Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-02

Modern inventions have completely
crushed the professional bank burglar,
The associations formed by the bank
ers for their mutual protection and the
watchfulness Of the detective agencies
have wiped out a profession which
used to reap a lucrative income from
the repositories OF public funds. The
absence of the glowing reports which
used to fill columns Of the papers con.
ceinlng the explolts Of cracksnea has
given rise to inquiries as to the cause
of all this.
Time was when the most successful
of the bank burglars were the men
with the broadest shoulders and the
strongest arms. In the past a job Of
this sort was only attempted by n
gang of burly thieves, half dozen
of them at least, and armed with im-
plements so complicated and expen-
slye that they weighed hundreds Of
pounds. Such has been the advance Of
science that lately these men have
been able to work alone, with elec-
tricity as their assistant, and II they
wish they may wear evening clothes,
as there is no Crime, oil or dust con-
nected with the operations.
The yeggman is content with break
ing into postoffices and taking what
anu Slldll COlU may De leIL III
the safe and with robbing isolated
houses, but the true artisan of this
craft when 1t was in its prime, dis
dained anything short of $50,000, and
sometimes he hitched his kite to q
higher star than that.
Greatest Burglary of All
An instance of this was the great
Manhattan bank robbery which took
place in 1873, In which almost $3,O0O,-
600 worth of securities and cash was
distracted from the vaults. "Old Man"
Jimmy Hope was suspected of this
crime, but nothing could ever be
proved against him, although his son
was convicted and sentenced to Sing
Sing for a term of years.
No such robbery had been attempted
before that time and none have since
assumed such magnitude in the
amount of property lost at one time.
For years the robbery had been
planned, and the perpetrators waited
for favorable opportunity to put
their scheme into operation. From the
confession of Patrick Shevelin the
whole story of this remarkable rob-
berry was brought to light.
According to Sheveln, who was night
watchman at the bank, he was APP
preached by two men who had been
schoolmates of his in his boyhood, and
of whose subsequent career he knew
nothing. One of them was well
known cracksman nicknamed little
Tracy" and the other man was almost
equally famous, bearing the sobriquet
of Big Kid" They called his attten-
tion to the great chance of making
money easily and also represented the
small risk that there would be to such
proceedings, egging him on by point
ing to the beggarly salary he was re-
ceiving.
He at first rejected their proffers of
assistance, but finally consented to a
meeting, when he agreed to become a
party to the crime Little Tracy
and the big Kid" started to organize
the gang who were to do the work.
They finally secured Big Tracy" and
man named Dollard, but after three
or four months of meetings the gang
broke up on account of some of the
members being sent to Jail for other
crimes.
After the abortlve attempt the mat
ter lauguished for sometime, but finally
through the mediation of Little
Tracy" Hope was brought into con-
sultation with Shevelin, and they had
several interviews in regard to the
advisability of making the attempt
Hope finally appeared satisfied and Or
ganized another gang to do the work.
Laying the Plans
Hope, however did not lose his faith
in the scheme, and, some six months
after the forming of the second gang
again called on Shevelin. This time he
made arrangements to associate the
big Tracy" and Johnny Dobbs with
himself, and the trio went to work in
dead earnest. y
On the first available Sunday Hope
visited the bank and examined the
vaults. Then he gave Shevelin some
wax to take an impression of the other
door key. This being done, he had
key made which, when tried, operated
the lock quite easily.
The next Sunday he took Johnny
Dobbs along. They drilled hole
under the combination, threw the fore
tumbler of the combination back,
opened the door and entered the vaults.
Here for time they were in doubt
just what to do, as there happened to
be two steel safes, both with COM
bination locks. Fifty minutes was all