Chapter IX: Preface (9)

A small slab stone is covered with ink, which is distributed with a sprayer, and the prisoner is compelled to place his fingers in the ink and then firmly implant them upon paper.

On a regular prescribed form impressions are taken so that the flexure of the last joint shall be at a given point on the record.

The digits are taken singly and then an imprint is made of all of them simultaneously.

When the prisoner has finished imprinting the record he is called upon for his signature, and immediately underneath the name, as written by himself, an imprint is left of the right forefinger.

For the edification of American police, Mr. Ferrier demonstrates that upon a sheet of paper you may sprinkle some charcoal dust and press it upon the paper with your thumb and then blow the dust off and the imprint of the digit will remain.

MOST POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION.

But this thumb print possibility in commercial papers has its greatest future in the positive identification which either thumb or finger print carries with it. Criminologists all over the world have satisfied themselves of the absolute accuracy of the finger print identification. It would be hard to figure just how many Constantines were arrested or kept under surveillance following the horrible murder in Chicago, the suspicions aroused by personal resemblances to the criminal's photograph and especially by the prominent gold tooth of the man. But in a criminal's finger print the merest novice anywhere in the world may take an ink impression of the fingers of the suspected criminal, and if these prints should be in the bureau of identification at Scotland Yard, with its 100,000 records of individuals, the man would be identified positively within half an hour--identified not only by the experts of the bureau, but an ordinary citizen would be an authority in attesting the proof.

This is a suggestion of the absolute accuracy of identifications on commercial paper. At the present time traveling salesmen who spend much money and who wish to carry as little as possible of cash with them, have an organized system by which their bankable paper may be cashed at hotels and business houses over the country.

APPLIED TO IMMIGRANTS.

Major R. W. McClaughry, warden of the federal prison at Leavenworth, sees in the finger print system a possibility which might be taken cognizance of by the government at Ellis Island. With the millions of immigrants who have come and who still are to come to these shores, the finger print requirement would simplify many of the tangles of many kinds which result from this inrush of foreign population.

Aside from the fact that many of this country's criminals are foreign born, it remains that civil identifications of such people are matters of great moment. Titles and estates have hung in the balance of incomplete identifications of persons who are claimants in the United States. Fifty years after a finger print is registered that same finger, or group of fingers, will prove the personality of the one registering. In case of accidents of many kinds one hand or the other is most likely to escape mutilation, and a post-mortem imprint of the fingers still is proof of identity.

The finger print system is being taken up more rapidly than was the Bertillon, largely owing to the fact that police departments, recognizing that a scientific system gives far greater results and can in no way be compared with the old method of describing criminals, by color, age, height, weight, eyes, hair, etc., are more willing than formerly to intelligently investigate and test new methods.

Under the Bertillon system it is contended that the bones of the human anatomy stop growing after the age of twenty-one years. In consequence measurements taken of juvenile offenders under that age are practically of little use, as they show too wide a variance with measurements taken in after years, and are not a certain source of identification.

The identification from imprint taken from the finger tips of both hands can be recorded as soon as the child is born, and no matter at what time of life a record is again taken of the subject, absolute identification can be had, as the papillary ridges of the palmer surface of the finger tips present the same formation until death, and even though some of the fingers become mutilated, amputated or lost, sufficient prints would remain on the other fingers to produce identification.

While it is claimed that the finger print system is sufficient unto itself for all identification, after working each system side by side for a number of years, I believe that both systems should be installed in all cities, penitentiaries, etc., especially as they both will be given an impartial and thorough test here, with the result that it will be the survival of both, or of the fittest.

KEEP BAD MEN OUT OF SERVICE.

In these government departments it is expected that the finger print records will serve to keep undesirable people out of the service, as well as to afford a complete method of identifying every member, or past member, in years to come.

Both branches of the War Department, the army and navy, had first installed the Bertillon system, and within the last year the finger print system, thereby recognizing both, but apparently giving the finger print system the preference; owing to the many ways it can be applied in the service, and especially as to recording all enlisted men and to the identification of those who might be maimed or killed in battle, whose identity might be sought afterward, or to identify deserters; or if a soldier or sailor has lost his honorable discharge paper, he can go to any enlisting office, have his finger prints taken, his identity established, and new papers issued, thereby avoiding red tape or having about one dozen affidavits from different people to substantiate his claim.

Not only as a means of detecting and identifying criminals may the finger print be used, but its usefulness in various ways is easily demonstrated.

It is clearly within the range of possibility that the traveler a few years hence may be called upon to imprint an identifying finger mark upon his letter of credit or certified check.

As a means of preventing-fraud or securing the signatures of those who cannot write, the finger print system is invaluable, as the mark may be easily forged, but the finger's impress can be only made by the proper party and cannot be duplicated by others.

The thumb or finger tips will leave an imprint upon glass, polished metal or wood, owing to the moisture and natural oil oozing from the cuticle. It is a simple matter to procure such imprints when wanted, and they can be turned over to the authorities for identification of a suspect.

