Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1906-06-21
SCHIEsMME SCHEMES OF THIEVES
trucks OF THOSE wHo OPERATE IN
JEWELRY STORES.
" Ia -'s
The Wsys0ne Fface WAS Completely
Cleaned Outflow show Windows
Are Broken-Getting Safe That
was Bolted to the Flooring.

i CieAned Outflow show Windows
Are Broken-Getting Safe That
Was Bolted to the Flooring.
/ A number of jewelers. We're dining to-
'fgether and with tie cigars the talk
turned on jewelry thieves and their
methods. .l..s.lEElss,4s i..ss@ u
i The first story was told Of an in
| divjdual avho was seen lounging about
the plate front window of, jewelry
store. No particular attention was
i paid to the man at the time, but the
4 clerks recalled the incident after the
robbery In this instance the man APP
/ peared number of times in front of
the store. One. evening soon after dark
i there was sudden crash, and rob
Der was actively engaged in scooping
in jewels with u hooked stick. In
4 thirty seconds he was done and away
lBystanders stood as If petritied until
i the main struck out at run. Then
the store people and the bystanders
lreaiZed what had occurred and shout
ling ."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
thigh glee, remarking incidentally that
there was no need in chasing the thief
because here were the goods. The pro-
lpretor of the store and all the clerks
had followed, but, having farther to
go than the crowd We're behind and
We're 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 eof
lstock and the counters We're bare Of u
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 AL the airs OF
a member of the firm! gave directions
to two other men to get the stuff out
of the windows and told him (he Off
cer) that this was being done as d pre-
caution against theft while the Win
| dow was broken. Ia some first class
stores there is regular danger signal
arranged, and the men are drilled each
week. Whenathe 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 readi-
ness to pursue, and SO on f4sa ~
| Among other stories told We're some
relating to the tricks and devices of
the ,jewelry thieves. The robber often
works at night or sometimes 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 off before detected
| if he is quick. Sometimes he has
tong instrument hidden under his coat.
SO that he can reach in and pick up q
watch. Often d gain he uses Simple
stick with a slightly turned end, hook
ing into a ring. 1874 a
The process of crushing in a plare
front during the intervals of the pa
troll Of the police, at the same time
making no noise, is done by pasting
cloth or2heavy paperaon4 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 it is possible to, bang away
noiselesslyssaIs the glass until the pane
lbegins to crumble. Unless the plate isl
usually thick an opening can be made
without much trouble as
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 cease room was
hired over a tjewelry7 store and en-
trance effected to the store by means
| ofa rope ladder dropped from the win
fdoW Of the room toa window, leading
to hail i'll the store portion Imam
other case the bar spreader was used
to open the bars of a window. This
device consists of spirally threaded
shaft fitted into two blocks, with a
central piece with a bar for turning.
The blocks are adjusted between two
bars, theacent EaH spie cea turned, where
upOll Illc SplIdi Shall CAUSES Liz iUiOCkS
to expand sidewise, forcing the bars
open. Then the intruder can pass in.
A story was told Of the removal of d
safe ii which the proprietor Of q jewel
ry store was accustomed to put his
costly stock each night 1t was not a
large safe, but exceedingly strong, and
because Of Its fight weight d number
OF bolts were put. through the door and
connected with tie safe bottom. The
proprietor often said that thieves could
not take the safe unless they took floor
land ALL Not long after the store was
lentered and. behold, the thieves had
sawed out tile section Of the floor to
(which the safe was fixed The safe
was bound up with rope, the latter
passed under THE separated section IL
flooring. and. when the boards were
isawed through, safe, door and all were.
lowered into the basement and readily
Ilmoved out through the basement door,
put into an express wagon and carried
of. Jewelers. Circular Weekly.
! iss M sisi i" 4 Iea ssusrres.
Don't you occasionally have come
y A