Locksmith cracks mystery safe in Astoria, but contents remain secret
Published 11:22 pm Sunday, May 25, 2008
LONGVIEW — A locksmith has managed to open a 159-year-old safe that baffled other professional safecrackers and an expert from MIT.
In 2½ hours this week, Lock Doc proprietor Tom Gorham got the safe open by spinning the dial and feeling for grooves to get the combination, a technique called manipulation.
The 1-ton safe was forgotten for decades until it was discovered at Hanthorn Cannery on the waterfront in Astoria, Ore., and owner Floyd Holcomb wanted it opened without being damaged.
“You’ve got to have a lot of patience, and concentration doesn’t hurt,” Gorham said.
He said the safe defied the efforts of an expert from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gorham’s wife, Kelly, also a locksmith, said another professional safe-cracker gave up after 14 hours of trying.
The couple moved to this town about 45 miles north of Portland, Ore., after 18 years in Los Angeles. They asked to try their luck after watching a television report on unsuccessful attempts to open the safe.
No one will say yet what was inside. Holcomb wanted to tell the cannery’s board of directors before letting the public know.