SECURE PRINTS OF ALL CRIMINALS.

If peace officers throughout the country would secure finger prints of all criminals passing through their hands and forward them to a central bureau it would facilitate the apprehension and identification of malefactors.

As a preventive of repeating at elections, the finger print identification would serve an admirable purpose. When an elector registered he could leave an imprint of his fingers upon the registration book, and when he went to vote a glance at the registration list and comparison of the imprint made at the polls would readily establish his identity if the prints tallied.

The natives of India decline to recognize the validity of any document beneath the signature of which is not imprinted a reproduction of the whorls or loops of the thumb of the signer, alleging that a person might deny his own signature, but that the finger prints afford incontrovertible evidence, as no two people can make the same impression with their thumbs upon paper.

Upon opening an account with a bank in India the depositor leaves the impress of his right thumb upon the roll of depositors and none of his paper will be honored unless checks are thus imprinted.

In the same country pensioners are compelled to imprint their thumbs upon receipts for pension money, and thus obviate the likelihood of other persons drawing the stipend rightfully belonging to the veteran.

The best test of a system is its practical use and the results derived, and one of the most important matters is uniformity in all branches of work, classification, filing, size of cards, etc., so that, as the system becomes universal, it will be operated on identical lines in all countries. From my observation of the practical workings of the system, I believe that at New Scotland Yard, London, to be the best.

FINGER PRINT SYSTEM FURNISHES COMPLETE IDENTIFICATION.

In Paris a public house or saloon was broken into one morning, and it was found that the owner had been murdered and that apparently there was no clew to the murderer.

On arriving at the saloon they found a table on which drinks had been served, and on which were found a number of glasses. On close investigation finger prints were discovered on each. Finger prints were also found on a knife by the side of the body and on a decanter. On comparison it was found that the prints were made by the same person. On causing the arrest of the different people who had been seen to visit the saloon they were finger-printed and a comparison made, with the result that the murderer was arrested and a confession obtained within ten days, followed by conviction.

At New Scotland Yard, London, a little boy was brought in and two sets of his finger prints taken and filed away in separate steel deposit vaults. The boy was an orphan and an heir to a very large fortune in Africa. His finger prints were taken as a protection, so that if anything happened to him, or he disappeared, or he had to prove his identity to claim his estate, or provided he died and proof of the identity of the body was required, such proof could be shown with absolute certainty.

An interesting case nearer home is that of a recent arrest in Chicago of a man that the authorities were convinced was a professional criminal, and from his accent and other indications they believed him to be an English professional crook.

His Bertillon measurements and finger prints were taken at the Bureau of Identification by Captain M. P. Evans, superintendent of the bureau, and a copy of the photograph and finger prints given to Mr. William A. Pinkerton, of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

Mr. Pinkerton, who is a personal friend of Frank C. Froest, superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department of New Scotland Yard, London, mailed the finger prints to him without any other memorandum, data or the picture, simply making the test on the finger prints. He received a reply from Inspector Frank C. Froest, giving the name of the criminal, and a long record of some fourteen arrests and the picture, so as to authenticate the identification, and also a statement from Superintendent Froest that the identification was made inside of three minutes from a collection of over 70,000 records.

The identification was absolutely correct. The prisoner, on being shown the letter, admitted his guilt.

If a clerk handles papers or letters on his employer's desk, it is a very easy matter of detection. By means of a little syringe filled with a powder blown on the paper, the finger prints are reproduced with startling clearness.

BROKEN GLASS PROVES GUILT.

Some pieces of broken glass had been taken to Scotland Yard, four days previous to the Ward, Lock & Co. burglary. These fragments of glass had been picked up at the London City Mission, where a burglar had broken through a window and carried off a clock and other articles. No one could be connected with the crime after a most thorough detective hunt.

The one remaining source was a bit of glass on which finger prints had been noticed. These were photographed and compared with the finger prints of all the recent records. Surprisingly enough, they corresponded exactly with those of the young clerk who had been found stealing books from the publishers' warehouse. Instead of being a clerk, he was a very adept young burglar. On this new evidence the prisoner was sentenced to twelve months at hard labor.

About a month before this a similar case occurred in London. A man was arrested on Tower Hill carrying a pair of boots wrapped up in a brown paper. He said he had been employed to carry the parcel to Fenchurch Street Station. He was held on suspicion. Later in the day it was discovered that the boots had been stolen from a neighboring store, and that on the transom, which had been broken, there was a perfect imprint of a man's finger.

Inspector Collins, superintendent of the finger print department at New Scotland Yard, examined the print and found it corresponded to the mark of the suspected man's left forefinger made on the brown paper parcel in which the boots were wrapped. The evidence was conclusive, the man pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to nine months at hard labor.

About the same time another interesting case occurred in Staffordshire, England. There had been a wholesale burglary of a large jeweler's shop. The perpetrator had left distinct finger marks on a plate glass shelf in a window. These marks were photographed and sent to New Scotland Yard. They were identified as belonging to William Davis, a notorious burglar who had been confined at Wakefield prison in 1901.

