The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-12


blown to atoms. and your wife and ba-
bles waiting at home Se5 days a year for
the ring of the telephone bell announcing
that you are coming home-in the dead
wagon?
This and lot more. is precisely the
job of owen Eagan: Inspector of COM
bustibles is what they call him Off
ciaily. New York citys professional
bomb opener is what he really is.
For 10 years he's been opening in
fernal machines, prying apart electri-
cally-exploded packages of guncotton
nitroglycerin. poking his hands and his
nose into inventions of the master
minds of criminal chemists, designed
especially to blow to shreds the hands
and noses and bodies of all who so much
as touch them. and pitting his skill and
craft against the craft and skill of
those most terrible of all criminal
fiends-the bomb makers of New York.
In those 19 years he has met his
match but once That was in Klotz-
klotz the inventor, the consummate
mechanic, the expert in high explosives
Klotz. whose bombs showed the ingenu-
lty OF genius and the planning of a
scientist And Eagan has always
maintained that it was not fair test.
L could have opened that bomb If 1t
had not been tampered with first"
Eagan maintains stoutly. 'I have never
seen the one that could not open-yet.
grant that Klotz was the most dan
gerous of all He was clever and
shrewd, and even though 1 did lose to
him that once. I've beaten him a good
many times. I've opened safely. half a
dozen of his bombs more ingenious than
the one that got my hand"
Worth More Money
IL is in this strain of a friendly COM
petition of ingenuity that quiet-faced
owen Eagen, "Ownie," as they call him
fondly up at the bureau. talks Of his tits
with the shrewdest bomb makers in the
world-tilts that to the bomb maker
means simply to be outwitted.
Short stoclly, with gray, curly hair and
a. level biue-gray eye. That Is Eagan.
Fifteen hundred a year, he says isn't
enough for his job. He thinks he ought
to get anyway 5000. That for the profess
sional bomb opener for the greatest bomb
center in the world. Five hundred to 800
internal machines a year. And in between
Juggling with death and dynamite clerical
work In the office of the bureau, and IN
spection of buildings and routine OF the
department, not every day, but every
day and every night.
DO l mind it?' asked the, curley-
haired inspector. mot me. It's full of in
terest and zest. There always is the ele-
ment of the unexpected which lends thrill
to any game. There's variety, too No
bombs are exactly alike. / never know
whether the CUTS are going to be black
powder nitroglycerine; a chlorate mix
ture, or dynamite, or whether the killing
material inside is bent wire nails. or
staples. OF scrap iron, or just common
lead slugs. The only way to tell is to
open up the thing and find OUT
How does he open them? That's the
secret of the craft. To reveal that would
mean that the criminals who have for
years been trying to construct bomb
that Owen Eagan coulds not open might
invent way of getting hiN.' Even Mrs
Eagan does not know how Eagan does
his work. He will tell you that he does
not open internal machines under water
water causes some. chemical explosives to
go off. Nor does he use any knives or
tools to open them. He does it all with
his hands, and what is more, he does it
in square, re-enforced. bombproof room
five feet by five feet, by seven feet. and
no escape save q narrow door, which is
bolted.
Secreted Bomb Chamber
This bomb chamber is a mystery
Where ii is situated only Eagan Commits
w.
1t is in the thiclSly populated section, un-
der a row of tenements. the occupants of
which do not know of its existence. 1t is
constructed of steel and concrete and
sand bags. At times Eagan has a dozen
internal machines In it at one time.
He makes light of his work. yet the
insurance companies smile when he tries
to take out life policy. The reason for
the secrecy as to the whereabouts of the
chamber Is the fear that the makers Of
bombs, who long have sought to blow up
Eagan, would some day drop one of their
machines outside the door of the room
when the inspector was at work within.
II the bomb failed to do the work it is
probable that the conclusion would set
off any other which Eagan happened to
be working with.
Il would have wagd'eA." Eagan said
grmly, that had Klotz lived and been
permitted to continue bomb invention,
that | could have opened anything he
constructed without accident. Yet, he
was the greatest of them all. l never
touched one of his bombs unless I felt
perfectly fit My mind had to be active
and alert to every possible device before
trusted myself to work on one of his
inventions.
They were marvels for the unexpected.
For instance, there was one that / still
have in the bomb chamber. 1t is a harm
icsS iOohlHS WOouen DON WITH a very
handsome Japanese inlay of pearl in the
design of a pair of clasped hands and
two crossed swords. Woven through
these so as to be almost imperceptible Is
the outline of a skull and crossbones.
THE eyes of the skull were matches
which were ignited by the lifting of the
lid. The pearl hilts of the swords were
set with matches, which acted similarly
There was a minute electric battery con-
nected with the hinges. so that if the
matches failed. the battery would work
when the contact was made by the cover
being laid all the way back. The box
contained chlorate mixture hidden un-
der other articles"
But" exclaimed the reporter, how
did you open the box to see what 1t con-
tanned, when to lift the lid meant to ex-
plode it?''
Inspector Eagan smiled family. Speak
ing of klotz' he said. II must lift my
hat to that mans shrewdness. He was
an inventor of the f1rst-class, and he was
sent abroad for samples of explosives
and other tools of his mania which lie
could not procure here. We found Ger
man cartridges from which he extracted
the hieh-power smokeless powder"
In Eagans rushing about the city,
opening bombs to provide clews for the
police, and opening more hombs to salts
~ the regulations of the fire department,
he has had many amusing experiences.
Recently he was routed out of bed at mid
night. woman way up on West End
avenue had gone home and found a bomb
on her doorstep. She feared TO enter the