George Leslie: America’s Most Notorious Safecracker

The most successful bank robber in American history is probably George Leslie. In the latter half of the Nineteenth Century, he robbed several banks – emptying their safes of cash and securities – and he managed it without recourse to guns, hostages, damage to property or injury to staff and customers of the bank. He got away with millions of dollars, but his luck ran out when he tried it on with the wife of a hardened criminal.

The Trouble with Dynamite

Prior to George Leslie, subtlety had not been a weapon in the armoury of the American bank robber. They would force their way into a bank with guns and attempt to blow open the vault with dynamite. The problem with dynamite was that too small a blast would fail to open the door and too large a blast would blow up the contents of the safe or even the robbers themselves. Even if the looters managed to get the explosion just right, the noise would inevitably attract attention.

The Little Joker

The ‘little joker’ was the name given to a safecracking device invented by another member of the New York underworld, Max Shinburn, but it was put to best use by George Leslie. A wheel of soft tin attached to a wire, the little joker could be placed behind the dial knob of a safe. Dents in the tin would reveal what numbers were used in the combination that opened the safe. Obviously, access to the bank was required in order to implant the device. Leslie sometimes played the long game: depositing money with the bank, befriending its staff and then suggesting one of his cronies for a job where he would have a chance to plant the device. If time was short, he simply bribed the night watchman.  

A Sticky End

George Leslie intended to retire with his fortune. His wife had already left New York for Philadelphia where they were going to live a respectable life. But, with his wife out of town, Leslie couldn’t resist a dalliance with Babe Draper, the wife of the psychotic criminal hardman, Shang Draper. Leslie’s body was discovered in June 1878, he’d been shot twice – once in the heart, once in the head. Shang Draper went on to rob the Manhattan Savings Institute but, lacking George Leslie’s finesse, the job was bungled, the gang was rounded up by the police and the dead man identified as the ring-leader in a string of victimless crimes that led to him being named by the press as the King of Bank Robbers.

At PT Lock and Safe, our safecracking skills are used strictly on the right side of the law. However, we love to read about methods and devices used for cracking safes and sometimes our investigations turn up a story like this one that we think is worth sharing! If you have locked yourself out of your safe (or bank vault) get in touch, you can email admin@ptlockandsafe.co.uk or call 01603 812613.

Read more about George Leslie in this article from the New York Post.