Sometimes we encounter people that are simply brilliant; they possess the opportunity to succeed with any venture they desire. These people are indeed fortunate and many have contributed a great deal to society by helping others that are in need. Sometimes these simply brilliant individuals take a wrong turn when traveling down the road of life. Such was the case with Maximilian Shinburn.
Max remains somewhat of a mystery for historians that study crime. He was brilliant and he used his talents in a most notorious way by stealing money from banks back in the late 1800s. We do know for certain that Max visited our ancestors here in Concord in 1864. He was on a long crime spree robbing banks all over the New England area. His specialty was “cracking” safes and he was very good at his job.
Max was born in 1840 and started his life of crime in Europe prior to coming to the United States in 1860. He landed in New York and immediately became involved with hardened criminals, a very good student indeed. He decided to perfect his skills by becoming an employee of the Lilly Safe Company, and, working under an assumed name, he obtained the best training the safe manufacturer offered. He excelled at work and was known to be one of the best with the mechanisms of combination locks and safes. When he terminated his employment with the Lilly Safe Company he went on a crime spree across the country plundering nothing but Lilly Safes. It is said that between 1860 and 1869 Maximilian made a fortune off those safe cracking jobs, and the authorities were not able to catch him.
Max robbed a bank in Concord in 1864. This time the police were able to apprehend Max, they tried him in court right here in Concord and sentenced him to the New Hampshire State Prison for a period of 10 years. It was said that no jail could hold Maximilian Shinburn, and such was the case at the New Hampshire State Prison in Concord.
On Dec. 3, 1866, there was a famous prison escape in Concord. Maximilian Shinburn ran from a line of convicts and escaped in a fine horse and carriage that was waiting for him on North State Street. The alarm was given and the prison guard on duty fired his musket at Max as he ran from that line on that cold December afternoon. The guard missed his target and Max was once again a free man. He was known as an intellectual, accomplished German and he did hold a record for “bank breaking” and robbing over 30 banks.
It is said that Max escaped to Europe and settled in Belgium. He is purported to have nearly $1 million when he arrived in Belgium and resided in Brussels for years. He purchased a large estate, started manufacturing there and made money quickly. While residing in Belgium he used some of his money to purchase himself a title. Our career criminal was now known as Baron Maximilian Shinburn, known in Belgium by that esteemed name he continued his business on his lovely estate where he picked up the sport of gambling. Gambling was not his art, safecracking was, he lost his fortune playing cards and soon traveled to Paris to meet some of his old career criminal friends.
As we know, history does tend to repeat itself, for we do find Max back in the United States robbing banks a few years after he left Belgium. He was captured once again in New England and served some time. Once incarcerated the New Hampshire authorities were made aware and Max was brought back to the New Hampshire State Prison to serve the remainder of his original sentence, with a little extra for his daring escape. After serving eight additional years at the New Hampshire State Prison, Shinburn walked away a free man in April 1908. He left the front gates of our prison at 68 years old and walked out to North State Street, kept walking south, his destination becoming obscurity, for he was never heard from again.
A dapper man, very intelligent, he left behind a legacy of crime and indeed served his time in the end. Today we remember his daring prison escape from Concord, running towards North State Street with a prison guard in pursuit. Though obscure he did in fact become quite the legend here in our little town, infamous and notorious, he did run.