Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-05-25
ROBBED SAFE AS COPS WATCHED
Clever Thief Got Away With Loot
While Baltimore Was Burning.

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Clever Thief Got Away With Loot
While Baltimore Was Burning.
1T wouldn't have been any bad
thing IL the United States troops had
been in charge Of things during the
big Baltimore fire." said a Baltimo-
rean. 1.-The militia and Baltimore
police showed considerable lax
ness in letting crooks through the
fire lines when our town was burn
ing, and this made 1t pretty easy for
the crafty ones, who always happen
| to be on the spot when anything big
is happening. One of these robberies
was unique.
Among the first of the big plants
| to go in the Baltimore fire was big
wholesale hardware establishment.
Because 1t had caught so early. the
fire in the ruins of this plant was
pretty well cooled out and dead In
side of two days. A couple Of cops were
put to guard the big steel safe Of
the firm. The safe. had fallen
through to the basement with tho
collapse Of the building, and had
struck plump on its legs on the base
ment's cemented floor. A number Of
the office employees of the firm who
had been standing around watching
the ruins Of the offices were summon
ed, along about noon two days after
the fire, to a newly rented Office out
Of the fire swept district, to help In
the reorganization of the forces. That
left only two cops to guard the safe.
1.-The two cops were strolling
| around, stamping their feet to keep
warm, when a swell looking elderly
man, with mutton chop white whis-
kers, approached them, carrying a
fine big Gladstone bag He was ac-
companied by another man of some
what insignificant appearance.
"'Oficer.' pompously said the ell
derly man with the bag, addressing
one Of the cops, I want to open our
safe and see how things are on inside
Of It, and he flashed piece Of paper
signed by one of the members Of the
big hardware firm-a tidy forgery, Of
course-giving him permission. es
manager Of the establishment, to
open the safe. He had got a pass
through the main fire lines easily
enough-too easily-and the framing
up of the bogus letter was merely a
| minor detail. The two cops were
impressed with his dignified and i'm
portant appearance, and they told
him to go as far as he liked.
"The pompous man began to fool
with the safes combination, keeping
his ear glued to the front Of 1t to
listen to the clicks as he tuned the
knob backward and forward, but at
the end of fifteen minutes he was
unable to open the safe.
Warped by the heat, presume,
he said affably to the cops, and the
combination is thrown out Of plumb,
and he resumed his job.
LAS he worked away at the safe a
considerable crowd of men possessing
fire badges and passes through the
fire lines assembled and aroused the
wrath of the man with the white
whiskers.
"'Oficer!' he demanded. I want
you to chase these people away from
here, II you please! am not eager
for an audience which was the sure
enough truth, although the police
men didn't understand 1t the way he
meant It, The cops dispersed the
crowd, and the man with the Glad
stone bag went on tinkering with the
combination.
After about twenty minutes more
work there was a rattle and a slight
clatter within the safe, and the Job
was done. The portly man swung
the vast door open with the assist
ance of his companion.
"'Ah, everything seems to be all
right-no damage whatever, he said
in a pleased sort Of way to his COM
panion, and then, pulling out a large
bunch Of keys from his pocket, he
fitted several of them into the keyhole
of one Of the inside steel doors, and
presently opened the door, revealing
big packages Of currency lying snugly
upon the shelves. The elderly man
and his companion quickly stuffed
the currency into the Gladstone bag,
and then closed the safe, remarking
they'd be back for the checks and
papers and books later on.
"It was not until the following day
that the genuine representative OF
the firm turned up to open the safe,
and when he made his appearance he
was promptly arrested by the two
| cops as a fraud. When he had es-
tablished his identity and was re-
leased the two cops told the story
of how the safe had been opened the
day before, and the detectives were
set on the track Of the man they
described, one of the most noted safe
manipulators in the business, a man
who had made good. time and again.
the boast of his pals that he could
open any safe in the world not fitted
with a time lock. inside Of half an
hour merely by toying with the COM
bination and listening to the pulse
and heart beats inside.
1.-The fire started on Sunday, so
that the safe contained a great part
of the Saturday collection of the big
hardware firm, a sum said to have
been more than $4,000. all of which
the white whiskered crook took away
in his nice Gladstone bag. He had
such a good start 1t was impossible
to nail him at the time, but he was
sent away in England last year for q
Jewel robbery and Is to be extradited
| for trial in Baltimore when his bit
| Is done there."-New York Sun.