The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-12-01

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thing. but the Postofice Department
is anxious to put a stop to such
! wholesale depredations.
The economy practiced by postmas-
tiers in purchasing safes is stock in
trade for the burglar. AS a result
| the rowing criminals who understand
the use of dynamite and nitroglycer-
| inc encounter few real problems in
! the safe line in rural districts and
small communities.
The absence or scarcity of burglar
proof safes in certain localities is
| further enhanced by inadequate po-
lice protection. Consequently the ex-
pert craftsman breaks into some OF
| the metal frames without fear of de-
lection while at work or of capture
in fight. and with almost as much
ease as he would force open a door
or window with a Jimmy"
Safe-blowing has become such a
science that operators are willing to
take chances if they are assured of a
haul of 81, feeling that a night hasn't
been wasted if it yields even so small
a figure. The establishment of so
low a minimum is an index to the
multiplicity Of their crimes and of
their daring and confidence.
In their ranks are expert engineers
and mechanics, and men Of natural
| genius if they applied their talents
lawfully. They are as familiar with
the mechanism of all brands of safes
| as are the makers. They know by the
size or pattern or by skilful soundings
whether a safe has a single or double
! door. or whether it is burglar-proof,
| which means that an extra case of Sc
lected steel is installed inside to guard
against explosions, and they can at a
| glance. detect the slightest defect.
! Many have the impression that the
walls of a safe are solid metal all the
way through. This is not so. There
is an outer and inner shell of pan
| elled steel which never exceeds one
eighth of an inch in thickness and is
| almost invariably less than that. The
gap between these two shells is filled
with concrete or other patented CON-
positions.
Burglars frequently knock away
| the combination knobs to get a start
for boring through the door, but the
most common method is to drill a
hole through the top Of the safe far
back enough to get behind both doors,
if there happens to be an inner one,
so that the explosives will fall into
the body of the safe among the con-
tents. Dynamite or gunpowder is
dropped in and touched off with a
fuse. When nitroglycerine is used
| the cracks around the outer door are
carefully sealed up with soap to pre-
vent the liquid from leaking out, and
a Illuminating cap is attached and
fired with a twenty-five cent battery.
In Lynn recently burglars used a
cheese to blow a safe in a grocery
store. That night the gang found a
lemon in n safe, which they had
hard work opening, but in an adjoin-
ing store got $500 in cash. This
illustrates the uncertainty Of their
| work on small jobs" In postofice
work, the safes are Invariably blown.
Bank jobs sometimes take more time,
so that the burglars wait for holidays
or Sundays to add to a night between.
While drilling and blowing are the
most popular and swiftest methods of
late, burglars have been known to
take the more arduous method Of
stripping" which means that they
remove plate after plate until the in
| terror of a safe is reached.
Another simple method is to bore
| with electricity by fusing the steel
! walls with an electric arc. The equip
ment consists of an ordinary stick of
carbon attached to In insulated
wooden handle, a resisting coil and
a cold chisel for punching off the in
side mechanism after the hole is
burned. Both the lighting and troll
ley service have aided cracksmen in
this work by attaching their imple-
ment to feed wires. A current Of 100
| or 200 amperes at fifty volts does the
trick. Holes large enough to permit
a man to remove the contents with his
hand have been burned through the
metal walls with electricity.
In blowing, the result is always
about the same. The gases rip open
or blow off the door, sometimes send
ing them across al apartment, shat
tering glass and furniture and caus-
ing general havoc. The burglars then
jump in and grab the cash box and
all other things of value within reach
and vanish. With a keen bit it
doesn't take more than five or ten
minutes to bore through castings of a
| safe and fill the interior with an eX-
plosive. The marrauders have made
good their escape before the postmas-
ter, ever if he happens to live direct
ly owe the Office, or any n else has
time to appear IN the scene.
It is estimated that the men who
robbed the Pepperell bank so success
fully did all their work inside of ff-
teen minutes. AS is frequently the
case they were seen, but not in sea
son to be caught. They vanished in
a speedy automobile, a style of vehi-
| Gle much used by professionals of
the present day, and one which in
sures the success Of their mission OF
crime. Since the advent OF the auto
mobile in the burglary equipment the
chances of capture have been greatly