XVII.
BURGLARS AND BURGLARIES.
REMARKABLE BURGLARIES.—UNDER GROUND FOR DISHONEST PURPOSES.—WONDERFUL ADROITNESS OF BURGLARS.—A REMARKABLE ROBBERY.—OCCUPATION OF A LAWYER’S OFFICE.—LABOR UNDER DIFFICULTIES.—A TROUBLESOME POLICEMAN.—STRANGE SCENE IN COURT.—THE CULPRIT’S REPLY.—ROBBERY BY COUNTERFEIT POLICEMEN.—THE OCEAN BANK ROBBERY.—RAPID AND THOROUGH WORK.—AN ASTONISHED WATCHMAN.—BAFFLING THE POLICE.
Labor underground may be performed for a bad, as well as for a good purpose. It may be for dishonest gain, or it may be to secure a place of concealment for stolen treasures, or for those who steal them. In the performance of this kind of labor, men will frequently display ability and enterprise sufficient to insure them a good living and ultimate independence in an honest calling. They overcome obstacles of great magnitude; constantly risk their lives and liberty, and frequently fail to obtain any reward; their enterprises are hazardous; and where they promise great returns, they very often fail to redeem the promise. Men who plan great robberies frequently show the qualities that would make them prominent in an honest pursuit; they may spend half their lives in prison, when they might be honored and respected if they chose to be so; but they deliberately decide that honesty is not the best policy, and accept the career, which is certain to cover them with dishonor.
Some years ago there was a skilful and successful robbery of a jewelry store in Manchester, England. The store was entered between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning; the safe was opened and goods to a great value were taken; the occupants of the store had bought their safe only a fewmonths before; it had been warranted fire and burglar proof, and they at once brought suit against the makers of the safe to recover the value of the goods that were stolen.
When the trial came on, one of the counsel stated that a man, then in prison for another offence, had acknowledged to a share in the robbery of the jewellers. With the consent of both parties the man was brought into court to testify to the robbery, and say how it was performed. As he entered the room everybody became silent, and all eyes were turned towards him.
A BURGLAR ON THE WITNESS STAND.
They had expected a low, mean-looking fellow, with the face of a bull-dog, and the general appearance of a brute. Instead of such a man, they saw one whose bearing was erect, and whose face denoted intelligence. He took his place in the witness box, and when everything was ready he began his story. He gave the history of the robbery at length, and detailed each step of the proceedings. His manner was captivating, and at times he displayed enthusiasm and eloquence that would have fitted him for the position and honors of an advocate.
“We watched the store for more than a month,” said he, “so as to learn the habits of everybody around it. We found they shut up Saturday, and no one went near the place till Monday morning, and so we fixed on Saturday night and Sunday as the best time to work. There was a lawyer’s office over the store, and the lawyer went away about three o’clock in the afternoon, and didn’t come back till ten the next morning. Sunday he didn’t come at all, and so we were sure of him.
“We went into his office every day for a week before we went to work; but of course we didn’t touch anything. We laid out all our plans in his office, and smoked his cigars, and I will do him the credit to say they were excellent. As soon as he was gone that Saturday, we went into his office, took up the carpet, and then lifted the boards in the floor. We made a hole three feet square down to the laths and plaster of the ceiling of the jewelry store. Then we waited till the storewas shut; and it hadn’t been shut five minutes before we had a little hole in the ceiling large enough to push down a tightly closed umbrella.
NEW USE FOR AN UMBRELLA.
“We got the umbrella down, and then opened it, so that it would catch all the rubbish, and thus prevent our making any noise. When we were ready to go into the store, we had to arrange things so as to work systematically. We had laid all our plans for this beforehand.
“A gas-light was kept burning in the store, and there was a hole in the shutter, so that anybody could look in. A policeman passed the store once in every fifteen minutes; it was his duty to look in every time, and I can say for him that he did his duty. The man who was to work at the safe had to lie on his side in full view of the peep-hole; but by rolling over twice he could get under a counter and be out of sight.
“There were five of us in all. One was to work at the safe, with a string tied to his toe. This string was held by a man who sat on the edge of the hole in the lawyer’s office. Then a man was at the lawyer’s window, and another was walking up and down the opposite side of the street. The fifth man took turns at the safe, so that we should lose no time in resting.
“When the policeman was coming, the man in the street made a signal to the man at the lawyer’s window. This one signalled the fellow at the hole, and pulled the string gently. The man at the safe then rolled under the counter; he staid there till the policeman had looked in and gone along, when the signals were repeated, and he rolled out and went to work again.
