The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1922-09-30
Early Safe-Breakers

E. H. Smith, in the Scientific American.
On spring night in 1866 two men set out
from Manhattan, crossed to Staten Island in
a boat, entered manufacturing plant at Ber-
gen, and blew open safe. They had brought
along a special drilling apparatus, which was
clamped and screwed to the floor in such
manner as to press the point Of the drill
against the safe door, thereby greatly reduc-
ingsshe labors Of the burglars and expediting
their operation. A small hole was bored near
the handle, five ounces of ordinary rifle pow
der were poured in by means Of little curved
funnel, and the charge was detonated with an
ordinary paper-and-powder fuse. The door of
the old iron strong box was broken and thrown
open by the discharge, and the intruders took
what they had came for. You may read the
details of the robbery in the confessions OF
that celebrated old outlaw, Langdon w. Moore,
for he was the chief burglar.
The explosion fired against that old "bread
box on that forgotten night, 56 years ago,
was the opening shot Of battle Of technical
knowledge and skill which has been waged be-
tween the safe maker and the safe breaker
ever since, and which continues In full We
hemence today
There were earlier safe burglaries by means
of explosives, and the fact that Moore had
invented special drilling mechanism seems
to indicate safe blowing attempts, at least; but
his is the oldest case can find in the records
and it serves admirably as a starting point
for review of the long struggle between the
robbers and the makers of protective devices,
since it was in the years Immediately follow
ing the Civil war that nocturnal burglary eff
fected by chemical means, came first upon the
criminal blotters. 1t was at this time that the
great rise in mechanical and industrial inven-
ton began, and the contest of the burglar and
the safe maker is primarily a technical and
inventive match.
Finally an effort was made to devise lock
which would have no key or external locking
or unlocking orfice The combination lock
came into existence then and continues in use,
with its dial Of numerals, three or more Of
which must be juxtaposed in proper sequence
before the lock can be opened. As safes with
this device came into general use it was felt
that the burglar had been fooled at last! and
so he was, for the time being, as he has been
again and again in the course of his perpetual
fight with the safe maker and inventor.
Indeed, the history of safe and bank robbery
is sequence of these repeated temporary vic
tories over the criminal, each one soon to be
followed by fresh advantage for the bur-
glar. The whole thing resembles a great, far
flung battle, with the tide of success ever
turning from one side to the other, with vic
tory apparently in the grasp Of one contender,
only to be snatched away again by the other,
with defeat constantly STAYED off and a de-
cision never reached. Every time the forces
of law and order came forward with an inven-
ton which seemed to doom the burglar to ex-
tinction, there was a brief space Of easy
breathing and triumph. Then, invariably, the
robber appeared with device got from an
other inventor, and the joy of the respectabes
was at an end.
So with the combination lock. 1t had the
old lock and key men stopped, as the phrase
goes. But not for long. About the time
the new safes were getting themselves gen.
orally adopted, Mr.. Moore and his various fell
lows came forward with their drills and their
rifle powder. Hence the victory was defeat
after all; defeat upon which there rose new
epoc of criminality-the day of burglary with
explosives.