Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 261, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1918 — JOKE FOR MODERN BURGLAR [ARTICLE]

JOKE FOR MODERN BURGLAR

'Herring’s Safes, Considered Marvel ous Years Ago, Would Be Laughed at in This Generation. If a modern burglar or “safe crack er” could see'some of the safes In vented by Silas Herring he wouk probably have a good laugh. For i “modern” safeblower must be a bit of a scientist with a large knowledg< of explosives; an old-fashioned saft would be easy for him to get into; but in those days the Herring safes were considered marvels and absolutely theft andl fireproof. Herring was born In Shrewsbury, Vt„ and began his career as a grocery clerk. Tiring of this after some six years, he went into the lottery business, saved SIO,OOO and started • wholesale grocery concern In New York city. A fire and a panic ruined his business, so he obtained the agency for the Salamander safes —so named, probably, because they were able to come through fire unhurt. He got the right to manufacture them later, and kept on improving and Improving them each year. He once put SI,OOO in.the drawer of one, sent it to the world’s fair and offered the money to any one who could get into the safe and get it No one got it. But nowadays big banks and trust companies would laugh at these old square safes. The “burglar proof” safe today Is round like a ball, and has a door that screws in, leaving no cracks for explosives. l£ven if any were poured into the hinges, the ex-* plosion would only drive the door more firmly into the casing of the safe. Herring died in 1881.