“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 skilful burglars 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.”