young tough who hangs about a Chicago
saloon six months in the year ana works
at his business the other six In the
spring and summer he gets his drinks
and board from the saloonkeeper who
stakes him when the fall comes and the
| nights get long, and who shares in the
Summer is a poor time for the bank
burglar to work. because the nights are
| so short and people are stirring about so
| much. 1t Is when the days grow shorter
and the nights colder that the yegg man
HES himself to the country, where he
keeps busy until the first fall of snow
| makes his tracks too plain for conven-
! fence.
"Altho lacking in artistic finish, the yegs
men are wonderfully successful at blowing
bank safes because under the fine sys-
tenn under which they work. Usually
the saloonkeeper sends out a smooth
1 looking bartender or hanger-on, who To-
Gates the town, secures diagrams and
dates and actually routes the safe
blowers.
His Plan Of Operation.
Almost without exception the men who
| really do the work never see the town
until the night they get the money. Most
always they drop off the train thirty miles
! from the place and walk the, rest Of the
distance, cooking their meals in the woods
and keeping out of sight. No one sees
them before the safe is robbed, and prob
ably no one sees them afterward Fo,
they know just where to- go to steal &
horse and just what direction to take
and, in short, they are prepared to make
a quick getaway
IF their first haul is good they gener.
ally go back to Chicago and blow In theil
share, II the returns are not large. the,
follow the original program.
They are able to get awayimore otter
because, altho nitro-g lycerin. explosive
| generally arouses the neighborhood few
healthy men are willing to offer them
selves upon the altar of law and order
A little careful shooting on a dark nigh
by determined and desperate men gener.
ally allows the safe-blower to get out O.
town, after which it is next to impossible
to identify them.
1T is evident from the reports from
Sioux Falls and elsewhere, that the yegs
men are getting out Of Chicago, ready
4 to work, and that they will soon be heare
from IN the wheat country, where thu
banks are loaded up with money to NOV,
the crop.
These yegg men, however, are not t
Ebe COMPOUNDED with the local talent which
has recently been operating on the Eas
Side. They would scorn to be classef
with plain safe blowers who work retail
Stores u