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THE ways of making a livelihood by crime are many, and the number of men and women who live by their wits in all large cities reaches into the thousands. Some of the criminals are really very clever in their own peculiar line, and are constantly turning their thieving qualities to the utmost pecuniary account. Robbery is now classed as a profession, and in the place of the awkward and hang-dog looking thief we have to-day the intelligent and thoughtful rogue. There seems to be a strange fascination about crime that draws men of brains, and with their eyes wide open, into its meshes. Many people, and especially those whose knowledge of criminal life is purely theoretical, or derived from novels, imagine that persons entering criminal pursuits are governed by what they have been previously, and that a criminal pursuit once adopted is, as a rule, adhered to; or, in other words, a man once a pickpocket is always a pickpocket; or another, once a burglar is always a burglar. Hardly any supposition could be more erroneous. Primarily there are, of course, predisposing influences which have a certain effect in governing choice.
A man of education, refined habits, and possibly a minimum of courage, would not be likely to adopt the criminal walks requiring brute force and nerve. Such a one would be far more likely to become a forger or counterfeiter than a highway robber. Still, under certain circumstances—opportunity and the particular mode of working of those who were his tutors in crime—he might be either, foreign as they would be to his nature. Criminal occupation, however, is, like everything else, progressive. Two things stand in the way of the beginner in crime attaching himself to what he may view—taking them in the criminal’s own light—as the higher walks of predatory industry, the top rungs of the criminal ladder. The first is, naturally, lack of experience and skill; the second, lack of confidence in him or knowledge of him by the older and more practiced hands, whose co-operation would be necessary.
Hence, if he cannot strike out for himself by the force of his own genius some new line of forgery, confidence operations, embezzlements, or others of thé class of crimes dependent upon brains, adroitness, and address for their success, he must enter on the broad level as a general thief—one of the class who will steal anything that they can get away with, from a needle to a ship’s anchor. From that level he may rise, partly by the force of his own increased knowledge of the practice of crime, partly by his natural adaptability for especial methods of preying upon the community, partly by the advice and co-operation of older criminals with whom he comes in contact, whether at liberty or doing time in a prison. From a petty general sneak thief he may become one of a gang of pickpockets, and from a pickpocket, in course of time, may suddenly come to the front with distinction even as a first-class bank burglar.
Cracksmen of this class head the list of mechanical thieves. It requires rare qualities in a criminal to become an expert bank-safe robber. Thieves of this high grade stand unrivaled among their kind. The professional bank burglar must have patience, intelligence, mechanical knowledge, industry, determination, fertility of resources, and courage—all in high degree. But, even if he possess all these, they cannot be utilized unless he can find suitable associates or gain admission to one of the already organized gangs. Sometimes the arrest of a single man out of a gang will put a stop to the operations of the remainder for a long time, simply because they need another man, and can find nobody they can trust. Bank burglars have been known to spend years in preparation—gleaning necessary information of the habits of bank officials, forming advantageous acquaintances, and making approaches to the coveted treasure all the time, but with the patience to wait until the iron is fully hot before striking a blow.
The construction of a massive bank safe, provided, as they now are, with electric alarms, combination and time locks, and other protective appliances, is such, that none but a mechanical genius can discover its weak points and attack it successfully. There is not a safe in use to-day that is absolutely burglar-proof, notwithstanding the fact that many manufacturers advertise and guarantee those of their build as such. Every now and then safe makers quietly alter the internal construction of their vaults, and these changes are brought about by the doings of some scientific robber. Just as soon as the safe builder becomes aware of the fact that burglars have unearthed a defect in vaults of his make, he sets his mechanics at work upon some new design, in the hope of thwarting thieves and making his vaults the more secure.
The wrecking of every safe, therefore, reveals a blemish, and necessitates alterations, which, of course, later on, make the work of the vault-opener more difficult. Hundreds of safes are turned out of the factories in the several cities weekly, and a calculating burglar, when he has discovered a defect in a certain pattern, will delay exposing his secret to the manufacturer until thousands of the seemingly strong, yet frail, vaults have been made and are in use. That insures him something to operate upon, for he well knows that after his first success, and the fact is reported at the safe factory, improvements will be in order.
The proficiency attained by our bank burglars, and the apparently comparative ease with which they secure the contents of massive vaults, is the result of constant and careful study of the subject. All the resources, ingenuity and cunning of the cracksman who makes bank-wrecking a specialty are put to the test in an undertaking of that sort, and plans follow plans until one is matured which circumstances may warrant as safe, feasible, and profitable. Then the accomplishment of the nefarious scheme only depends upon nerve, daring, and mechanical tools.