The man was hunted up. He was found living near the place of the recent robbery under the name of John McNally. He at first denied the recent offense, but afterward made a full confession. But for these tell-tale finger marks, he might have continued to ply his trade unsuspected under his new name, in a district where the local police did not know him.

In one of the large banks where the finger print system was introduced, they make it a rule that when a depositor cannot read or write, he shall, in addition to making his mark in the old way on checks or documents, place the finger print of the thumb or index finger on them.

IMPORTANT IN WILL CONTESTS.

Finger prints are also used in the making of wills, so that while the signature of the testator may be contested, it is almost impossible to contest the signature of the fingers, for so long as the skin of the fingers of the dead person can be taken up, just so long can the finger print impression be obtained to verify the living imprint.

It is only a question of time before all large transportation companies, like express and railways, whose employes handle packages of money or other valuables, will be required to place their finger prints on file, so that when money or valuables are missing the cover of the package will indicate who handled or tampered with it.

HOW TO DETECT A FORGER.

How to detect a forger as one of the cleverest of operating criminals has been solved by the "thumb print" method of identification now spreading through the rogues' galleries of the world.

It is quite as interesting as the suggestion that through the same thumb print method in commercial and banking houses the forger is likely to become a creature without occupation and chirographical or other means of support.

The system is not only a great aid in preventing the forgeries of commercial brigands, but the easiest of all means for a person in a strange city to identify himself as the lawful possessor of check, or note, or bank draft which he may wish to turn into cash at a banker's window.

USED IN ANCIENT TIMES.

A thousand years ago the Chinese were using the thumb print signatures in commercial business. Its practical adaptation today is explained at a glance in the check reproduced here, as it was filled out by Mr. McClaughry himself. In this check the design is that the maker of the check, before leaving home for a distant city, shall draw the check for the needed sum and, in the presence of the cashier of his bank, place one thumb print in ink somewhere over the amount of the check as written in figures. Thereupon the cashier of the bank will accept the check as certified by his institution. With this paper in his possession the drawer of the check may go from his home in New York to San Francisco, stranger to every person in the city, but at the window of any bank in that city, presenting his certified check to a teller who has a reading glass at his hand, the stranger may satisfy the most careful of banks by a mere imprint of his thumb somewhere else upon the face of the check.

Had this simple thumb print been used in the Stensland bank, no handwriting expert would have been needed to establish the genuineness of any note under question.

With the ink thumb print of the cashier of a bank placed on a bank draft over his signature and over the written amount of the draft, chemical papers and the dangers of "raising" or counterfeiting the draft would be an impossibility. The thumb prints of the secretary of the United States treasury, reproduced on the face of greenback, silver certificate and bank note of any series, would discourage counterfeiting as nothing else ever has done.

SAFEGUARD ON SEALS OF LETTERS AND MONEY PACKAGES.

As an aid in the transmission of sealed packages, the thumb print is invaluable. The print will determine absolutely whether the wax has been broken in transit, and it will also establish the identity of the person putting on the seal.

Packages so protected have been left by train robbers where all other packages in the safe were taken. The thumb print was too suggestive of danger to make tampering with such packages safe.

In the ordinary usage of the thumb print on bankable paper, the city bank having its country correspondents everywhere, often is called upon to cash a draft drawn by the country bank in favor of that bank's customer, who may be a stranger in the city. The city bank desires to accommodate the country correspondent as a first proposition.

The unidentified bearer of the draft in the city, may have no acquaintance able to identify him. If he presents the draft at the window of the big bank, hoping to satisfy the institution and is turned away, he feels hurt. By the thumb print method he might have his money in a moment.

IDENTIFYING STRANGERS.

In the first place, even the signature of the cashier of the country bank will be enough to satisfy its correspondent in the city of the genuineness of the draft. Before the country purchaser of the draft has left the bank issuing the paper he will be required to make the ink thumb print in a space for that purpose. Without this imprint the draft will have no value. If the system should be in use, the cashier signing the draft will not affix his signature to the paper until this imprint has been made in his presence.

Then, with his attested finger print on the face of the draft the stranger in the city may go to the city bank, appearing at the window of the newest teller, if need be. This teller will have at hand his ink pad, faced with a sheet of smooth tin. He never may have seen the customer before. He never may see him again. But under the magnifying influences of an ordinary reading glass he may know, past the possibility of doubt, that in the hands of the proper person named in the draft, the imprint which is made before him has been made by the first purchaser of the draft.

SIGNING BONDS AND STOCKS.

