The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-19
SAFE-BREAKING so EASY NOW
PHNkERTON MAN SAYS THERE
ARE FEW CLEVER BURGLARS LEFT

Every Tramp a Possible Bank RoDber, for
All That Ii Needed to Get Into Small
Concerns Safe Is q Little Nitro.
GBycerine, Soap and n Scent Fuse.
LINCOLN, Neb., July 1s.-"Any safe In
the world that has a square door can be
opened in half an hour, and all of the ma
terials needed are half pint of nitro -glycer-
inc, a cake OF laundry soap and flve-cent
fuse"
This was the opinion expressed recently
by I. II. Tillotson, Western division chief
Of the Pinkerton agency, who has run to
earth many supposedly clever bank burg
lars in the last ten years Mr.. Tillots0n
does not possess a very high opinion Of the
modern bank burglar.
1T no longer requires intelligence and
executive ability to crack SAFE said he.
There was time when the safe craftsman
was the aristocrat of theifdom. Nowadays
he is as likely to be a tramp as not. have
picked them of brakebeams with enough
nitro-glycerine in bottle in their pockets
to have blown the coach to atoms IL it had
fallen to the track
In the old days a bank burglars kit Of
tools was large and heavy. 1t consisted
Of steel wedges, drills, sledge hammers
and screw jacks. The door OF safe had
to be literally torn off in sections, with a
powder explosion now and then to assist
| the operation. 1t was an all-night JOB
| for three or four men and they went after
vaults that had big money inside them:
They have no counterparts nowadays
| The bank burglar of modern times is con-
tent with small returns. Isolated country
banks where there is no police protection
| and pursuit cannot be organized for hours
are his chief prey. Then big guns of
quarter of n century ago would never kill.
Adam Worth, whom the Pinkerton agency
respects as the greatest thief of the century,
never carried revolver and would not
associate with any crook who carried one.
He did not care to face murder charge.
The safe blower of to-day goes armed to
the teeth and shoots TO kill,
an the last three years we have caught
thirty safe blowers in this section and
onlytwo of them had police records. This
is because a new method of cracking has
been invented and every tramp in the
simple a process that hundreds OF hoboes
60 into the business every year.
They travel In pairs or trios, and after
spottng a crib gain all the information
they can about the habits OF the town
marshal They plan to pull OF the burg
start, or often they steal horse and buggy
| and have the team ready to drive across
country and catch train. A tramp hang
out such as is found close to every Western
town, is headquarters, and this is far enough
away TO keep out OF sight Of officers. Stormy
nights are most favored, when the wind il
banging shutters and otherwise making
noise.
"Nitroglycerne is not for sale in stores,
but dynamite is. The burglar buys a stick
or two, unwraps il and puts it in can OF
| boiling water After it SINNERS for few
hours he has neat batch of the dope,
nitroglycerine. This. being heavier than
water, sinks to the bottom. The water is
drained of and the nitro poured into a
bottle.
1T is necessary that the bottle must be
filed 10 tho cork. If even small space is
left for the mass TO slosh around it might
blow up its possessor. The stuff Ia highly
explosive, SO much so that il you stand
bottle of II on table and shoot off a gun in
the next room there will be something
doing right away,
when the chap goes to town he hangs
this bottle in a little bag tied to a string
and hanging next his chest so that if ar
rested the stuff will not be found. The
remainder Of his kit consists of cake of
soap, piece of soft putty, fuse and some
matches.
"One man only enters. The others stand
guard and block of inquisitive citizens
reused by the noise. The man inside
works in the dark and with rapidity. He
pastes the soap or putty all around the safe
door. closing the crack completely save
at one spot, at the top. Here he forms the
soap or putty into little cup and pours
the LIQUID nitro into it. This seeps down
and into the space between the door and
safe, and the burglar keeps pouring until
the safe Is full.
Then he takes his fuse, a black string
the length Of lead pencil, with detonat-
L.. tta insp fha
putty cap at the top Of the door and lights
the other end. He crouchee behind the
safe or on one side OF it and awaits the ex-
plosion IL the man understands his bust
ness it ia not loud one. In our investiga-
tons we have found that about one in ten
Is heard by people outside of the bank,
even by those living upstairs.
But it makes terrific racket inside.
One fellow told me he was as deaf as post
for days after each wrecking. The nitro
glycerine simply rips the door TO pieces and
opens place for the burglar to reach in
He lights piece Of candle, overhaus the
contents as swiftly as he can, makes 4
bundle of them and lights out.
"The trick Is 80 simple and quickly done
that not once in ten times are the thieves
caught. Before daylight comes they are
miles away, hidden in some wooded place.
II the haul is big one they divide 1t and
separate. Western banks to the number
five or six years, until it has become neces-
sary to band together, organize mutual
protection society and turn the Pinkertonss
loose on every case. This has lessened
tho thing for time, but there are periodic
outbreaks.
Recently rounded up three men who
had served terms for bankbreaking. On
each we found half a pint of glycerine.
They had fifty pieces of fuse, two revolyers
apiece. shotgun in box, a bar of yellow
soap, thirty rounds Of cartridges and three
dozen sandwiches Their leader told me
the sandwiches were TO eat while they
were making their escape across country
from a bank they had spotted to rob that
night. ..- ,
1.-THE only way to prevent these robber-
les is to pass strict laws against carrying
nitro, search all tramps that come to town
and make it a penitentiary offence for
fellows with these outfits in their pos
session"