Some burglars make their own outfit, but almost any blacksmith will make any tool he is called upon for, if its construction is within his capacity, without asking any questions about the uses to which it is to be put, provided he gets his price for it. It is, of course, more than probable that he guesses the use for which it is intended, but that, he thinks, is not his business. The making of such implements is, as a rule, confined to those mechanics who are actually in league with the criminals who expect to use them. The heavy and unwieldy tools of years ago have been abandoned by the modern bank robber, with his new inventions. While some bank thieves use the spirit lamp and blow-pipe to soften the hardened metals and take the temper out of the steel vault doors or cases, others use only a small diamond-pointed drill. Then again, others, who do not care to spend time manipulating the intricate combination, use simple sort of machines, technically called the “drag” and “jackscrew.” The former, simple as it looks, is extremely powerful—and so quiet. By means of a bit a hole is bored through a safe door; a nut is set “inside the point of the screw passes through the nut, which rests inside the surface that has been bored; then the screw is turned by a long handle, which two men can operate. As the screw turns, the nut is forced forward, farther and farther. It is a power that hardly any construction of a safe can resist. Either the back or the front must give way.
The “jackscrew” is rigged so that by turning it will noiselessly force into the crack of a safe door a succession of steel wedges; first, one as thin as a knife-blade; soon, one as thick as your hand; and they increase in size until the hinges give way. Where the size or location of the safe or vault to be forced precludes the use of these machines, and an explosion becomes necessary, dynamite and nitro-glycerine are used with the greatest skill, and with such art in the deadening of sound that sometimes an explosion which rends asunder a huge safe cannot be heard twenty yards away from the room in which it takes place.
The patient safe robber is aware of several ingenious ways of picking combination locks. In following their nefarious calling these men attain a delicacy of feeling by which they are able to determine to a nicety the exact distance necessary to raise each tumbler of the lock. The burglar masters a combination with almost mathematical accuracy, and manipulates its complex machinery with the same dexterity and precision that a music-teacher touches the keys of a piano. He is trained to detect one false note in a swelling chorus produced by the click of reverberating ratchets within the lock, and marks the period and duration of the drops. When they come across some new kind of lock, they will manage to get possession of one, whatever its cost, and whatever roundabout means may be necessary to get hold of it, and, taking it apart, will study its construction until they know its strong and weak points, and how to master it, just as well as its inventor or maker could. They are always on the alert to utilize for their purposes every new appliance of power.
The combination-safe picker is the cleverest of all the fraternity of lock workers. His is a life of study and careful experimenting. He proceeds to fathom the mystery of a new and intricate piece of mechanism with the same enthusiastic, yet patient, attention and study that actuates a scientist in search of more useful knowledge. Having acquired mastery over any combination, the burglar guards his secret jealously. Gaining access to the bank or building, he can tell at once the character of the combination he has to deal with, and that with him is tantamount to opening the safe or vault. Having rifled the safe of its contents, he closes the door, and begins to make arrangements to deceive the officials of the institution and the detectives. The crevices of the door are closed with putty, with the exception of a small orifice in the upper or horizontal crevice, through which powder is blown into the safe by means of a small bellows. The hole is then closed, a slow fuse which is inserted into the crack is set fire to, and the building is vacated. Half an hour or so later the fuse ignites the powder, and the safe door is shattered from its strong fastenings.
For fifteen years the manner in which a celebrated combination lock was picked by thieves was involved in mystery, during which time many honest bank employés suffered in reputation, and not a few were unjustly incarcerated. The criminals who operated so mysteriously upon the safes never took all the money or valuables. In many cases they helped themselves to but a small percentage of the proceeds, and it was this ruse that threw the officials off their guard and brought the employés into disrepute. The burglars familiarized themselves with the make and patterns of the locks, and then bored a hole within a short distance of where a spindle held the tumblers. With the use of a common knitting-needle the tumblers were dropped and the safe door opened.
The secret of another ingenious method of opening safes at last leaked out. The paying teller of an Eastern bank having been absent at lunch, returned earlier than was his wont, and discovered a strange man on his knees tampering with the dial of the combination. The man turned out to be “Shell” Hamilton, one of the Mark Shinburn gang. His arrest was the means of leading to the knowledge of the fact that the gang had been systematically picking a patent combination lock by removing the dial and placing a piece of paper behind it, so that when the safe was opened the combination registered its secret upon the paper. The thieves next watched their opportunity to gain possession of the paper, and the difficulty was at once overcome of opening the safe and gaining possession of its valuable contents.
Every gang of bank burglars has its recognized leader, whose word is law. He is a man of brains, possessed of some executive ability, sleek and crafty. The care with which, perhaps for years before the consummation of a crime, he arranges the plans for getting at the vault, illustrates the keenness of his perception and his depth of thought. Every little detail is considered and followed, so as to allay suspicion and permit him to get the closer to his prize. Bank burglaries invariably date back, and in some cases it has been known that the interior drawings of the building and plans of the vaults made at the time of their erection have for twenty years passed through the hands of several gangs as the sole legacy of some crafty leader. If provided with such important information, when, at last, the plundering of some institution is intended, the standing of the concern and the value of the securities kept in the vault must first be ascertained. Should these prove satisfactory, the conspiracy gets under way. Next, some inquiries are necessary as to the mechanical part of the work to be done. The name of the maker of the vault, the size of the lock by which it is protected, and if electric appliances guard it, must all be known, and are very easily learned.