“We lost five minutes out of every fifteen in this way, and at one time we thought we should have to give up. We got into the safe, though a little after midnight; and then it didn’t take long to empty it of all we could carry. We were out of the store by one o’clock Monday morning, and took an early train to London.”
The burglar then went on to give a description of the process of opening a safe. He said that it was a rule with skilfulburglars that any safe could be opened, provided there was a place anywhere for the insertion of a wedge. “If we can get a wedge in anywhere,” said he, “the safe is bound to open, even though the first wedge is no thicker than the blade of a knife.
“BURGLAR PROOF SAFES.”
“All we want besides proper tools is plenty of time, and there never was a safe manufactured that cannot be opened if you give us time.”
He then described the advantages and disadvantages of the safes made by different manufacturers.
“A’s safe can be opened by a skilful man in twenty hours; B’s in fifteen hours; C’s in eleven hours; D’s in nine hours; and as for E’s,” mentioning one that had recently come into notice, “we consider it no more than an ordinary trunk, as we can open it in half an hour.
“There is no safe made that cannot be opened inside of thirty hours, and if we can be sure of not being disturbed for that time, we are certain of our game. Any safe will answer its purpose, provided the intervals of visiting the place where it is kept are never so great as the time required to open it.”
As the man finished his story, and was taken from the court to go to prison, the judge asked him why he did not abandon burglary and live honestly. “Your story,” said the judge, “shows that you possess sufficient intelligence and ability to make you a master mechanic in a very short time, and if you would lead a respectable life you could be sure of a good living.”
The burglar turned to the judge, and replied with great earnestness, “I am as proud of my profession as you are of yours, and have no desire to leave it. I stand high in it, and the praise and admiration of my associates are just as dear to me as the praise and admiration of a shopful of mechanics would be to their master. Besides, we run risks that mechanics do not; we must have the skill to baffle the police, and save ourselves from arrest, while the mechanic needs nothing of the kind. The greater our danger, the greater is the respect shown to us; and one reason why welove our profession is, because there is so much danger in it. And any skilful and experienced burglar will tell you so.”
The man went back to prison to serve out his sentence for the crime of which he was convicted. Doubtless the notoriety he had obtained by his appearance in court was of great assistance in consoling him for his imprisonment. He was proud of his accomplishments as a burglar, and seemed to take his incarceration more as an honor than a disgrace.
In this country there have been several robberies of the higher sort, such as entitle the perpetrators to great praise for their skill, although it was shown in a bad cause. Among these may be included the famous Philadelphia Bank robbery, a few years ago, where the burglars actually informed the bank officers that an attempt was to be made against them. They proceeded in this wise:—
A WELL-PLANNED ROBBERY.
One afternoon, a little before the close of business hours, a man in the uniform of a policeman entered the bank and asked for the cashier. On meeting that official, he stated that he had been sent by the police captain of the precinct, whom he named, to warn them that there was reason to suspect that an attempt would be made that evening to rob the bank. He said an extra policeman would be detailed to watch the bank, and another extra man would be placed on the beat. The cashier thanked the man for the information, and told him to give his compliments to the captain. The man then departed, and the bank officers, after notifying their private watchman, closed the establishment and went home.
Of course the private watchman was on the alert, and kept a sharp lookout. About ten o’clock a policeman appeared, and asked if there had been any suspicious movements around there. The watchman said there had been none; and while they were talking another policeman appeared, and joined them in conversation. The first was the extra to watch the bank, and the second was the extra on the beat. The watchman opened the door of the bank, and allowed them to enter, so that they could see the approaching thieves without being seen.
THE PHILADELPHIA BANK ROBBERY.
THE PHILADELPHIA BANK ROBBERY.
AN UNHAPPY WATCHMAN.
When the three were fairly inside, there was a sudden change in the state of affairs. The door was closed, the watchman was knocked down, bound, gagged, and carried to the president’s room, where he was seated in a comfortable arm-chair. One of the men drew a pistol and sat in front of him; the other opened the outer door, blew a small whistle, and in a minute half a dozen men, as nearly as the watchman could judge, entered the building. The door was closed behind them, and the party went at work to open the safe.
