Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-02-18

have three each as their share. Iowa.
Kansas, Minnesota and South Caro-
lima each have two. The singles are
Kentucky, Montana, New Mexico and
Utah
In the Office of the Pinkerton de-
tective agency there is large map
of the United States, which is dotted
in spots and patches with little tags
made fast to it with pins. They start
in the right hand upper corner at
Thomaston, Me. The next one is Yer
mont. There are three in New York
three in Pennsylvania, and then after
a swarm in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa.
Nebraska and other middle western
states.
The one fartheSt west in this thick
settlement is marked Norman, Neb.
Then it is a long journey to the final
stopping place at Price. Utah. There
are no tags farther west than that.
The Pacific coast is absolutely clear
of them.
On to the south there are few, in
Texas. Georgia and South Carolina,
and up in the north there are some
more. but the great mass is not far
either way from the Mississippi river
and is grouped around Chicago.
These tags form a pictorial record
of the bank robberies that have oc-
Cured since Sept. Is, 1902, when the
Pinkertons made their annual report
to the American Bankers association.
Each one has written on it the name
of the town and date of the crime,
and if the burglary was successful.
that is all. If it was a failure for any
reason the name and date are proceed
ed by At" an abreviation of the
word attempt.
In the bank burgling industry there
are, so to speak, captains, lieutenants
and privates. There is the plant hun
ter" who goes about as beggar or
peddler and finds out where there are
safes 10 be robbed. He seldom takes
part in the actual robbery. Then
there are the men. usually two in
each gang. who understand the use
of explosives and perform the real OPP
Grafton of blowing the safe And fin
ally there are the stick up men, the
men who stand out side and shoot nj
you. if YOU venture on the street OF
pop your head out of window.
There was a question not long ago
as to whether the common use of pow
erful currents of electricity by street
railway and lighting companies would
not provide the intelligent bank bur
glar with means of resuming opera
atoms on larger scale by attaching
temporary wires to trolley wires and
melting out the locks of bank safes
but this feat can be accomplished only
when all the conditions are prear-
ranged for it, and it is not regarded
as Il feasible method for thieves
The only benefit which the safe
blower and the house breaker have de.
rived from electrical invention is that
ii has given them Il new and handy
dark lantern. Several weeks age
with cane that had in the handle q
small electric light bulb, one of those
providers was caught in Brooklyn.
There are few, if any. improvements
on the old-fashiOned iimmies. pullers
bracers, spreaders and wedges of by
gone days, but they are no longer
used.
Instead of - pounds of steel tool,
| the IiOASIIl DdHh lIlSI CdETleS TllD
Der bottle of nitro glycerine, cake
of brown soap, fuse and handful o.
decorating caps. The door of the
safe is blown off, not pried off. anC
and the man who does it is not th,
well-dressed, high-liying crook of old
but tramp, hobo. an outcast ever
in the society of crime. They are call
ed ''yegg men, in recognition of tn,
discoveries and exploits of John Yegg
a California tramp. who some year:
ago introduced this method into tn,
business.