The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1922-03-23
Reformed Burglar Tells of
Attempt on Denmark Bank
(Reprinted from the January issue of
The National Brain Power by spe-
cial permission.)

cial permisSion.)
For more than two years what has
been termed a Crime Wave has
| been flooding the country. Banks,
held up in daylight by organized ban
| dts, have lost millions. Transporta-
| tion companies have suffered as great.
Even the mails have been looted of
, stupendous sums.
We read Of these robberies almost
daily, but we seldom read of the cap
ture and punishment of the robbers.
! Why?
What has caused the Crime
Wave?' "War and unemployment
is the invariable answer from the po-
lice, the newspapers and the people,
generally. But is this the right ans
wer?
To the editor of the Brain Power
recently a most interesting individu-
al: A reformed bank burglar who had
been pardoned by the governors of
three states, and by the president of
the United States. In the past he
had stolen millions of dollars from
nearly a hundred banks. He was in
terested in our magazine, and told
a most amazing story of the BRAIN
power of the cracksman pitted
against the brain-power of the safe
builder.
He was asked if he would put his
remarks into writing. He stated that
he was no writer-but he agreed to
make the attempt. Here is his story,
almost word for word as he wrote it..
In a style so readable that it might
be evinced by many authors, he has
told the story of the bank robber
from the days Of the old key-lock
safe until the recent achievement that
has caused three times as many day
light hold-ups Of banks as there were
nighttime robberies in the past.
There was heavy sense Of excite
ment at Baltimore's police head
quarters one night during the win
ter of 1916. A raiding squad waited
for the word "Gb."
It was to be a big night, one that
would cover the police department
with glory and the morning newspa-
pers with headlines. Early in the
evening a department "stool-pigeon"
had sent in the tip that a gang OF
bank burglars were in the city to
talk things over
When the meeting was in full
swing a signal was flashed to head
quarters. In a back room Of a sa-
loon, fifteen of the cleverest bank
robbers of the country were in ses-
sion-for bank robbing is as much
of a business as banking or advertis-
ing. The police swept in and took
them all, without a scrap, for the
COPS were carrying drawn guns and
the burglars were genuinely surpris-
ed.
That was in Baltimore in 1916. :
In Toledo, in 1921, police squad
left headquarters to make another
raid. Shrewd detective work had
gained information as to the where
abouts of a gang that had looted the
post office of s1,ooo,Ooo. But this
tima the cops didn't 90 to the back
room of saloon for their men. They
turned up one of the best residential
streets in the city and found them In
an apartment house known to be the
residence Of people of wealth and
culture.
These contrasting incidents show
at a glance what has happened in the
Underworld; how, in the past five
years, it has literally stepped from
the gutter to the middle Of the best
sidewalk the community provides.
"Hold-up men," says recent
statement issued by the American
Bankers Association, 'obtained ap-
proximately s1,250,000 from the
banks of the country during 1920
A statement by the National Surety
Company shows that the burglary
losses paid by big insurance COM
panies in the United States in 1920
was s10,1S9,S53.
Never in the history Of American
crime have there been such stipend
Gus hold-uns as were committed in
the past two years against the United
States mails. Glance at the fig
ures represented by these three mail
hold-ups:
Pullman, Illinois ---.----.--s 100000