The burglars generally hire a store adjoining the institution, from which they can operate the better, and in some instances they have gone so far as to rent the basement of the bank, or rooms overhead. They may fit up the place as an oyster saloon, billiard room, shoemaker’s, barber’s or tailor’s shop, or start a dental establishment. The leader of the gang will for a long time employ none but the best workmen, sell Ai goods, pay his rent regularly, seem anxious for custom, be pleasant to all, and make himself a most desirable tenant; and his landlord has in several instances been the very president of the bank that this bland and good-natured tenant was secretly plotting against.
The leader of the burglars, after a few weeks’ steady attention to business, will pass much of his spare time in conversation with the bank clerks, and thereby manages to gain their confidence. Being a rather good judge of human nature, he is thus able to survey the institution, secure all the inside information he desires, and probably gain an important ally in his nefarious undertaking. If he can tamper with or corrupt one of the clerks or watchmen, then the job is plain sailing. As soon, however, as the scheme becomes known to an outsider, the leader, fearing treachery, hastens matters as rapidly as possible. Should the mechanical part of the work have been figured down, and the combination be at the mercy of the robbers, the final work is generally completed between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
By cutting through the dividing partition wall, ceiling, or floor, the bank burglar and his assistants find no difficulty in getting into the bank. Then the wrecking of the vault begins, and in a short time the treasure that it contains is in the possession of the cracksmen. The task complete, the burglars carry their booty into the adjoining store, or perhaps the basement below the ransacked institution, and at the proper time remove it to a much safer place. When it is discovered that the bank vault was really not as secure as it was supposed to be, the affable business man who ran the oyster saloon or billiard room next door, or made change in the barber’s or shoemaker’s shop in the basement, or superintended the drawing of teeth overhead, has suddenly abandoned his expensive fixtures and light stock, and has left for parts unknown. He has realized thousands for every dollar that he invested, and in most cases he leaves in the lurch the mean tool who betrayed his trust in the hope that he would reap a rich reward by revealing to a professional robber the secrets of the institution where he was employed.
Some bank burglars devote most of their time and attention to the cashier of the bank that they have made up their minds to rob. They track him to his home, gain access to his sleeping-room at night, either by collusion with one of the servants, picking the door-locks or springing a window and gaining the keys, and take impressions in wax. Duplicates are easily made from these casts, and at the first opportunity the bank can be safely plundered. Should, however, the cashier be disturbed by the intrusion of the cracksmen into his apartment, the burglars would be forced to make an attempt upon the bank that night. Securing possession of the keys by threats, a couple of men would be left to guard the cashier while the other members of the band would proceed to the bank and rob it. In several instances the desperate robbers, under threats of instant death, have compelled the cashier whom they have surprised to accompany them to the bank and open the vault, so that they could rifle it.
The names of many expert bank burglars who have gained much notoriety by their criminal deeds will be found in the annexed list:
Charley Adams, alias Langdon W. Moore (22).—Jim Burns, alias Big Jim Burns (165).—George Bliss (see records of Nos. 20, 70, 80, 89, no, 176).—Tom Biglow (see records of Nos. 20, 131).—Charles Bullard, alias Piano Charley (see records of Nos. 22, 176).—William Robinson, alias Gopher Bill (see record of No. 89).—George Havill, alias Joe Cook, alias Harry Thorn (15).—John Hope, alias Young Hope (19).—James Hope, alias Old Man Hope (20).—Harry Howard, alias English Harry (see record of No. 22).—Ed. Johnson (see record of No. 50).—William Kelly (see records of Nos. 19, 90).—Mike Kerrigan, alias Johnny Dobbs (64).—Mike Kerwin, alias Barney Oats (see record of No. 68).—Ira Kingsland (see record of No. 70).—Peter Emmerson, alias Pete Luthy, alias Banjo Pete (90).—Ned Lyons (70).—John Larney, alias Mollie Matches (n).—George Leslie, alias George Howard (see records of Nos. 50, 74, 80). —Charles Lowery (see record of No. 68).—John Leary, alias Red Leary (see record of No. no).—Frank McCoy, alias Big Frank (89).—George Mason, alias George Gordon (24).—Joe Moran (see record of No. 8).—Ike Marsh (see records of Nos. 21, 22, 50, 89).—William Morgan, alias Bunker (see record of No. 21).—Frank McCrann, alias Big Frank (see record of No. 68).—Tom McCormack (201).—Sam Perris, alias Worcester Sam (199).—Jack Rand (see record of No. 22).—Patrick Shevlin (see records of Nos. 19, 28, 90). —James Simpson (see record of No. 21).— Charles Sanborn (see record of No. 21).—Mark Shinburn (176).—Robert S. Scott (see record of No. 50).—Mose Vogel (see records of Nos. 24, 50).—Gilbert Yost (see record of No. 74).—Adam Worth.—Joe Killoran, alias Joe Howard.—Daniel Dyson, alias Dan Noble.—Jim Brady, alias Big Jim.
See general index for further information.