The sun., 1903-01-11

aad the hous, b eaker have derived from
electrical inv .tion u that 1t has given
them a new and handy dark lantern, One
OF these providers was caught In Brooklyn
several weeks ago with cane that had
ia the handle small electric light bulb.
burglars In Virginia recently was cylinder
containing a dry battery and having
lens at one end BY moving a ring Tor
ward the holder was able to ma ke iight
with it. The battery was good for about
a thousand flashes and could be renewed
for small sum. This. howe yer. rs . not
uncommon article OF commerce and "
used for honorable purposes by some Of
the best Of men.
There are few. II any. improvements on
the old-fashioned jimmies, pullers. brace e,
spreaders and wedges OF bygone days.
they have gone out OF fashion just as the
men who employed them have gone out
Of business.
Instead Of seventy.fve pounds OF steel
tpols, the bank thief CARR rubber bottle
of nitroglyceIine. q cake OF brown soap,
fuse and ha,.dful OF detonating caps;
The door of the safe is blown o6, not pried
on and the man who does 1t Is not the
well-dressed, high-living crook OF old,
but a tramp. a hobo. an outcast even IN
the society OF crime.
They are cal'ei "yegg men in recogni-
ton OF the discoveries and exploits Of John
Yegg, a California tramp, who some years
ago read in a Government report Of an
experiment which had been made to show
that safe doors could be blown on with
nitro0lycerine. Yegg made up his mind
that II Uncle Sam could do 1t he could do It,
and he did.
As crime after crime was perpetrated by
this method the crooks and the police got
to saving sThat's another Yegg job. and
so the name Of Johnny Yegg goes down TO
posterity.
Of veggs now and they are giving the public.
police and private detectives the toughest
problem in crime that has been offered for
many years. The Pinkertons are the pro:
tective agents Of the American Bankers
Association. and that they have made the
ciation,' mean something to the under
world Is shown by the fact that only twenty
Ave attempts. successful and unsuccessful.
were made age inst their banks In the year
Of the last report, while lis banks not 20
George 8. Dougherty has this work in
hand. Mr.. Doughefty says that the yeggs
career an Q criminal can usually be traced
to some occurrence which has thrown him
out Of work Every big strike produces
its crop Of them. The striker or the ioaieI
It's out az a tramp. meets more experienced
tramps and becomes their associate. They
Hnd some hapless stranger with little
money-another tramp. maybe-end noio
him up. He reeists and they XIII MIN.
Thus there's murder on the head OF your
conscienceless criminal and human life is
no more to him than the life OF dog: In
describing the yegg's manner OF living
the Pinkertons say:
The class of "yeEe." tramp or hobo bur
SS Srobicms % the n police throughout the rnitSd
States and Canada have to deal with, and ou
invest tSstions show tha, they hayc almost en-
sonsl % bank bur siar The latter would usp-
ally. travel as ordinary passengers on rail,
Snd WITH hSsn 70 ~
mittod: would hav' with them tools weighing
from fifty to soventy-hve pounds. recurring
ss.u ts.ss pr ha o wnSd 70 seS.ray T I've veil our
large cities until their money was spent.
The ssps ,hs OF ana nTmi ,Ser fs rar ru. ~ond
ca pture. Their manner q living made The
rcs"rac,er c,T"@f Of their worf and tools. together
with their method. Of trsyellinst making
more accurate descriptions ohtainabie. made
mine than that of the .yeees who, while
in cities. live in cheap lodRin houses or fur
'S When 'oT en- route II tx to bur aisry, IL. -y-grs-
move from place 20 place bv night. concesline
themselves in empty freight cars. stealing
car I, u ks. or travel on foot. hiding by day
in the woods, vacant barns. houses or other
ndlaSe ioSd afsr ,S.r
crime. escape bv the same means.
Illinois, Indiana and the neiehboring
States are infested with yeees. because
they are full Of small towns without police
protection, having ideal banks for the safe
blowers purposes Besides, railroad COM
munication Is handy and the people Of the
average middle Western towns are not
likely TO show fight. II they do. there 10
no quarter and no mercy for them.
The clerks who went to open the bank
at Westville. Ind. on the morning Of Oct. 5
found a seventeen -year-old boy lying dead
on the floor with Are wounds Ia his body.
He had been sleeping in the bank and had
met the robbers with a resistance a. brave
as il was hopeless
Farther West the banlrs are not 20 nu.
merous, the means Of escape are not 40
good and a considerable part Of the man
folks still know how to shoot. That's why
Mr.. DouGherty doesn't have TO hang many
A. =. IN h;e ,na in that ma n NJ tha country