In the more important and complicated transactions in bank paper one bank may forward from the bank itself the finger print proofs of identity. The whole field of such necessities is open to adapted uses of the method. Notes given by one bank to another in high figures may be protected in every way by these imprints. Stock issues and institution bonds would be worthy of the thumb print precautions, as would be every other form of paper which might tempt either the forger or the counterfeiter. In any case, where the authenticity of the paper might be questioned the finger print would serve as absolute guarantee. In stenographic correspondence, where there might be inducements to write unauthorized letters on the part of some person with wrong intent, the imprint of finger or thumb would make the possibility of fraud too remote for fears. For, in addition to the security of signatures in real documents, the danger in attempting frauds of this kind is increased.

The beauty of the finger print system is that there is absolutely no chance for error. The finger prints of the child of eighteen months will be the same as the finger prints of the man of eighty. No laceration, wound, or mutilation can disturb the essentials of the outline of the finger print. The only escape for the criminal is to cut off all of his fingers, and even then the toe prints would be as effective.

As to the physical necessities in registering finger prints, they are simple and inexpensive. A block of wood faced with smooth tin or zinc the size of an octavo volume, a small ink roller, and a tube of black ink are all that is required. For removing the ink on the thumb or finger a towel and alcohol cleanser are sufficient. A tip impression or a "rolled" finger signature may be used. Only a few seconds are required for the operation.

Instruments used in the measurement of criminals by the Bertillon system of measurements.]

OBJECTS TO HAVING FINGER IMPRESSIONS RECORDED.

In one of our prisons recently, a man who had just been sentenced was brought up, and while he made no opposition to being measured by the Bertillon system, he objected strongly to having his finger impressions recorded. This caused the identification expert to be suspicious, and he submitted a duplicate record to the Scotland Yard police, in London, with the result that the man was at once identified as a murderer who had escaped from a prison in England, and was taken back there. When confronted with the English record, the convict at once admitted his identity.

An express company lost a large sum of money which was being sent from one point to another in a sealed package. During transmission the seals were broken, the money abstracted and the package resealed with wax. At first the express company were absolutely unable to locate the thief, but later on it was discovered that in resealing the package, the thief had wet his finger and pressed it on the warm wax, leaving a distinct imprint. The finger impressions of all the agents through whose hands the package passed, were taken, with the result that the thief was easily identified, a confession obtained and the money recovered.

A jewelry store was entered and valuable diamonds that were on display on glass trays in the windows were stolen. In doing this the thieves left the imprints of their fingers on the glass. An expert, on making investigation with a powerful magnifier, discovered the imprints and by a careful photographic process was able to reproduce them on paper. A research being made among a collection of 20,000 finger-print records revealed the fact that the prints left on the glass tray were those of a well-known professional burglar, whose record had been taken some two years previously, while undergoing sentence in State prison. As a result the man was arrested and, through him, his partner in the crime, resulting in a conviction and the recovery of most of the goods.

The London police in investigating a burglary discovered in the pantry of a house a partly empty bottle of ale, which had been full the previous day. There were finger prints on the bottle, which was protected by a cardboard shield and taken to Scotland Yard, where the prints of the photograph, afterwards, were found to correspond with those of McAllister, who had just previously been released from jail. McAllister, on his arrest, in some way learned that they had his finger prints, and, realizing their value as evidence, made a circumstantial admission which led to the recovery of the goods and the conviction of his partner, Alexander Harley, on whose premises the property was found.

A half-empty bottle of wine was discovered in the room of an old woman at Asnieres, France, she having been murdered. A close examination of the bottle revealed finger prints, which were submitted to M. Bertillon, the great identification expert, who caused large photographs to be made, and who, after research, declared they were the imprints of a hospital attendant named Gales, who has since been arrested, charged with the murder, and convicted.

MURDER REVEALED BY FINGER PRINTS.

Recently in London a murder was committed, and in order to destroy any chance of detection, the murderer took the tin of his shoe lace and cut the tips of his fingers in all directions. He was suspected of the crime and arrested. The officers found blood prints on the furniture and other things in the house where the murder was committed, and when the man's fingers healed his prints were taken and corresponded exactly with those discovered by the officers; conviction followed.

Where large bodies of Chinese or negroes are employed on government or public work it is often difficult to stop men from representing themselves as being other men and signing the pay roll to obtain the wages due others. Nowadays the thumb print of each employee is taken and when he comes up to draw his money and there is any doubt as to his identity he makes a fresh imprint, which easily disposes of the matter. Rich men disposing of their property by will, in addition to their regular signature, also place the finger prints of both hands on the paper, thereby insuring the authenticity of the document. An easy way to protect a check is to put the thumb print where the figures are written in.

Among the most noted of these is the case of Thomas Wilson, who a few years ago committed a burglary and most atrocious murder near Windsor, England.

Besides the bludgeon with which he felled his unsuspecting victim, Wilson carried a lantern which was blackened by smoke, and, after accomplishing his design of robbery, the fiend took his departure.

As he made his escape after the foul murder, Wilson picked up the smoke-begrimed lantern and left upon it an imprint of a thumb wet with the blood of his victim.

SENT TO GALLOWS BY BLOODY THUMB PRINT.