Swiftly, and as silently as possible, their work was performed. The watchman, from the place where he was bound, could not see, but he could hear, and he knew they were at work with drills, blow-pipes, wedges, and the other implements of the burglar’s trade. Hour after hour passed, the watchman, bound and gagged, being guarded by his vigilant keeper. In telling the story subsequently, he said he was civilly treated by the man who guarded him. At his request the cords that held his arms were loosened, and the gag in his mouth was placed where it would least inconvenience him. Whenever he complained of thirst, his keeper gave him a glass of water from a pitcher in the room.
An hour or so before daylight the robbers opened the safe, and secured their plunder. Hastily packing it into the bags that had contained their tools, they departed, leaving their tools behind, and leaving the watchman securely fastened in his chair. He was ordered not to stir for an hour: bound as he was, he could not stir until some one came to his assistance, so that the parting injunction of the thieves was entirely superfluous. The amount of their plunder was never positively made known to the public, but was understood to be not less than two hundred thousand dollars—a very fair compensation for the work of a single night.
THE OCEAN BANK ROBBERY.
Of the many successful bank robberies that have taken place on this continent, the Ocean Bank burglary ranks among the foremost for its ingenuity and skill, and for being a complete puzzle to the most experienced detectives of the city of New York. Although an investigation by the policeauthorities was begun within a few hours after the discovery of the robbery, no clew was ever obtained, or, at any rate, given to the public, of the perpetrators; and to this day the whole matter has been involved in mystery, and probably will ever remain so.
The maxim of war, that the reduction of every place, however strong, is possible, must be equally true in the art of thievery. It is evident that no vault can be made impregnable; no lock can be contrived by human ingenuity, with all its mechanical appliances, that will prove superior to other human ingenuity; no system of watching can make property entirely safe against the patience and acuteness of men who give good faculties to the science of stealing.
The premises occupied by the Ocean Bank were at the corner of Greenwich and Fulton Streets, New York, a locality much frequented by day and night. One would imagine that an attempt at robbery in this locality must be detected very quickly, provided the policemen and the watchers employed around the neighboring stores performed their duty. The robbery occurred between one and three o’clock on the morning of the 28th of June, 1869. It appears that there was no regular inside watchman employed by the bank, but they had an out-door man employed to watch the premises.
It is supposed that the robbery was planned many weeks before it took place, and one or more persons familiar with the thorough workings of the bank were suspected of being, to some extent at least, participators in the enterprise.
The basement of the premises in question was occupied by a Mr. William Okell, a gentleman well known in the city, and doing business as a broker. Having more room than he required for carrying on his business, he rented out several small offices for business purposes. In the early part of June, a man giving the name of Charles K. Cole, and representing himself as an agent for an insurance company in Chicago, engaged one of these rooms; and to him is given the credit of planning the robbery, in connection with others.
Immediately above the office rented to Cole was thepresident’s private office, and through the ceiling of this office an entrance was made sufficient to admit a man’s body. From the subsequent examination by the detectives, it appears that holes were drilled through this ceiling from above and below, as the Brussels carpet in the president’s room contained no holes, which would not have been the case had the drilling been done entirely from the basement.
It was urged by some that this drilling through the ceiling and large beams must have occupied weeks, while other experienced officers asserted that it could have been accomplished in a few hours. One of the severed beams was four inches thick by fourteen in width. Some believed that an entrance was effected through the side door, and that the person or persons had a good knowledge of the employees, where the safes were, the contents of the vault and safes, and the key to the combination lock.
A STARTLING DISCOVERY.
The discovery of the robbery was made by the colored man up stairs, on Monday morning, when he opened the bank, in his usual way, to clean the offices. He detected a strong smell of powder, and went into the rear office to find out the cause of it. There he was astonished at the view which met his Ethiopian eyes.
On the floor of this office were the vaults and safes. Here he observed several caps of different descriptions, six or eight in number; overcoats, blouses, and overalls, such as are used by machinists; oil-cloths, rubber shoes, saws, bits, awls, jack-screws, drills, lanterns, and every other kind of implement used by expert thieves. The instruments were gathered together and taken into the possession of the police, and a cabinet of four hundred pieces was made of them.
The vault and safes were found to have been broken open; United States bonds were lying scattered about, as well as large quantities of coin and currency, mixed with which were small wedges, railway bonds, copper coin, augers, chisels, flasks of powder, any quantity of cigar stumps, which showed that the burglars took the situation very coolly, pieces of chilled iron, fuses, gold certificates, and other valuable securities.
FRIGHT OF A PORTER.
