Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-02

Therefore, to the less protected safes
of the country banks, stores and post
offices the present-day cracksmen, known
as "yeggs." devote their attention with
varying success.
But so keenly have even the small
banks recognized the necessity for guard
Ing against the cracksmen that compare
lively few are not provided with stout
safes in their vaults in which they keep
their currency.
Peep Into Modern Vault.
A vault in one of the big banks is a
most interesting place to visit. The fol-
lowing describes one of the most modern:
Entering through a circular laminated
steel door is six feet six inches in
dimeter eighteen inches thick and weighs
nineteen tons, one finds the interior TO be
a good sized room. The walls of this
room, however are about five feet thick
and are composed of sheets of armour
plate laid in brick and cement. interlaced
with electric wires. Should one of the
latter be cut an automatic alarm would
at once be registered at police headquarters
and squad of police would arrive in
few minutes.
Time was when burglars devoted their
attention to opening the combinations
locks, some times assisted by employees of
the bank, the latter doing their share
either to divide the money or else threat
ened with death. Now when the vaults
are closed at the end of the banking day
"time-clock' in the door is set, and not
until the very second arrives can the door
be opened by the combination. In many
institutions the combination is a double
one, requiring the presence of two of the
officials each of whom has to release q
separate combination unknown to the other.
In this Instance the burglars hlavU
the vault with such ease that the noise
of the explosion was not heard in a build
ing adjoining, in which there was a
number of the citizens of the town. Then
| the 'yeggs" encountered a small safe that
! they knew contained the money. This
safe, however was new type 1t had a
! door that set in a socket not unlike the
| breechlock Of a modern cannon. After
! blowing off the knobs and hinges of the
door they found that the were no better
! off than they were before, for the door
only seemed to stick the tighter. After
half dozen attempts, they found that
their time was up and they had to depart
empty-handed.
Other Dangers Considered,
But banks do not always build massive
vaults of concrete and steel just 10 with
stand the assaults of burglars. Mobs and
! fires have to be considered. A mob or a
| big fire, such as the Baltimore or San
Francisco oonflagratons, may occur but
ONCE in a lifetime, but even this single oc-
casion must be guarded against, In the
big fires mentioned it is notable that the
huge vaults Of the banking and safe de-
post companies escaped unscathed, while
many of the large so-called fireproof safes
in office buildings either melted outright
or else became so heated that the contents
were charred and destroyed,
One of the most interesting features of
strong boxes are the structures operated
by the safe deposit companies. concerns
that build huge vaults and then rent out
portions of them to persons who wish to
preserve their jewelry, valuable papers or
other articles that may be stored in a
comparatively small space. Some of the
safe deposit companies have boxes In
which one may store siiverware, such boxes
being three to six feet square and equally
deep.
These vaults are much larger than those