Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-22

Wireless TeIegraphy and Telephone
Service Utilized About Equally by
Guardians of and Offenders
Against Law
NEW YORK, Feb. 21.-"Take my
word for it, said a well known police
captain here recently, this talk about
the prevention of crime through the
advance of science is all wrong so far
as the individual is concerned. The
reason that it is easier to bring the
criminal to justice nowadays is not
due to scientific advance half so much
as it is to organization. The use OF
every invention, like the wireless or
the telephone, is as open to the crimi-
nal as the criminal hunter. Where we
excel-and here you find the reason
for the increasing efficiency of police
and detective forests in OrganZia-
ton. We have the law behind US an1
we are organized with the backing Of
the law and right. But so far as the
individual is concerned the criminal is
just as able and just as quick to take
advantage Of scientific advance as the
man who is hunting him.
Take, for instance, wireless teleg-
raphy. Its advent, of course, enabled
US to communicate with ships on which
criminals were attempting to escape
instead of merely cabling to the port
of arrival.
''But, on the other hand, the inven-
ton was also used to circumvent the
law. In Chicago, for instance, when
pool rooms had been closed in the
city, a floating pool room outside the
three-mile limit, and thus beyond the
city's jurisdiction, was maintained in
the shape of a steamer on Lake Michi-
gan. The quotations and reports from
race tracks were all received by wire
less.
Every advance in the science of
safe building has been met with equal
ingenuity by an advance in safe break
ing. 1t is only organization that has
enabled the forces for right to keep
ahead Of the forces for wrong"
Safe-Breaking Methods
While this viewpoint may appear
strange to the average person, it would
seem to be borne out by the facts. An
analysis of the manner in which the
criminal has met scientific advances
in the field of invention shows this
clearly, and at the same time reveals
his almost diabolical cunning. The
description Of the perfection Of the
modern safe and the latest methods
for breaking it reveal some interest
ing features.
Crime says an article in Appleton's,
'keeps pace with civilization, changes
in the habits and customs of mankind
lead to new offenses, while some good
old stand-bys have become unpopular.
First, some cautious person invented
an iron, burglar-proof safe; imme-
diately the cracksman invented him
self. This declared a war Of wits be-
tween the safemakers and the cafe
breaker. The doors to the original safes
fitted in straight, like any ordinary
door. They were so easy to open by
means Of a Jimmy that they did not
furnish the burglar with common
amusement. 1t was unsportsmanlike
The wedge-shaped door was somewhat
more difficult until the cracksman
found way to manage it. Then Mr..
Inventor devised a combination locR,
and thought he had utterly outwitted
the thief. But the no less ingenious
thief bought one and mercilessly
studied out its weakness. At first he
did not attempt to break the lock, but
devoted himself to blowing it open.
This was child's play. He puttied UP
the crack all the way around the door,
except tiny hole at top and bottom.
At the bottom hole he set a small
shelf of very fine gunpowder. To the
up lIOIC IIC dIldCIlCu d vacuum
By eXhausting the air from the safe
he created a strong current at the
lower hole, which sucked in the pow
der. Then he fired the safe. That was
all.
Opened by Touch
"The shoemaker met this advanced
method by corrugating the door to his
safe and fitting it with rubber so as
to make it airtight. The cracksman
took another twist in his art, used acid.
destroyed the rubber and again blew
open the safe. AS safe doors were
made harder and harder, so did Mr.
Cracksman make his drills of finer
and finer temper. But all these meth
DDS were accompanied by more or less
noise, and the cracksman dislikes no
toriety. So he began to experiment
with the combination lock and speedily
found a means to open it. The cracks
man took the little finger on his left
hand and kept it bandaged for weeks
SO as to make it highly sensitive to
touch. Then he pared the nail down
into the very quick, laying the nerve
centers bare. Thus. without drills or
powder, he was able to open safe
by placing the sensitive end of his fin
ger against the lock while he slowly
turned the combination. So keen and
delicate had his sense of touch become
CndL ne cOulQ 1eeI when each tum bier
dropped into position. The safe would
be opened, ri1ed and closed again,
leaving no sign to show how the trick
was turned. The Cracksman was tick
led nightly with the mystery and
bewilderment he left behind him.
''The safemaker invented new safes.
one after another, which could not be
broken in the same old way; the high
grade cracksman bought them, one
after another, took them to his quiet
workshop. studied every detail of their
construction and found new ways to
break them. Neck to neck ran the ar
NOR plate of protection and the high
power guns of attack"
Perhaps of all modern inventions the
telephone has been the chief agent
in the field of crime, its commission
and detection. How it has served as a
protective agent and means Of detec-
tion are well known. The ways in
which it is used by the criminal to
further his success are less we'll known.
while equally subtle.