Show P E PARALLEL A AL L Z S ct T 0 IE E ZA S cf tv FA FAMOUS A M 0 U C CHIMES I 1 EZ I 1 M 1 by dy 11 HENRY EN P Y C terr TERRY X coper by F L nelson THRILLING adventures OF TWO SECOND STORY MEN MONO MONG th the changes that may be noted in the meth of thievery in america none Is more marked than 1 passing ot of the second djs j story man he ile earned his title from the fact that his work always was done above the ground while second story robberies still and always will occur the great school of the past of which big biank mccoy pete mccracken and kid rid kelly were leaders Is a thing of the past the boldness with which second story men meix operate makes it appear to the unprofessional mind that an unusual amount of risk is involved As a matter of tact fact the risk Is not so great as in any number of other styles of robbery in yew new york city there have been fewer convictions for second story robberies than almost adv an other due in part to the difficulty of detection B g frank mccoy went un detect ed until he pulled a coi col ing stone loose while scaling the front p porch of a house in brooklyn and was crushed to death second story thievery lan ian gulshen for a time after his death and then the bright lights came camo out of the west and stirred things up in the big city until the police were at their wits end it Is the story of one of them piete 1 mccracken the only real first class chief that ohio the tile maker of pie s ever produced that I 1 started out to tell M S STORY 1 I gave this community said pete a great shaking up they vhey talk about the way in which the gangs in the tar far west hold up lalli oad trains and walk away with safes from coun try banks as it if they were really some thing to be e phoud of but I 1 tell you my boy they are nothing compared to the way in wh ch kid kelly and I 1 held up new yolk and made him bun freds of people pay tribute to our prowess and conling cum ing I 1 I 1 ad been do ng time in joliet III tor for burglary and I 1 got out on the same day with kid rid kelly one of the best thieves I 1 ever met he ile was lio no bigger ti tian an a 12 y ear old boy but he m as as qu ck as greased lightning there was mas gotling on the calendar tl at he would not tackle he ile was tl e only person I 1 ever met who was abdol tely without fear he seemed to have no idea of wl at fear meant I 1 remember on one occasion when the kid and wid I 1 got into close quarters in st lo 10 us that be he was shot th through the hand he neglected to take care of f tl e 0 wound I 1 took him to see a surgeon who said that the only way to save kid rid s arm and 1 fe was to amputate all of his hand except the thumb and forefinger the kid told the doctor to begin aitho it delay and the expert started to give h in a dose of ether but the kid refused to take it he ile actually sat down in a chair held up his hand and watched the surgeon cut through his flesh and nip off the bones with a pair of forceps without a tremor hile the kid was getting over this I 1 kept easy and read a great deal one day I 1 struck a story about the re decre decrease asp i in second story i r abenes in new york and it struck me that the time was just ripe for me to pay the b g town a vis t the peo pee ile 1 ie wo lid ild be feeling secure and that is the time for a thief to get la in his fine work the kid and I 1 got to new york in the latter part of Ser september we si ent abot t three weel s studying the houses and what appeared to be the best places to tackle the field was the most promising oi 01 e that I 1 ever saw raw there were few houses hou on oil fifth lexington and madison ave n ies as well as on the coss closs streets that could not be entered from the Q second story by either the K d or me we started in on madison avenue in 30 20 days we got into 60 houses and picked up property that would make an average of more than 1000 a house we did not have the slightest trou brou ble in any place we came close to be seen by a woman who entered a room in which we were working on T venty ninth street and madison ave n e but went away without see ing us she neer nener knew how close I 1 ehe she came to having her I 1 put out lou on never heard of such great excitement as there was in the city the papers were filled with mith stories 1 bout the second story work m ork go ng on from day to day TI tie e pol ce m were ere abused for not catching the thieves it was ras rare sport for us to r read ead these stories and hear the comments upon the them in we were rutting patting up at the astor io 10 ise living in a quiet and modest etyle as beck e two gentle gentlemen meu of el gant lelau thil this public place was about tae s safest fest spot we could have ir as the work off all I 1 not take more than an hour early in the eve 1 aang the rest of the time we were ai at the hot bot l and could have got r calm num THE CRIMINAL tells how he planned the deed and sought to close every avenue of knowledge leading to his guilt the te detective shows how futile these efforts were and how the old adage murder will out Alway good persons no doubt it if it were necee sary to prove an alibi success came so easily our way that it made us bold and we were led into temptation on a very extensive scale I 1 was a close student of the pape papers rs and for several days I 1 saw notices of the preparations that were being made for the great rogers wed ding in thirty fourth street the kid and I 1 went up to take a look at the house and see it if it offered any inducements tor for us to make a try tor for it A better place could not have been made for ua us there was a va cant building in the rear of the house facing thirty third street we found that an entrance could be forced in it easily it was merely taking a chance for there was no telling where the pros pres ants which would certainly be given to the bride would be kept it if they were taken upstairs they would be our mutton if not we would have a little trouble for nothing on the night of the wedding reception we got into the vacant house we could see from our watching place that the presents were on tables in the second story we kept quiet un til the party went downstairs to the wedding supper then it was time for us to begin our little act it was a matter ot of shinning over a fence to get into the rogers back yard while the band was playing softly the kid went up the back piazza like a cat it was mas too high to jump out ot of the window in case ot of discovery so the kid dropped a rope ladder from the second story to the ground in a place where it was hidden from view from the lower windows my instructions to the kid were to load up his pockets with everything that could be easily carried then if he had bad time to toss several of 0 the more valuable bulky articles ut of the window to me w while h I 1 ae the band bald was playing to hide any sound that might come from a fall the kid kept at work until he heard footsteps on the stair and then slid down the ladder after waiting a second to see it if any alarm would