With the cunning of the criminal he covered his tracks, and as a last resort Chief Henry of Scotland Yard secured the lantern bearing the tell-tale print and resolved to try the efficiency of the ancient Chinese method of fixing responsibility by finger tracks.

This astute detective had paid some attention to the fact that no two hands would leave a similar imprint, and, working upon this theory, he pursued a still hunt until he found a man whose right thumb made an imprint identical with that upon the lantern. When found, vigorous denial followed accusation, but measurements were drawn to such a fine point that the culprit finally confessed and expiated his heinous crime upon the gallows.

Recently the perpetrator of an extensive burglary in the jewelry shop of Mr. Bickley, Lord Mayor of Staffordshire, England, left the imprint of his fingers upon a plate glass shelf. The shelf was sent to Scotland Yard and the finger-print record disclosed a duplicate in the records left by the digits of William Davis, well known to the authorities. When confronted with the mute evidences of guilt the culprit confessed.

In a police court at London a few months ago a man appeared who declined to give any name or address. A detective thought he recognized him as John White, wanted for a jewel robbery some time before, though his facial appearance had changed and did not tally with photographs held by the police. However, the imprint left by his fingers when in custody before had not changed a particle and his identity was established.

After the success attained in numerous instances the authorities at Scotland Yard decided to adopt the system and have now so perfected it that no malefactor who leaves a finger print can hope to escape ultimate punishment.

Mr. Wm. A. Pinkerton, of the famous Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, and without doubt one of the greatest criminal experts, on his return from Europe, in an interview published recently, says: "During my visit at New Scotland Yard, London, I was greatly interested in the high state of efficiency which the finger print system of identification has reached in the police service of London. The Bureau of Finger Prints there is one of the most marvelous departments I ever examined. Identification of criminals has been reduced practically to a matter of bookkeeping. You get the finger print and then simply turn up your indexes, and you know your man at once. A criminal may shave or grow his beard, become stout or thin, alter his appearance to a considerable extent, but the one constant feature of his makeup is his finger prints.

"The only safe way for criminals nowadays is to wear gloves when they go out on a job, for the impressions they leave of the fingers are found by detectives on glasses, newspapers, dusty tables, and the slightest impression of the fingers on a damp table or paper can, by the process in use at the Yard, serve as an adequate means of identification."

GOVERNMENT TO KEEP WATCH ON CRIMINALS.

The United States government at Washington, D. C., has established a criminal identification bureau, or what may be called an "Habitual Criminal Registry," for keeping the records of all men convicted of crimes against the federal laws, and also all indicted by grand juries of the United States courts. The bureau is to be under the supervision of the department of justice, and all prisons in the United States where government prisoners are or have been confined have been directed to send their records, consisting of photographs, Bertillon measurement cards and finger-print identification sheets immediately to the department of justice.

This bureau is intended to be used for the identification of federal lawbreakers. It has been urged for some time by criminologists. Heretofore each prison in the United States has kept its own records, and a federal lawbreaker could serve a term in one prison and be freed without the fact ever becoming known that he had served a previous term for a similar offense in another penitentiary.

Now all records are to be classified in Washington, and not in any of the federal jails or prisons. The Bertillon measurements, photographs and _finger prints_ of the convicts are to be taken and sent to the central bureau.

Also, the records of all men suspected of being yeggmen, train or postoffice robbers are to be taken. Those held in federal jails under indictment, etc., are to be sent there.

This bureau will ascertain the record of each man from the date he has, and if one not yet given trial proves to be an habitual criminal, this fact will be made known to the prosecuting attorney and the judge previous to the hearing, and if the man is convicted it will mean that he will be given the limit sentence.

At the present time there are about 8,000 known criminals who violate the government laws, and a close tab is to be kept upon these in the future. It will go hard on a known criminal convicted in a United States court hereafter.

BURGLARY A SCIENCE.

Up-To-Date Professional Burglar Must Be Skilled in Latest Methods.

ELECTRICITY NOW A FACTOR.

It Has Taken the Place of Dynamite and the Jimmy in Advanced Safe Looting.

Scientific Equipment of Burglar Includes High-Class Automobile.

Jobs at Country Houses Usually Planned Far in Advance, and With Intimate Knowledge of Loot To Be Gained.

Unlocking a door is one of the easiest tasks of the professional burglar. His ingenuity defies the efforts of locksmiths to invent safety devices. The picture shows how an expert turns a key in the lock, and also a simple device to prevent this.]

The up-to-date burglar must have a motor car, the use of which is only a part of his scientific equipment. That the modern burglar does not consider that he is properly equipped unless he possesses a motor car is an incontrovertible fact. House-breaking nowadays has been reduced to a science. The use of gloves renders detection by finger prints impossible. Besides, the modern burglar's tools are most scientifically made. The men who make it their business to manufacture these tools are first-class workmen.

The majority of large country burglaries are planned for days in advance, and every detail is most carefully arranged. In some mysterious manner the word is conveyed to the gang that a visit will be made on a certain day, by a member of the household which it is intended to rob, to a jeweler's shop. The train is met at the terminus and the person followed to the jeweler's or wherever they go.

