Читать книгу The New York Tombs Inside and Out!. Scenes and Reminiscences Coming Down to the Present. A Story Stranger Than Fiction, with an Historic Account of America's Most Famous Prison онлайн

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Criminals as a rule are not indifferent to the feelings of honest men as to their methods of getting a living. They know full well they do wrong. Yet if you cross their path while in the act of committing a felony, they will without the least hesitation take your life, and think nothing of it. All men who start out on a mission of crime make up their minds beforehand to take “no chances.” They are strenuously against every one that opposes them and they know that every honest, law-abiding citizen is against them.

But the great advance in civilization the past hundred years and the easy way fortunes seem to be accumulated, has unquestionably invented new methods of guarding the wealth, but it has also sharpened the criminal’s wit, making him more practical in his deeds of daring and ingenious in his plans and operations.

It is a well known fact that criminals of to-day do not carry around with them long “jimmies,” saws or crowbars such as were used by the old school crooks.

The twentieth century “outfit” of an experienced criminal seldom weighs more than sixteen to twenty ounces. The entire “kit” is made of the finest steel instruments and by these he is able to find his way to strong boxes, bureau drawers and closets of the best city and country residences. If he thinks he has to encounter a safe he will carry with him an electric drill by which he can punch holes in steel plates at short notice.