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Cincinnati's Hilton Netherland Plaza brings in a new safecracker

Posted at 11:41 AM, Jul 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-23 16:49:55-04

CINCINNATI -- Move over, machine: There's a new sheriff in town.

A combination-cracking "auto-dialer" was no match for a stubborn safe at the Hilton Netherland Plaza, which has been closed for decades now.

The safe, a model from the Mosler Safe Company, been around the Netherland Plaza and Carew Tower since the 1940s or 50s, according to the hotel. It's not clear precisely how long it's been tucked away in the corner of an accounting storage room.

Nobody's sure what's inside. The machine spent days trying to figure out the combination with no success.

The first safecracker also tried a combination from Peter Paul Office Supply; an employee there thought they might have the combination to the lock.

That didn't work, either.

So now Chuck Woods is on the job. He says he's been cracking Mosler safes for nearly 70 years.

He started work Monday morning and considers it a "done deal" that he'll get inside within a few hours.

Later Monday, the hotel posted that Woods wouldn't be opening the safe that night.