Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1904-08-12
SAFES ( SAFE BLOWING


How Modern Burglars
Have Improved on Old
Methods -.
In view Of the wzecking, Of the safe
at the Royalton epostof1ce, and similar
safe robbing feats in this vicinity,
the methods employed ;, are Of. inter.
est and are: thus set forth by an ex-
perienced Pinkerton detective in an
interview:
"Any safe IN the world that has q
square door can be opened in half an
hour, and all Of the materials needed
are half pint Of nitro-glycerin, q
cake of laundry soap and tive-cent
fuse.
"In the cid days a bank burglar g
kit of tools was large and heavy. It
consisted Of steel wedges, drills ,sledge
hammers and jsck-screw. The door
CT the safe had to be literally torn off
in sections, with powder explosion
now and then to assist the operation.
It was an all-night job for three or
four men and they went after vaults
that had big money Inside Of them.
"Thev have no counterparts nova
days. The bank burglar of modern
times Is content with small returns.
Isolated county banks where there Is
no police protection and pursuit can
not be organized for hours, are hie
chief prey. The big guns of quarter
Of a century ago would never kill.
Adam Worth, whom the Pinkerton
agency respects as the greatest thief of
the century. never carried revolver,
ana would not associate with any
crook who carried one. He did not
care to face murder charge.
''In the last three years we have
caught thirty safe blowers in this
section, and onlv two of them had
police records. This is because new
method of cracking has been invented
and every tramp in the country knows
how it is done. It is 80 simple pro-
cess that hundreds of hoboes go into
the business every year.
"Nitro-glyoerin Is not for sale in
stores, but dynamite is. The burglar
buys stick or two. unwraps 1t and
puts it in can Of polling water. A.
ter it SINNERS a few hours he has
neat batch of dope, '-njtro-glycerin.
This being heavier than water. sinks
to the bottom. The water is drained
off and the nitro poured out into
bottle.
"It is necessary that the bottle be
filled to the cork. If even a small
space is left for the mass to slosh
around it might blow up its possessor
The stuff is highly explosive, 80 much
so that if you stand bottle of it on q
table and shoot off gun in the next
room there will te something doing
right away.
"When the chap goes to town he
hangs this bottle in little bag tied to
a string and hanging next to his
chest, so that if arrested the stuff
will not be found. The remainder Of
his kit consists of a cake of soap, a
piece ct soft putty, fuse and some
matches.
lone man only enters. The others
stand guard and block off 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.
"Then he takes his fuse, a black
string the length of lead pencil, with
a decorating cap on the end, puts this
cap into the putty cap at the top Of,
the door and lights the other end. he
crouches behind the safe or one side of
it and awaits the explosion. If the
man understands his business it Is not
q loud one. In our Investigations we
have found that about one in ten is
heard by people outside Of the bank,
even by those living upstairs.
"Western banks to the number of
5000 have been looted in the last five
or six years.
HICKS ON AUGUST WEATHER.
The storm period central on the
H. l..aa.