The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1922-03-23

| laboreTS IN a quarry at HARRISBURG,
PENNSYLVANIA. and learned so much
from an old miner and quarryman
there that our first extracting process
was successful. One of the unex-
pected results was that We were made
disgustingly sick. One gets a Sc
we're headache from merely having a
bottle of nitro-glycerine in his
pocket.
We were couple of highly elated
cracksmen as We sat back and look
ed at the bowl of gold-like fluid that
was to revolutionize not only the
robbing of banks but the building Of
safes. The safe maker had been sit
ting on the lounge of victory for Two
years laughing at us. 1t was now our
turn to don the laurels of the victor.
We had no idea how much nitro
glycerine to use, but we reasoned
that if it took two ounces Of gun
powder to blow off the door Of the
old-time iron safe, surely two ounces
of nitro would certainly blast off the
sheeting of the new time-lock safe.
We thought it best to do our ex-
perimenting outside of city, so we
selected a coal Office near Baltimore.
We built a small cup around the jam
of the safe door, poured the contents
| of our two-ounce bottle into it.,
lighted the fuse, and ran across the
street to await results. They came
rapidly: First the flash before the
explosion, which Illuminated the in
terror of the coal Office. then, a ter
| rife, ear-splitting detonation.. The
coal Office was blown to pieces. God
only knows where the safe went. All
we could find was piece of one Of
the cast-iron rollers.
| All the dogs in the world, it SEEM
ed, started barking, and even the
chickens began growing and cackling.
Employees from a mill close by came
running. We hastily made our geta-
way satisfied that two ounces was
enough nitro to blow up a dozen
safes. .
After. number of experiments we
| discovered that small teaspoonful
of .'soup" was sufficient-and we
were ready for banks.
The first bank selected was the
Farmers and Merchants Bank of
Denmark, South Carolina. I spent
three nights in the town looking the
Job over. The night watchman of the
town invariably went home every
night at 1890 for his supper, and
| did not return until he had taken a
nap-usually about three O'Clock. He
was very methodical and regular, so
we naturally assumed that his move
ments would be the same every night.
About 1 o'clock we got to the bank.
It was a one-story granite building
| with great barred windows four to
six feet high. Before we jimmied our
way into the front door we decided
to 60 around all the windows and
fash our light into the. bank for the
purpose of ascertaining whether or
not anybody was inside, this being
common procedure with all bank bur-
glars.
We had just got around to the last
| window when we heard somebody
coming down the street. We thought
| it was some negro on his way home,
so we discontinued our, light-flashing
and waited. The walker stopped at
| the bank, tried the bank door, and
| then started around the bank trying
the windows. We knew it was the
night watchman, and crouched down
J in the rear of the bank and waited
| his coming. He tried the windows
one after another as he came, and we
realized that he had seen the fash
light illuminations in the bank. We
wondered as We waited for him to
| round the corner the bank where
We were crouched what he would do
| if he knew that possible death was
waiting for him!
Finally he arrived, and quick as
flash of lightning four guns were
| showed in hisface and simultaneously
! the command, hands up" was ut
tered by all four of us. His breath
came and went heavily, like the ex-
haust of a locomotive going up
grade. He did not put his hands up,
and we told him if he didn't get them
up, and get them up damn quick,
there would be something doing. 1t
| was perfectly obvious that he was
scared. Suddenly he dropped to the
ground in a dead faint, overcome
| with fright, and then we all laughed.
! A nearby pump probably suggested