Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-08-12
CRIMINALS KEEP UP TO DATE
Yesgmen and Robbers Employ Scen :
tific Methods.

lOi W diu Ill Quiet diIttblpilS, II Subulu
not be forgotten that the criminal has
not been standing still All of the
progress has not been confined to wur-
thy lines of human endeavor. Take
the burglar, the yeggman for exam
T pie The burglar of today must be
a more scientific man by far than the
burglar of 30 or 40 years ago. 1t
might be said in his case that brains
ihave taken the place of Drawn. The
lyegBman of long ago used to go about
with a kit Of shelf and heavy. hard
ware that it took an athlete TO carry
Iabout. 1t was fun of plain and fancy
lsteel drills. and intricate tools of all
Isorts. Such an outfit couldn't be car
ried in AN ordinary suitcase, but had
to be carried in heavy box. bound
with strips of iron.
The burglar of today can slip Il
Ismall vial of nitroglycerin and a bit
of soap for building dam on a safe
door into his vest pocket and pro-
coed jauntily to the business i'll hand
And the burglar of today must have
a knowledge of chemistry, too. 1t is
not possible for non-descripts to go
about buying nitroglycerin promiscu-
ously A man to buy nitroglycerin
must be a man of identity. SO the
burglars knowledge of chemistry
islands him in good stead. With this
knowledge he buys the ingredients
that compose nitreglycerin, each at Il
different town. Then he proceeds to
use his chemical knowledge in com
bining the ingredients, each in their
proper proportion and thus obtains
the explosive with which he does
business The opening of the safe Is
| the work of only few moments If
he is not disturbed. Formerly 1t was
the work of hours, and involved great
labor in drilling holes in the hard
steel doors.
| remember even as late as 1898,
when l vas Chief of Police in Chicago.
| ] had brought before me one of those
old fashioned burglars who went
a bout with heavy Kit of tools, which
he often sent shipped as baggage.
This fellow. by the way, was one OF
1.-THE first offenders caught by means
Iuf the Bertillon system of measure
lments He went about Chicago dress
| ed as an Episcopal clergyman. aud
lone night SO dressed. he was caught
| trying to effect an entrance To an
Iempty house on one of the bouleyards.
He protested his innocence SO vehe-
mently and seemed so outraged that
IL clergyman should be treated n such
Ia humliating manner, that he was
finally brought before me at my of
| fee He had a large bunch of skele
| ton keys and | told him that he must
lexplain the presence of those keys in
| his possession before we could pro-
faIiIir't do it and
measured him by the Bertilon sys
tenn, and this developed the fact thai
| he had been discharged from san
Quentin Prison few months before
land WAS wanted fer burglary in Cal
lifornia. He was one of those thou
sands of prisoners who were about to
be discharged from prisons all over
this country during the years preced
ing the Worlds Fair We had them
iall measured and had 5000 measure
lments in our Chicago gallery when
the fair opened. When confronted
with the duplicate measurements he
broke down ard confessed. He seem
ed TO take a liking to me, and before
| he went away he gave me a check
for a piece of baggage which was in
a Chicago depot
'7fhis piece of baggage IS my burg
| lars kit" he told me. For my crime
| in California l Will get at least 20
years. My tools have cost me be-
tween $500 and 500, but by the time
| | get out of Jail in California they
won't be worth 10 cents because the
methods of my business will have
made such advances that a first-class
burglar would laugh at those tools.
| He was right. | got the kit from
the Chicago depot, ami | have them
today as a souvenir. No burglar of
to-day would pay me 30 cents for the
Ientire outfit, which cost between $500
land $500.
| The advent of the motor car has
multiplied the crime of theft show
ling that as we step forward we step
backward. too. The motor car itself
provides new prize for the thief,
More motor cars are stolen III these
days than horses. And the penalty Is
greater, because the value of motor
lear is so much greater than the value
lof horse. Many of the old horse
Thieves have taken up the business
Iof stealing motor cars. And the mo-
| tor car contributes to crime as a
Imeans of getting the thieves far from
the scene of their ottenses with the
Igreatest possible speed. Bank rob
bers and others find them an ally
IThey are being used extensively in
1.-THE prosecution of the white slave
TRAFFIC. On the other hand, the motor
lear has its disadvantages as an OBJ
ject of theft. The shining surface of
the tonneau takes a finger print cas-
lily, and many d motor car thief owes
Ibis capture to the fact that he has
left his finger photograph on the car
| And the harvest is being reaped in
1.-THE form of prisoners who are get
ting into the penitentiaries as an IN
ldiroct result of the motor car. Weak
linen living beyond their incomes steal
lemhezzle, to get motor cars. We have
Ia banker from Texas i'm the Federal
| Prison now who has been sentenced
Ito a long term of Years for Nlolat-
ling the national bank act He blames
HIS troubles to the motor car. He was
driven to it, he said. in an effort to
maintain two motor cars. Ills wire
demanded an extra ear and he mort
lgagea his home to get it, and he went