The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-09-30
NITRO CHARGED
SAFE COMES ON
FREIGHT TRAIN
Ignorance Of Sensiffveness OF
"Soup7 Used by Yeggs Leads
to Dangerous Error.


Ignorance Is bliss as long as
there is no rude awakening. and es-
pecially so when the amateur is
handling nitro-glycerine. according
TO Frank Fiebig. member of the
firm of Charles Fiebig Sons, expert
Iocksmiths, 1919 Third avenue.
Mr.. Fiebig today confirmed the
report that a 900-pound steel safe,
which had been charged with nitro
glycerine by burglars. was shipped
over 200 miles by freight to Daven-
port, hauled in an auto truck across
the government bridge and brought
to him to be opened
Mr.. Fiebig said that in all his
experience he never heard OF such
dangerous handling of nitro-glycer-
inc. He is still bordering over the
safe arrival of the shipment.
Mr.. Fiebig said the safe is the
property of a large corporation,
which has a branch office in Dav-
export. The safe was used as a
strong box for the keeping of mon
ey and valuable papers at small
branch in northwestern Iowa.
TO rob the safe. They bored hole
In the top, poured in nitro-glycer-
tne. placed a cap with fuse, but
were frightened away before they
could set off the charge. Knowing
that the safe was charged for a
blowup, the persons at the place
where it was kept would not go
near it. They notified the Daven-
port Office and officials from this
Office Immediately requested Mr..
Fiebig to go to the Iowa town and
open the safe and remove the
charge. Mr. Fiebig told the Off
Gals when he would be able to
make the trip. He heard no more
of the case until yesterday after
noon.
The owners did not want to wait
until Mr.. Fiebig could go to the
town where the safe was, and they
decided to ship it to him.
A call was received that the safe
had arrived in Davenport by freight
and that officials of the company
there had just dispatched two men
in an auto truck to Rock Island
with the. safe Mr. Fiebig kept
watch for the truck. The dray pull
ed up in the alley at the rear of
the locksmith shop. was backed
into private driveway and the
haulers began unloading it over
skids
Mr.. Fiebig and his brother, Otto,
ran out and cautioned the men to
go easy, and informed them that if
there was tro-glycerine in the
safe they were i'll dire danger
The draymen loosened their
grasp on the safe, which began
skidding downward. The Ffebig
brothers placed their shoulders to
the safe and eased it TO the ground.
The haulers started up their truck
and tried TO break the speed limit
getting out of the alley.
Frank Fiebig started work on
the safe. The combination lock
had not been damaged and he soon
pains in the work. The inner steel
door was opened and it was then
seen that the hole in the top of the
safe was directly over the small
money box. Great care was taken
in opening this. The cap was re-
moved from the hole in the top of
the safe and it was found that
heavy charge of nitro-glycerine had
been poured between the steel wall
of the safe and the cement lining.
Mr.. Fiebig would not say just
what was in the safe other than
that there was money and papers.
The fact that the safe was shipped
over 200 miles by freight and then
hauled in an auto truck and the
charge did not explode, presents an
instance that has mystified the
locksmith.
Statement was made that nitro
glycerine is extremely sensitive to
jar, but that there have been many
proofs of where heavy jolting has
not caused explosion and others
where even the slightest jar would
set off a charge of the stuff
Burglars Much More Active.
Mr.. F'iebig stated that burglars
are much more active than for a
considerable time. He bases his
claim on the number of safes that
have been tempered with, and al
though not opened, have been SO
badly damaged that the owners
could not open them and have been
compelled to seek his services.
In the last three weeks Mr.. Fie-
big has opened Is safes. There were
no others where explosive charges
had been set, but the yeggs had
attempted TO break the locks with
hammers. The police OF the tri-
cities have not reported such wide
spread safe smashing as Mr.. Fiebig
says has been under way.