A Traveller in Safes.

Southland Times, Issue 19553, 6 May 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

A Traveller in Safes.

'* Will you please hand my card to tho manager?” It was a little light coinplexioned, energetic looking man who spoke these words to the cashier of the Bank of Commerce in a manner which clearly expressed that his. tirnj was valuable, and he had no time for delay. A few minutes later he was in the sanctum of the manager. "Mf. Lenz,” he said." as you may see from my card, I represent the Imperator Safe Company and should like to show you photographs of our latest and absolutely fire and burglar proof constructions.” The manager tried to interrupt the traveller several times, but he might ns well have tried to stem the flow of the Rhine," so com.pletely was he routed by a volume of description of the superiority of the Imperator safes over all rivals.

"Now, Mr. Lenz, you need not take any stock in what I haywsaid if I cannot prove to you that it is absolutely necessary for your bank to buy one of our safes. How long has your safe been in use and what make is it ?/’ The manager told him, and tho little traveller smiled sarcastically. “And don’t you know how often those safes have been broken open by mere amateur burglars? I am really surprised that your bank has escaped so far. And should it happen you know how disagreeable it would be to you as manager of the bank, evfin it you felt that you were in no way to blame. ’ ’

“ Oh, I think we are pretty well protected. The door leading to the vaults is never closed and through that heavy iron railing the night watchman has a perfect view of the safe door every time he passes.” "But he might leave his post some night for five or ten minutes, and that would be plenty of time for a skilled cracksman to get away with all he wanted. I will even show you myself that I can break open that safe in less than ten minutes, and I only know the construction of our own safes, while the professional safe breaker knows the weak points of every make sold. Give me a chance and promise that if I succeed you will order a new safe from us.”

The manager smilingly consented as he saw no other way of getting rid of the man, and it was arranged that he should make the attempt the same evening at 7 o’clock. At half past sixjlpe MNe traveller was on hand and sat down-' in the business office, where he had a good view of the safe, which he, however, did not seem to be interested in, but buried himself in a paper. The clock struck 7, and in the presence of the manager, the cashier and the tellers the traveller began his work, using nothing bnt a steel chisel and a bent wire. The manager timed him, watch in hand. In two minutes the bars on the inside of the safe door moved, and half a minute later the outer door.swung open and the amateur burglar attacked the. inside door, the manager and the other officials looking at him in surprise. But the lock resisted all his efforts, his wire got tangled up and stuck in a crack, and, though he cursed not a little and pulled with all his might, it took several minutes before he could get it out. He was just starting another attempt when the manager called " Time.” With a look of disgust and disappointment the traveller threw down his tools and said : “Well it looks as if the old box is stronger than I thought. We will say no more about it, but when you do decide to buy another you will give me your order." With these words he shook hands with the officials and left evidently in a very bad humor.

The manager followed him with his eyes, "A most energetic and conscientious representative, whom any firm might be glad to employ. He really did deserve that we should have given him an order, but I think that our money is sj-fe for a while yet.” It wns a dark and stormy night in October and the streets were almost deserted. Near the building of the Bank of Commerce two men could be seen. One wore the uniform of the bank, while the other looked very much like the little traveller. When the watchman had looked at the door of the vault through the iron railing and wound the control clock and- gone upstairs, a pane of glass was pushed in and the other man stood in the business office of the bank. In front of the entrance to the vault he stopped and opened a small parcel. It contained a roil of canvas, on which was painted a true copy of the safe of the Bank of Commerce. This painting he fastened with thumbtacks to the frame of the door leading into the vault, and in the dim light of the lonely gas jet in the counting room it was impossible for anyone looking from the outside to discover the trick which concealed the real safe from view.

The watchman passed and looked in time and again, and had no suspicion of the real state of affairs, which the cracksman worked leisurely behind his painted curtain and broke open the safrf'in less than ten minutes thislime.

The next morning the news spread like wild fire that the safe of the Bank of Commerce had been robbed of £50,000 in cash, and there was no clue to tho thief.

The loss was covered by the shareholders, who furthermore authorized the manager to buy a burglar proof Imperator safe, which he did immediately, asking the company to credit Agent Jeffcrwith the order. By return mail came the reply that the new safe would be shipped immediately, but that the company had no representative named Jcffer, and that no agent of the company had tried to sell the bank any safe. The manager did not know what to make of it until he received a letter reading :

" My Dear Mr. Lenz, “ I would still advise you to invest in an Imperator safe, as I know that they are herder to open than any others. I could easily have opened your safe in your presence that evening, but that was not necessary to my plan. I send separately the paintingmade of your old safe, and which I consider a very good likeness. Do not, therefore, blame your watchman, who is really n very conscientious fellow.— Respectfully yours, “ALFRED JEFFER.”

Some Effects of the Typewriter. The invention of the typewriter has given a tremendous impetus to the dictating habit, especially among business men. The more ephemeral literary productions of the day are dictated, sometimes to a stenographer for transcription, and often directly to the machine. In either case the literary effects of the dictating habit are too manifest to need elaboration. The standards of spoken language, which in the days of the past stood out in marked contrast with the terseness and precision of written composition, giving’rise to the saying that no good speech ever read well, have crossed over to the printed page. This means not only greater diffuseness, inevitable with any lessening of the tax on words which the labour of the writing imposes, but it also brings forward the point of view of the one who speaks. There is the disposition on the part of the talker to explain as if watching the facial expression of his hearers to see how far they were following. This attitude is not lost when his audience becomes merely a clicking typewriter. It is no uncommon thing in the typewriting booths at the Capital in Washington, United States, to see Congressmen in dictating letters use the most vigorous gestures as if the oratorical method of persuasion could be transmitted to the printed page.