WORKING AS A GANG

 Sometimes the arrest of a single man out of a gang will put 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 today that is burglar-proof, notwithstanding the fact that many manufacturers advertise and guarantee those of their building as such. Safe manufacturers occasionally update their vaults' interiors, often in response to techniques used by skilled thieves.  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 innovative design, in the hope of thwarting thieves and making his vaults more secure.

The wrecking of every safe, therefore, reveals a blemish, and necessitates alterations, which, of course, later, 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. This guarantees that there will be something to work with, because he understands that once he succeeds and word gets back to the safe factory, they will start making improvements.  The proficiency attained by our bank burglars, and the comparative ease with which they secure the contents of massive vaults, is the result of constant and careful study of the subject. A bank burglar who specializes in breaking into vaults must use every bit of resourcefulness, intelligence, and cleverness they possess. They carefully devise and revise plans until one emerges that seems secure, practical, and worthwhile given the circumstances.  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 in league with the criminals who expect to use them. Modern bank robbers have left behind the cumbersome tools of the past in favor of innovative devices.  While some bank thieves use the spirit lamp and blowpipe 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 sorts 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. 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 nitroglycerine 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 can determine to a nicety the exact distance necessary to raise each tumbler of the lock. The burglar masters a combination of 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 has the skills to spot a single wrong sound in the rising clatter of echoing ratchets inside the lock, carefully noting the timing and length of each drop.  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 it is tantamount to opening the safe or vault. Having rifled the safe of its contents, he closes the door and begins to decide to deceive the officials of the institution and the detectives. The crevices of the door are closed with putty, except for a small orifice in the upper or horizontal crevice, through which powder is blown into the safe by means of a small bellows. After closing the hole, a slow-burning fuse is placed into the crevice and lit, and everyone leaves the building.  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 way a celebrated combination lock was picked by thieves was involved in mystery, during which time many honest bank employees 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 employees 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 gangs. 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 by 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, 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, to allay suspicion and permit him to get 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 made at the time of their erection have passed through the hands of several gangs as the sole legacy of some crafty leaders. 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 whether the mechanical part of the work needs 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 as 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 top quality 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. Over several weeks, the burglars' leader gains trust from the bank clerks through frequent conversations.