Omaha daily bee., 1906-03-10
HOW JEWELRY THIEVES WORK
Breaking show windows and Getting
Zine GOOds--CRrting Away
Safe.


Several drummers and others interested
in the jewelry business while chatting in
the smoker OF a railway train began swap
ping stories about thefts of jewelry.
Stories were told OF the bodness Of jew
elry thieves and some of the methods en-
ployed by them to obtain valuable stock
The first story was told Of an individual
who was seen lounging about the plate
front window of a jewelry store. No par
ticular attention was paid to the man at
the time, but the clerks recalled the incl
dent 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 rob-
Der was actively engaged in scooping in
Jewels with 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
l store ana all lle tltlhS lAdh AbiloNNNt bN''
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 brick The thief had dropped
It to check the pursuit. Realizing the trick
! had succeeded, the crowd, headed by the
statesmen and proprietor went back TO the
| store. only to discover that the window
| had been cleaned of stock and the counters
| were bare of a number of costly articles.
| A policeman on duty said that after the
| proprietor and clerks of the store ran Tor
| the departing thief a neatly dressed gen.
| tleman, with all the airs of a member of
| the firm, gave directions to two other men
TO get the stun out of the windows, and
told him (the offcerl 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
! arranged 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
another with running qualities, makes for
the door, in readiness to pursue, and so on.
Among other stories told were some re-
! lating to the tricks and devices Of the
iewelry thieves. The robber often works
at night or some times during crowd, by
cutting out a disk of glass near where
some costly goods are shown. He may
reach in and secure something and be of
before detected. Sometimes he has a tong
instrument hidden under his coat, so that
he can reach in and pick up a watch. Often
again he uses a simple stick with slightly
turned end, hooking into a ring.
The process of crushing in a plate front
during the intervals Of the patrol of the
police at the same time making no noise,
! 4 OH nm
the glass A wood mallet is used, the
hammer ends being securely bound up in
a heavy woollen fabric stuffed with eX-
ceIsior or kindred material. With this soft
headed mallet it is possible to bang away
noiselessly at the glass until the pane be-
gins to crumble Unless the plate is un-
usually thick an opening can be made with
out 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 a window leading 10 a hal
in the store portion. In another ease the
bar spreader was used to open the bars Of
a window. This device consists Of a spirally
threaded shaft fitted into two blocks, will
a central piece with a bar for turning
The blocks are adjusted between two bars
the central piece turned, whereupon th'
spiral shaft causes the blocks TO expand
sidewise, forcing the bars open. Then th'
intruder can PASS in.
A story was told OF a removal Of SAT-
in which the proprietor OF a Jewelry stor'
was accustomed 10 put his costly stool
each night. II was not a large safe, bu
exceedingly strong, and because OF its high
weight a number OF bolts were put through
the floor and connected with the safe bot
tom The proprietor often said that thieve
could not take this safe unless they tool
floor and all Not long after the store wa
entered, and behold the thieves had save
out the section OF the floor TO which IA
safe was Fixed. The safe was bound a.
aith rope, the latter passed under tn
separated section Of flooring. and when IN
boards we're sawed through safe, floor AM