Then, after I thought about it, I realized that it was not the world's most over-the-top incompetent, but what the code describes:
A very Old West sort of statute, I suspect!BURGLARY WITH EXPLOSIVES. Any person who with intent to commit crime breaks and enters any building whether inhabited or not, and opens or attempts to open any vault, safe, or other secure place within said building by use of nitroglycerin, dynamite, gunpowder or any other explosive, shall be deemed guilty of burglary with explosives.
"A very Old West sort of statute, I suspect!"
ReplyDeleteNot at all. Safe-cracking with explosives has been a common practice all over the world.
You might want to read the Damon Runyon story "Butch Minds the Baby", about a retired safecracker who is called to act professionally while looking after a baby (his wife being away).
Even in Europe, it's known. Eddie Chapman was a British burglar who became a very successful double agent during WW II. He was recruited by the Germans in Jersey, where he was in prison for "safe-blowing".
I know that it happens in the 20th century as well. But I suspect that this statute is originally 19th century. I can't imagine too many modern safecrackers using nitroglycerin.
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