When they enter the shop a man strolls in casually and makes some inquiries. While an assistant is attending to his supposed wants it is very easy for him to see what the person at the same counter is purchasing and, having obtained all the necessary information, the man leaves and imparts all his information to his confederates.

Before a county ball or such function a visit to the jeweler's is often necessary to get the family diamonds, and the fact that this visit is going to be made is either communicated or anticipated, and the same system of following is put in operation. Equipped with all the desired information, the modern burglar then brings his motor car into operation. There is no tedious waiting for trains; he simply drives down to the "crib" and avoids the old-fashioned way of taking a train at a small wayside station, with the chances of being arrested on his arrival in the metropolis.

If he is noticed on the road he is taken for a rich man touring in his car, and if a great social function is in progress he is regarded as a belated guest. The car is carefully stalled in an obscure place while the robbery takes place. The booty is subsequently placed in it and a quick trip back to town is made. The police are left practically without a single clew.

Those members of the community who make a business, or a profession, rather, of burglary keep up with the march of science quite as closely as do people in a more legitimate calling.

The burglar of today is a vastly differently equipped individual from the one of a generation ago. He must of necessity be an enterprising and daring man, and in addition to that if he would make a success of safe cracking in this twentieth century he must be something of a scientist as well. The great progress made in the manufacture of safes for the storage of valuables has brought about this revolution in the burglar's methods, and it is a regrettable fact to note that no matter how strong and secure safes may be made, the ingenuity of the scientific burglar is pretty sure to devise some method to overcome their security.

The most recent development in the burglar's advancement is the use of electricity to open safes in place of the old-time jimmy and the more recent dynamite.

OLD-TIME STRONG BOX.

Years ago the old-fashioned strong box was considered quite an adequate protection for hoarded wealth and was the legitimate successor of the stocking in which the gold pieces were carefully stored and hidden away. The strong box of wood bound with iron and with ponderous locks proved but child's play for the burglar thoroughly intent upon obtaining its contents. Then came the more modern iron and steel safe, with its thick plates of highly tempered metal and ingeniously complicated time locks.

Safe breakers have more than kept pace with improvement in safes, including time locks, chilled steel chests of eight or nine inches thicknesses and electric protective attachments. Their tools are made by some of the finest mechanics and inventive geniuses of the world. A full kit of the most approved modern safe workers' tools costs about $5,000.

The modern burglar is like love in one respect; he "laughs at locksmiths." Yet he is not much of an artist, although he is rapidly improving. The simple tools of the burglars' trade indicate how easily the contrivances made to bar his progress are overcome. Yet these tools give no mark of great mechanical genius. They are as crude as the average burglar is. They are in keeping with his practices of force and brutality. The destructive power of the best pieces of handiwork is their main advantage, and doubtless an illustration of the house-breaker's stunted idea, that the best way to overcome obstacles is in all cases to break them down.

The tools used by the burglar are supplied to him. They are made by men after his own heart, and who make for him what is most effective in his hands. No doubt there are smart men engaged in the business of defying law and setting the rights of honest people at naught. Some of the methods they employ might be used to their credit in a commendable industry.

JIMMY IS NECESSARY.

There are places where the jimmy is absolutely indispensable to the burglar. Front doors, which a house proprietor usually has doubly bolted and barred and supplied with improved locks, are the last apertures in the world a night marauder would seek to enter.

It must be an amusing thing to the burglar, after noting the precautions taken to prevent his entrance by the street door, when he has walked through the skylight on the roof without the slightest resistance, or dropped through the coal-hole leading to the cellar from the sidewalk, to find that no doors bar his passage from there to the rooms above.

Those are the popular ways of getting into many banks and business houses. The basement door, at the rear, if there is one, is another. In such case the jimmy is the magic wand that opens the way. It is more useful to the burglar than any half dozen of his other implements, and is the first thing he purchases when getting an outfit.

How do safe burglars get their tools? Why, every man of any account in that line has what he calls "his man," who is a practical mechanic, and makes everything in the shape of jimmies, punches, etc., that the burglar uses. A safe blower's outfit consists of many curious tools, some of them being of special design for some particular class of work of which the owner is the originator. Scarcely any two men work alike, and some of the clever ones invent instruments to do a certain part of their work. When a well-known notorious crook was arrested several years ago in his room, the officers found one of the finest kits of burglars' tools that was ever brought into police headquarters. Talk about ingenuity--if that man had applied but one-third of the intelligence to a legitimate business that he had spent in devising tools for robbery, he would have been a millionaire today.

