Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-22
HOW JEWELRY THIEVES WORK.
Breaking Show Windows and Getting
Fine Goods-Carting Away Safe.

LUG 0OOuS-Sd1 Jaw Ay q SNAS"
From the Jewellers Circular Weekly.
Several drummers and others interested
In the jewelry business while chatting In
the smoker of railway train began swap
ping stories about thefts Of jewelry. Stories
were told of the boldness of jewelry thieves.
and some Of the methods employed by them
to obtain valuable stock.
The first story was told Of an individual
who was seen lounging about the plate
front of window Of jewelry store. No
particular attention was paid to the man
1t the time. but the clerks recalled the In
cfdent after the robbery. In this instance.
the man appeared a number Of times In
front Of the store. One evening. soon after
dark. there was a sudden crash. and a rob-
Der was actively engaged in Scooping In
jewels with a hooked stick. In thirty sec
onds he was done and away. Bystanders
stood as IL petrified until the man struck
out at a run. Then the store people and
the bystanders realized what had occurred
and, shouting Thief" started after the
man
The man dropped his bag. The pursuers
stopped and seized the bag. They returned
to the store with the bag in high glee re-
marking incidentally that there was no
need in chasing the thief, because here
were the goods. The proprietor of the
store and all the clerks had followed. but.
having further to go than the crowd. were
behind and were met By the people with
the bag. Proudly the bag was opened. 1t
contained a brick. The thief had dropped 1t
had succeeded, the crowd, headed by the
salesman and proprietor, went back to the
store, only to discover that the window had
been cleaned of stock and the counters
were bare of number Of costly articles.
A policeman on duty said that after the
proprietor and clerks of the store ran for
the departing thief neatly dressed gentle
man, with all the airs of member of the
firm, gave directions to two other men to
get the stuff out Of the windows. and told
him 1the officer) that this was being done
as a precaution against theft while the
window was broken. In some first-class
stores there is a regular danger signal ar
ranged, and the men are drilled each week.
When the danger gong sounds one man
takes his place at the door, another at the
telephone to send word to the police, an
other. with running qualities, makes for the
door, in readiness to pursue. and so on.
Among other stories told were some re-
Iatng to the tricks and devices of the jew
elry thieves. The robber often works at
night, or sometimes during crowd, by
cutting out disk Of glass near where some
costly goods are shown. He may reach In
and secure something and be off before de-
tected, II he is quick. Sometimes he has
a tong instrument hidden under his coat, so
that he can reach in and pick up a watch.
Often again he simple stick with
slightly turned end, hooking Into ring.
The process of crushing in plate front
during the Intervals of the patrol of the
is done by pasting cloth or heavy paper on
the glass. A wood mallet is used. the
hammer ends being securely bound up in
heavy wooden fabric stuffed with excelsior
or kindred material. With this soft-headed
mallet 1t is possible to bang away noise
Iessly at the glass until the pain begins to
crumble Unless the plate is unusually
thick an opening can be made without
much trouble
In recent years jewelry thieves, like bank
robbers, have rented quarters near the
place they intended to rob. and lived there
long enough to study the situation. In one
case a room was hired over Jewelry store
and entrance effected to the store by means
of a rope ladder dropped from the window
of the room to window leading to a hall
in the store portion In another case the
bar spreader was used to open the bars of
a window. This device consists OF a spirally
threaded shaft fitted into two blocks, with a
central piece with a bar for turning. The
blocks are adjusted between two bars, the
central piece turned, whereupon the spiral
shaft causes the blocks TO expand sidewfse,
forcing the bars open. Then the intruder
can pass stn
A story was told of the removal of a safe
in which the proprietor of jewefry store
was accustomed to put his costly stock each
night. IT was not a large safe, but exceed
ingly strong and because OF Its light weight
a number OF bolts were put through the
floor and connected with the safe bottom
The proprietor often said that thieves could
not take this safe unless they took floor
and all Not long after the store was
tered. and behold, the thieves had sawed
out the section of the floor to which the
safe was fixed. The safe was bound up with
rope the latter passed under the separated
section of flooring, and when the boards
were sawed through safe, floor and all were
lowered into tho basement, and readily
moved out through the basement door put
into an express wagon and earted off.