The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-06-02

Are BrOken-Getting q Safe That
Was BOIted to the Flooring.
A number of jewelers. were dining to
gether and with the cigars the tall
turned on jewelry thieves and theil
methods.
The first story was told of an in
1ividual who was seen lOunging about
the plate front window Of a jewelry
store. No particular attention was
paid to the man at the time, but the
clerks recalled the incident after the
robbery. In this instance the man ap
peared a number Of times in front OF
the store. One evening soon after DARK
there was q sudden crash, and rob
Der was actively engaged in scoopiae
In jewels with a hooked stick. In
thirty seconds he was done and away
Bystanders stood as If petrified until
the man struck out at q run. Then
the store people and the bystanders
realized what had occurred and shout
ing Thief" started after the man.
The man dropped his bag. The pur.
suers stopped and seized the bag. They
returned to the store with the bag in
high glee, remarking incidentally that
there was no need in chasing the thief
because here were the goods. The pro
prietor Of the store and all the clerks
had followed, but, having farther to
go than the crowd, were behind and
were met by the people with the bag.
Proudly the bag was opened. 1t con-
tanned brick. The thief had dropped
1t to check the pursuit. Realizing the
trick had succeeded, the crowd, head
ed 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 d
number of costly articles.
A policeman on duty said that after
the proprietor and clerks Of the store
ran for the departing thief a neatly
dressed gentleman, with all the airs Of
q member of the firm, gave directions
to two other men to get the stuff out
Of the windows and told him (the off,
cer) that this was being done as pre-
caution against theft while the win
dow was broken. In some first class
stores there is 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
hn tn n
ness to pursue, and SO on.
Among other stories told were some
relating to the tricks and devices of
the jewelry 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 detected
ii he is quick. Sometimes he has q
tong instrument hidden under his coat,
SO that he can reach in and pick up
watch. Often again he uses a simple
stick with a slightly turned end, hook
ing into ring.
The process Of crushing in q plate
front during the intervals Of the pa
troll Of the police, at the same time
making no noise, Is done by pasting
cloth or heavy paper on the glass. A
wood mallet Is used, the hammer ends
being securely bound up In a heavy
wooden fabric stuffed with excelsior or
kindred material. With this soft head
ed mallet 1t is possible to bang away
at the glass until the pane
begins to crumble. Unless the plate Is
usually 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 q room was
hired over a jewelry store and en-
trance effected to the store by means
Of rope ladder dropped from the win
dow Of the room to window leading
to hall in the store portion. In an
other case the bar spreader was used
to open the bars of q window. This
device consists Of spirally threaded
shaft fitted into two blocks, with a
central piece with q bar for turning.
The blocks are adjusted between two
bars, the central piece turned, where
upon the spiral shaft causes the blocks
to expand sidewise, forcing the bars
open. Then the intruder can pass in.
A story was told Of the removal of q
safe In which the proprietor of jewel
~ store was accustomed to put his
costly stock each night. It was not q
large safe. but exceedingly 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 the safe unless they took floor
and all. Not long after the store was
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 the basement and readily
moved out through the basement door,
put into an express wagon and carted
Circular-WeekH.