Twenty years ago when burglars started out to rob a safe they filled a carpet sack with highly tempered drills, copper sledges, sectional jimmies, dark lanterns, powder and a fuse. On the way they stole a horse and wagon, filling the latter with the greater portion of the tools of a country blacksmith shop. They would work on the safe from four to six hours, and finally blow it open with a fine grade of ducking powder. Usually the shock would break all the glass in the building, arouse the town, and the burglars would often have to fight for their lives. In those days the men had to be big and powerful, because the work was extremely laborious. If the burglar was an ex-prize fighter or noted tough, so much the better, for he could make a desperate resistance in case he was caught in the act, or immediately after it.

With the modern safe burglar it is almost totally different. Although much more skillful and successful than his predecessor, he is more conservative. He seldom runs his own head into danger, and therefore seldom endangers the head of a law-abiding citizen by permitting his head to come into contact with him or the job while it is under way. Every precaution is taken against being surprised, and it is seldom the robbery is discovered until the cashier's appearance the next morning. The modern safe burglar is an exceedingly keen, intelligent man. He can open a safe having all modern improvements in from ten minutes to two hours without the aid of explosives and by only slightly defacing the safe. Sometimes he leaves scarcely a mark.

A first-class modern safe, whether large or small, generally has double outside and inside doors, with a steel chest in the bottom, forming really a safe within a safe, the inside being the stronger. The outside door is usually either "stuffed" or "skeleton." The inside one is made of eight or nine sheets, of different temper, of the finest steel. These sheets are bolted together with conical bolts having left-hand threads, after which the heads of the bolts are cut off, leaving what is virtually a solid piece of steel, which no drill can penetrate. The best locks are of the combination type, with time lock attachment. In many cities and town safes containing the valuables have an electric alarm attached. Any tampering with it will communicate the fact to the owners or the safe's guardian, which in cities is either an electric protective bureau or a central police station. A recent invention in France is a photographic attachment. As soon as the safe is touched this device will light an electric lamp, photograph the intruder and give the alarm at the electric protective company's office. As a consequence safe-breaking is going out of date in France, as the cleverest criminals have so far failed to find a way to circumvent the camera.

The first thing considered by a gang of the finest experts is a desirable bank's location and the chances for getting safely away with the plunder. Every transportation facility is carefully considered. As the work is almost invariably done at the season of the year when wagon roads are impassible, railroad time tables are carefully considered. In these days of the telegraph and telephone the gang must be under cover in a large city or concealed with friends by the time the crime is discovered, which, at the utmost, is about six hours after the crime has been committed.

From November 1 to March 1 is the safe burglar's harvest time, because then the nights are longest and the chances of detection less, as fewer people are on the streets and houses adjoining, being tightly closed to exclude the cold, exclude noises also. A man can, furthermore, carry tools in an overcoat without attracting attention, that he could not wear with a summer suit. The remainder of the year is spent in "marking" the most desirable banks for future operations. Four men, who compose the ordinary safe mob, will put up from thirty to forty "jobs" for a winter's work, allowing for all contingencies. From six to ten of these will be carried out. A bank safe will be broken into in a small town in Maine, and in ten days the gang will be operating in Texas.

Having decided on a bank, the habits of the cashier and other chief employees are carefully studied; but, above all, of those who visit the bank after working hours, chief of whom is the watchman, if the bank has one. If the watchman drinks, or spends time visiting women when he should be at the bank, the bank is an easy prey. Weeks, and sometimes even months, are spent in putting up a job of magnitude, and a number of smaller jobs are done to carry out one where the proceeds may run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Men visit the town who have a legitimate business as a "blind." They make all preliminary preparations. The greatest ingenuity is employed to obtain exact information, such as the evenings the cashier or teller is likely to visit the bank and the exact time.

SCIENTIFIC BURGLARY.

Burglars whose chief qualification is the mechanical ability to open bank vaults and safes and steal thousands of dollars in bonds or cash cannot be classed with those who break open a store door and filch a lot of buckets, brooms or dry goods.

The man who makes the defects of a combination lock, safe or vault a study must have intelligence and mechanical knowledge equal to that of a man who draws a big salary for what he knows. Whenever any new combination lock is brought in the market for vault or safe use the scientific burglar obtains one, and by patient study discovers its weakness or defect, something which every safe or vault has.

The combination of a safe or vault has often been learned by these burglars by obtaining an entrance to the banking house after banking hours, removing the dial of the combination and placing a sheet of tin foil behind it. Then, replacing the dial, the turning of the combination in opening or closing makes the impression of letters or numbers on the soft foil, which is removed by the burglar at the first chance he has to get into the banking house. Having the combination impressed on the tin foil, he and his accomplices open the vault or safe, secure the contents, and then often change or put out of order the combination, so the doors of the vault or safe cannot be opened for some hours after the regular time for opening, and then only by an expert of that particular safe company. This, of course, gives the thieves several hours of valuable time in which to effect their escape.

The tools required by the mechanical burglar who forces open safes are the air pump, putty, powder, fuse, sectional jimmy, steel drills, diamond drills, copper sledges, steel-faced sledges (leather covered), lamp and blow pipe, jack screw, wedges, dynamite and syringe, brace with box slide, feed screw drills, steel punches, small bellows, blank steel keys, skeleton keys, nippers, dark lantern, twine and screw eyes. The latest, most dangerous set of tools manufactured is the second power in mechanics--the screw.

