Muncie’s Nitroglycerin Safecrackers of 1905

By: Chris Flook

Nitroglycerin was widely available throughout our region during the Indiana Gas and Oil Boom, 1886-1910(ish). The powerful liquid explosive was used by well drillers to improve flow and remove obstructions in casings.

From the 1902 book, Sketches of Crude Oil, courtesy of the Internet Archive.

Nitroglycerin is a dangerous substance, used today in demolition and mining. Its sensitivity to friction, heat and shock can cause unplanned detonations. A stray spark or unexpected jostle was enough to set it off unexpectedly. Stabilized, Nitroglycerin is the active ingredient in dynamite and smokeless powder. Once safely diluted, nitro is also an effective vasodilator used in medicine.

Several companies sold nitro in East Central Indiana during the gas boom, including Lima Nitro-Glycerine, Garthwait Nitro-Glycerine, St. Mary’s Torpedo, Empire-American Glycerine, Independent Torpedo, and DuPont Powder. Some manufactured the explosive at factories in the gas belt, mostly north of here near Montpelier and Portland. Given nitro’s volatility in transporting, the region’s companies often maintained strategic magazines near rural oil and gas fields.

Early in the 1900s, thieves began stealing small quantities of nitroglycerin from company magazines to blow safes. The bandits, dubbed in the local press as ‘safe crackers,’ would then break into a business at night and use the stolen nitroglycerin to blow off doors or disable the safe’s locking mechanism.

Oil fields like this one west of Muncie offered thieves access to nitroglycerin. Photo is from the Delaware County Historical Society, Mike Mavis Collection

Nitroglycerine “magazines in this section of the country have frequently been robbed,” the Muncie Morning Star declared in February 1906. “In almost every case, a report of safe blowing was received shortly thereafter.”

Headline from the Muncie Morning Star, March 31, 1905.

Fifteen months earlier in late November of 1904, the Muncie Evening Press reported that “some daring persons broke open the storage house of the St. Mary’s Torpedo Company on Pacey Farm Saturday night.” Thieves stole six quarts of nitro—not enough to clear a gas well, but plenty to crack open a safe.

It’s unclear in the historical record if any of it was used by thieves. But in late March of 1905, robbers used nitroglycerin to rob the safe at the Chicago, Cincinnati & Louisville Railroad station near Wysor—what is today Cardinal Greenways’ headquarters.

1911 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map showing the Chicago, Cincinnati & Louisville Railroad station. The CC&L became the Chesapeake and Ohio two years after the robbery. Image is courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Neighbors on Muncie’s northeast end heard two explosions in the small hours of March 31—the first at 1:20 a.m. and second blast five minutes later, which “shook all the houses and buildings in the north end of Muncie,” according to the Star.

From the Muncie Morning News, Friday, September
8, 1899.

Muncie police were on the scene in minutes, led by the dashing Captain Curtis Turner. The cops “surrounded the station and approached with their guns drawn, having orders to shoot on sight.” They discovered an empty station. The safe door was blown open and its contents strewn across the floor. The thieves made off with about $68 ($2,500 today).

In late May of 1905, bandits used nitro in a failed safe heist at Merchant’s Ice and Fuel Co. on West Second Street. The attempt was discovered by an employee, who found one morning “four small nitro-glycerin holes…bored in the door of the safe near the combination.” But nothing else was amiss. The thieves had abandoned the effort for some unknown reason. Managers opened Merchant’s safe and found everything accounted for.

A similar incident happened a month later at the office of Dr. Harvey Mitchell. The good doctor came to work one morning and discovered nitroglycerin in the crevices of his safe’s door. After safely removing the squibs, Mitchell paid a mechanic, R.M. Jones, to determine “whether or not robbers had left the depository charged with the explosive.”

Jones hauled the safe out into the middle of Main Street and hit it with a hammer. Nothing happened. The safe was opened and nothing was missing.

Later that November, the managers of the Kirby House Hotel on Main Street paid to have their house safe blown open with nitroglycerin. The Muncie Star reported that the safe’s “bolts, which were rusty, had become set and not having been unlocked for years, refused to yield the combination and open again.” 

Kirby House Hotel on Main Street. Image: Delaware County Historical Society, Mike Mavis Collection

After Muncie metal workers failed in their attempts to open it, Kirby House sent the safe back to the manufacturer in Cincinnati. They laced the door with nitroglycerin and blew it off the hinges. “The safe contained a large amount of money and valuable papers,” the Star wrote on November 7, 1905, all of “which were recovered.”

Burglars successfully used nitroglycerin to rob the Parker City post office a few weeks later. The Evening Press reported that “safe-crackers broke into the post office…last night, blew open the safe, stole $100 worth of stamps and 25 pennies then escaped without attracting attention.” 

No one heard the explosion, but locals at nearby Selma noted “suspicious characters” in town that night. The Evening Press speculated that “nitro-glycerine stolen from the torpedo company’s warehouse in the neighboring oil field was probably used.”

Muncie Morning Star, May 3, 1906.

Gaston’s post office was robbed by nitroglycerin-wielding thieves in early May of 1906. The Star reported “only enough nitro-glycerin was used to destroy the combination lock. With this out of the way, the robbers easily opened the heavy doors.” They stole about $200 in stamps and money, about $7,000 today.

The explosion was heard by Hugh Fisher, who lived next door above a restaurant. Sensing mischief, Fisher leaned out his window to see the burglars making their exit. “Fisher fired a shot from his revolver,” the Star told readers. The thieves shot back and made their escape into a dark Washington Township night.

Nitroglycerin became generally unavailable in East Central Indiana around 1910. The Trenton Field had yielded all the gas it was ever going to give. The resulting lack of pressure made the oil economically unrecoverable. The derricks were abandoned and the gas boom was over. With its demise went nitroglycerin, along with the thieves that used it.