Just outside the vault was placed a very heavy bag of gold, which had been lifted out; but owing, probably, to its great weight, it was abandoned. Tin boxes had been burst open and thrown in all directions, as well as the securities which they had contained, and everything betokened the utmost recklessness in ransacking the safes. When all this disorder and chaos met the porter’s gaze, he became half bewildered, and did not know how to act; he thought he might be arrested for what had been done by others, and for a few minutes he contemplated flight. He had been through the rooms at one o’clock A. M., on the same morning, and found everything secure, so that it was plain the robbery had been done in a very short time. He, at last, raised an alarm that the bank had been entered, and in a short time Captain Steers, of the twenty-seventh precinct, took possession of the bank until the officers arrived.
When the robbery became known, the city was thrown into intense excitement, as it was rumored that over one million of money and securities had been stolen. The bank was quickly besieged by depositors and other interested parties, together with the usual assembly of curiosity-seekers. The depositors were perfectly uncontrollable; and at one time it seemed that they were going to lay hands on money, or securities, found outside the vault, and make themselves secure against loss. The police, however, kept them at bay, and kept them out of the building. At length the bank officials appeared on the scene, in company with the bank’s legal adviser; and after a short time they issued a statement that only about twenty thousand dollars had been stolen.
This report kept down the excitement, but the depositors really did not know whether they were safe, or utterly ruined. The detectives took charge of the case, but, as stated at the outset, they were unable to cope with the matured plans of the thieves, and did not succeed in bringing any of them to the bar of justice.
BLOWING OPEN A SAFE.
The vault was in the president’s room, at the rear of the premises. It was defended by an iron door, having a combinationlock. This door was blown open with the gunpowder which had attracted the porter’s attention. The door being opened, everything in the safe was accessible. The keys to the second door hung on the inside of the one that had been thrust open by the action of the powder, and it is hardly necessary to say that the thieves made good use of them.
The third door was forced open with a powerful screw, the force used being sufficient to depress the floor under the door. Here were two safes; one contained the securities of the depositors, and the other the property of the bank.
The boxes of the depositors appeared to be the principal attraction for the thieves, and paper securities were preferred to the gold which stared them in the face. These boxes were completely overhauled, and securities to the amount of about five hundred thousand dollars were abstracted; one depositor having lost as much as fifty thousand dollars, for which the bank was in no way responsible.
About thirty thousand dollars belonging to the bank, in checks and currency, were stolen. The thieves overhauled some thirty thousand dollars in Clearing House currency, which could have been negotiated, as well as thirty thousand dollars in gold coin; but which they did not touch.
The detectives went to work, and it was said that one or more of the bank’s officials were suspected, and closely watched for some time subsequent to the robbery. Two men, who were said to be the most daring and accomplished bank thieves in the city, were suspected; but no trace could be obtained of their having been seen near the Ocean Bank. These men were supposed to have committed a robbery, just previously, at the National Bank of New Windsor, of something like one hundred thousand dollars. A number of expert English burglars had also arrived a short time before the robbery, but nothing could be brought against them.
On the third day after the burglary, a patrolman, in Elizabeth Street, about three o’clock A. M., met two young lads whom he knew. Suspecting they were up for no good at that hour of the morning, he spoke to them. They informed him thatthere was a large trunk standing on the sidewalk, opposite No. 8 Elizabeth Street. He went to the number indicated, and there found the trunk, as they had described. On it was a card directed to Captain Jourdan (late superintendent of police), of the sixth ward. The trunk and the two boys were taken to the station-house.
SECURITIES RETURNED.
When Captain Jourdan was summoned, and the trunk was opened, it was found to contain unnegotiable securities, to the amount of three hundred thousand dollars, which had been stolen from the Ocean Bank. The property consisted of bonds, checks, securities, and currency, together with legal documents, such as conveyances and mortgages; but no clew could possibly be obtained as to the sender of the trunk.
The total loss sustained by the bank proved to be about twenty-five thousand dollars, out of the bulk of the valuables and money stolen; but as the property returned to Captain Jourdan principally belonged to the depositors, their loss was estimated to be something near half a million of dollars.
The various implements found at the bank were valued at two thousand dollars, and were of the very finest finish; some of the pieces were worth as much as two hundred dollars, and three hundred dollars each.
Altogether, it was one of the most skilful, ingenious, and well-planned robberies ever committed in this country. The most singular part of the robbery is that, although an outside watchman was employed to guard the premises, no one was seen to enter the bank, or the basement of the building; neither was any one seen to leave the premises at any time of the night or morning when the robbery took place.