St. Tammany farmer., 1906-03-03

robbed and fought battle with the
/ thieves, killing one and capturing the
! rest. esa-ssss,.s
Sometimes, too, bank robber grows
careless with his wealth and excites
suspicion by displaying it. This was
the undoing Of Harry Stewart, who
was arrested in st. Louis December
while attempting to dispose of $1,000
worth Of stamps which had been part
Of the loot in a robbery at Shelbyville,
Mo-, few days before. Stewart con-
fessed to completely in the robbery.
The greater part Of these rowing
| rogues, however, get away without a
fight or = capture They almost In
| yariably work between midnight and
two O'Clock, when citizens are wrapped
| In slumber indeed, their methods are
20 identical from one end Of the great
Mississippi valley to the other that
one might readily suppose all the rob
berries were the work of the same gang.
Detectives, however, know better.
The Robbing Formula. &
The formula for robbing bank Is
simple. simpler than one not familiar
with the workings OF gang of safe
crackers would suppose. s.
The gang gets few sticks OF dyna-
mite, takes the nitroglycerine out Of
Iit and carries this violent explosive
away It has been the case, too, that
quantities OF nitroglycerine have been
stolen from manufacturing plant
where the deadly explosive is made
in the northern part OF Indiana. It is
the supposition Of Capt. Kinney OF
the Indianapolis detective department.
that the robbers have this explosive
hidden away IN some woods and car
ry away small quantities Of it as they
need it. 4sE sss As.
Besides the explosive the other es-
sential to robbing safe Is a bar of
soap. Sometimes the gang has bur-
glar tools, some OF them Of remark
able workmanship; but the possession
OF these is rare.
For the most part the gangs work
with nothing but the nitroglycerine
and the soap. They pick out a small
city. rarely zone with population of
more than 5000 or 1000, generally one
with less. Such towns have but a
small night police force, II, indeed,
they have anything more than q night
marshal 1s4 81 sS#
The gang sends II man inatorn dur
Ing the day to locate the bank. At
midnight the whole quartette moves
in. The night marshal Is hunted UP
and gagged. Bunk robbers have their
own colloQuialisms for all these things.
and II they were telling It they would
say they stuck up the marshal and
put him away" This means they thrust
a gun In the officers face, compelled
him to throw up his hands, bound and
gagged him, and laid him out OF
harms way behind some building, or
back ii an alley. Looking after the.
night marshal is almost always an
easily accomplished preliminary. Few
Of them ever discover there are bank
robbers IN town until 1t IS too late,
and d case where robbers were antici-
pated by the marshal and routed be-
fore they robbed the bank is sufficient
" rare to Be called unknown.
Actual Work ut hank.
After the wa5 has heen cleared in
this manner the thieves 90 to the
bank, either pick Or break the lock
OF the bank coor with . crowbar. and
enter the chamber Of wealth. Il the
safe IS inside the yanlt they first go
to work with the soap and "soup"
{the latter being their name for nitro
glycerinel and blow their way in.
The comes next. They make
! soap lip at the top crack Of the
safe door, calk the crack of the safe
door all the way down. and pour ths
pitroglycerIne inso the lip, from