The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1913-07-31

forward in other directions, 1t shoulo
not be forgotten that the criminal
has been standing still, says the Kan
sas City Star. All of the progress has
not been confined to worthy lines or
human endeavor. Take the burglar,
the yeggman, for example. The bur-
glar of to-day must be more sclen-
tific man by far than the burglar OF
thirty-fve or forty years ago. IL
might be said in his case that bra1ns
have taken the place of braWn. The
yeggman of long ago used to go about
with a kit of shelf and heavy hard
ware that it took an athlete to carry
about. 1t was full of plain and fancy
steel drills and intricate tools of all
sorts. Such an outfit couldn't be
carried in an ordinary suitcase, but
had to be carried in a heavy box,
bound with strips of iron.
The burglar of to-day can slip
small vial of nitroglycerin and bit
of soap for building dam On safe
door into his vest pocket and pro-
ceed jauntily to the business in hand.
And the burglar of to-day must have
a knowledge of chemistry, too. 1t is
not possible for nonGescripts to go
about buying nitroglycerin promls-
cously. A man to buy nitroglycerin
must be man of identity. SO the
burglars knowledge Of chemistry
stands him in good stead. With this
knowledge he buys the ingredients
that compose nitroglycerln, each at
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 bus
mess. The opening of the safe is the
work of only few moments if he is
not disturbed. Formerly it was the
work of hours, and involved great
labor in drilling holes in the hard
steel doors.
Dressed as Preacher.
I remember even as late as 1898,
when 1 was chief of police of Chicago,
1 had brought before me one of those
old-fashioned burglars who went
about with heavy kit of tools, which
he often sent shipped as baggage.
This fellow, by the way, was one of
the first offenders caught by means
of the Bertillon system of measure
ments. He went about Chicago
dressed as an Episcopal clergyman,
and one night, so dressed, he was
caught trying to effect an entrance to
an empty house on one of the boule-
wards. He protested his innocence
so vehemently, and seemed so out
ragged that a clergyman should be
treated in such a humiliating man
ner, that he was finally brought be-
fore me at my office. He had a large
bunch of skeleton keys and l told
him that he must explain the pres
ence of those keys in his possession
before we could proceed. He could
not do it, and 50 we measured him by
the Bertillion system, and this de-
veloped the fact that he had been dis
charged from San Quentin Prison a
few months before and was wanted
for burglary in California. He was
one of those thousands of prisoners
who were about to be discharged
from prisons all over the country
during the years preceding the
Worlds Fair. We had them all meas
ured and had 5000 measurements
in our Chicago gallery when the fair
opened. When confronted with the
duplicate measurements he broke
down and confessed. He seemed to
take liking to me, and before he
went away he gave me check for a
piece of baggage which was in a
Chicago depot.
This piece of baggage is my burg
lars kit" he told me. For my crime
in California 1 will get at least 20
years. My tools have cost me be-
tween $500 and s4OO, but by the
time l get out of Jail in California
they won't be worth 40 cents, be-
cause the methods of my business
will have made such advances that a
frst-class burglar would laugh at
these TOOLS"
Not Worth 80 Cents Now
He was right, got the kit from the
Chicago depot, and l have them to-
day as a souvenir. No burglar of to-
day would pay me 80 cents for the
entire outfit, which cost between $500
and S400.
The advent of the motor car has
multiplied the crime of theft, show