The method of work with the screw is to first rig a brace, and then drill a hole in the safe, cut a thread in the hole and then insert a female screw. Then, with a long steel screw with a handle so long that two men can turn it, the screw is inserted in the female screw, and by turning it goes in until it strikes the back of the safe. Then either the back or the front must give way. In nearly all cases it is the latter, as that is the weakest, and it gives enough to insert the sectional jimmy, which the screw handle is part of. The jimmy is then inserted in the part forced out, and the safe is then torn asunder and its contents easily appropriated. This work is accomplished without much noise.

INVENT NEW DEVICES.

However, these new one-piece safes have not discouraged the malefactors. They have only suggested to them the creation of special appliances which enable them, without stopping to pick the lock, to remove from the side wall of the safe a circle of the metal large enough to allow of an arm to be put inside.

One of the most important of these new devices for assisting the safe-crackers in their crime is formed of an iron hoop furnished with well-tempered steel teeth, which is fixed by means of a simple pivot on the safe after a screw worm has been previously driven in. The instrument is then turned on its pivot and plows a groove in the safe wall each time it revolves.

Science has not left the burglar weaponless, however. The progress accomplished has merely compelled him to obtain higher qualifications, and in the continuous strife between the armor plate and the desperado who would pierce it the thieves have had hitherto the last word. For many years dynamite was their chief reliance, and then a product was discovered some years ago by a chemist, who gave it the name of "thermit," by which the cracksman was able to melt sheet metal, inches thick, with comparatively little trouble.

MELTS HARDEST STEEL.

This substance known as "thermit" is in current use for repairing, heating or soldering large pieces of metal and consists of a mixture of aluminum and oxide of iron, the latter being replaced, according to the requirement, by oxide of lead, peroxide of sodium or peroxide of barium. This composition is thoroughly mixed together, or is used in the form of cartridges or tablets, which ignite by means of a piece of magnesium fixed in the substance like a wick. The heat developed is more than sufficient to cause the hardest steel to melt.

Although this process is rapid and silent and really marvelous from the point of view of the result obtained, it is not without much danger to those using it, for at the high temperature produced by it an inexperienced operator runs the risk of being seriously burned. In consequence the prudent and careful burglar uses accessories which render him secure against such accidents. He protects his eyes by means of heavy dark glasses, wears shields of aluminum over his hands and applies the mixture through a small hole in the bottom of a crucible. When the reaction takes place it lasts long enough to allow the operator to charge the crucible again and again in proportion as the melting of the metal plate is effected, thus making an opening of the desired size in the safe. It is a simple enough operation for a skilled burglar, but a very dangerous one for an amateur.

TESTS WITH ELECTRICITY.

But even this has been discounted by an experiment before a United States government commission, showing that electricity can be so applied as to give the scientific cracksman a greater field for operation than ever before. The experiment was made by an expert burglar, who, having retired from business after amassing a sufficient competency, was requested to favor the commission by contributing the light of his knowledge.

He demonstrated that by the aid of electricity he could, within a short time, reduce safes of the highest repute to old iron. For this purpose he took out of his pocket a style in the form of retort carbon, similar to those used for arc lamps; a few yards of electric wire, black eyeglasses and a plate pierced in the middle. It was with this simple outfit he pierced in less than three minutes a circle of holes in a cast steel safe with walls one and a half inches thick.

His method of procedure was simplicity itself. To the electric supply current of the chandelier overhead he connected two wires, one of which he fixed on the safe, and the other at the extreme of his carbon style. It was suitably insulated by a wooden handle. Then, having inserted this pencil in the hole of the plate, whose purpose was to protect him against the heat and light, he produced a voltaic arc of immense power between the point of his style and the wall of the safe, thus melting the metal with the greatest ease.

SOME CONCRETE EXAMPLES.

BURGLARS USE ACETYLENE FLAME TO OPEN SAFE DOOR.

In Paris, January 4, 1908, burglars broke into the premises of Martin and Baume, colonial traders, at Marseilles, and stole money and goods to the value of $20,000. Most of their booty they took from a safe, the door of which they burnt through with an apparatus giving an acetylene flame of sufficient heat to melt the metal.

The case recalls one at Antwerp recently, when the thieves melted a safe with a combined oxygen and acetylene flame.

The police believe that the Marseilles burglars are past masters of the art, and that probably not more than a dozen possess such apparatus for melting safes. One or more of the burglars may probably have been employed at a motor factory, where acetylene lamps are in frequent use.

In any case, even the finest lock or the best steel safe can't resist, if burglars take to using oxygen and acetylene lamps with blow-pipes. Safe manufacturers have a new problem to solve.

THE BANK SNEAK.

The bank sneaks of the country were formerly among the most troublesome criminals with whom the police had to deal. The money and jewelry stolen by them aggregated hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.