be given give we removed the bags to the vacant house we then watched our chance and got the stuff into a cab which was waiting malting on the corner tor for us it was the slickest piece of work ever done in new york the next day a howl went up from the people for protection which must have given the police a chill lyp we were satisfied to call quits for we I 1 ad picked up stuff worth over and it was all the kind which could be safely handled in disposing of it DETECTIVE STORY the series of second etory story robber les ies said detective mccloskey which wound up with the daring attack upon the residence of colonel rogers on the night of the marriage of 1 I 3 daugh ter which was attended by the lead ing members of the four hundred were the boldest and most puzzling criares eg I 1 ever was called upon to in vesti gate the excitement was at fever heat all the time it Is not putting it too strong to say that between the hours of five and eight in the evening halt half a million persons were on the look out im lathe the streets and in the houses to get a sight of the men who seemed to be from irom the tact fact that no one saw ithem them at all more of the nature of spirits than human beings the rob baries mere a not confined to any sec see ton t on but spread in all directions in all parts of 0 the city it was evident from the style of the work that in the fifth aenne district there were two or more very expert thieves en in other parts of the city men were mere at work probably imitators of these who did not move with the same on and certainty thousands of robberies were reported from all s sections of the city it seemed to all those who were ta fa with the old time crooks that big frank mccoy and long john carvel garvel had returned to earth and started their notor notorious fous old gang oh A the road again I 1 was placed upon these cases from the very start I 1 really fit f it lt ashamed to report day a after d day ay that I 1 had got no track of the thieves their work was like lightning you never could tell where it would strike I 1 was instrumental in send na 25 or 30 thieves to jail that I 1 had run down in investigating these crimes burthey but they were all petty thieves there gasn wasn t one among them capable of carrying on the style of work going on in the uptown districts other roli policemen cemen made arrests in all sect ons of the city in spite of all the vigilance rig ilance exercised by the police and citizens the big robberies went on night after night the thieves seemed tc to have the strange fac facility clity of picking out the very houses to at tack which were the least suspected and the worst guarded it was ut terly impossible to get an azcui accurate ate de of the men in all the places which were attacked the of description 0 given by persons ana had seen men loitering in the neighbor hood before the robbery did not tally at the time of these robberies no aa 1411 riFT 3 3 7 I 1 j second story thieves ot of any importance bad had been doing business in this city for 12 or 15 years I 1 hunted J high and low la in all the dives gam gain 1 bling houses sporting resorts and t disorderly bouses houses ot of all kinds to get a 9 trace or an inkling from some of the old time thieves as to who might be doing the trick here it was evident that local thieves capable 0 of doing this high class of work all in jail it was therefore my opinion that the crimes were be ing committed by thieves from othera other p aces reports were received from t the churls of police of 0 all the large cit elt les la ita ahe the east and west and canada f aa as t te the absence ot of first class thieves aror their bailiwicks or as to the re cent discharge from state prison ot of e first class thieves many descriptions ot of thieves were sent to us with names and pedigreed pedigrees grees si i while we had plenty of work to do in looking tor for these outsiders as it turned out afterward d no one had given us a tip as to the right man I 1 was having a pretty sorry time I 1 tell you looking up one or two new rob berles every day the only consola tion was that other detectives were la in the same boat the attack upon the house ot of colo nel rogers was a at the j time the robbery must have bave been corn com bitted between and SOO guesta guests were in the house among these wi were several well known military men and others who would have only been too glad to enliven the festive ties with a little diversion with thieves yet the thieves had the nerve to enter and they got away without a soul seeing them the entrance to tho the house was made from the rear over a piazza which extended up to about five feet of the second story window it was my belief that the thieves had got ten to the yard from a vacant house in the rear on the next street there was however nothing in this house to show it bad had been entered at all all the doors and windows being locked tf the root roof of the piazza had been freshly painted it showed the toot foot prints of but one man who wore rub bers or moccasins without heels the J marks on the paint where re the thiel clutched the top of the piazza plazza to draw S himself up from the pillar were very peculiar the lett left hand showed foul foug finger prints while the right hand showed only one this was very aling I 1 thought perhaps it wa was d due q to thel the fact that the thief held asree a rope ladder with his other fingers the piazza lazza did not extend the full length of the bouse house and the rope ladder wai found hanging from one of the win dows the presents in the house had been left in charge of a servant when tha guests all went downstairs to the din lag ing room she thought there would bd b i A no further use tor for her so she went down to take a view ot of the decora eions in the parlor and dining hall 1 j it was during her absence that th thief did the trick she wasn gasn t gon more than ten minutes when ab f returned she did not notice that any thing had been disturbed it was I 1 couple of hours after the robbery be tore fore it was discovered ft the colonel offered a reward ol 01 15 tor for the recovery of the stoler goods and the capture of the thieves there was a great hustle amoni among thieves themselves to get a bit oi 01 this 15 5 the fences would hav given up almost any thief for a whack at it but the thieves were cunning dogs they had never pawned oi 0 sold any of the stolen goods in thil this city while I 1 was cracking my skull to get a clue that would amount to some somo y thing I 1 got a tip from joe foley aa ai o ex convict that big dig pete mccracken McCrac kea A 0 and kid helly kelly were in the city and that the kid only had one finger on oi his right hand this was the firs first good news I 1 had heard the case fairly haunted me on friday afternoon I 1 dropped into tha astor house tor for lunch I 1 gl ancel around the room carelessly and savi sa standing at the bar a tall determine determiner looking man drinking with a man not bigger than a good gizea boy when the little fellow raised bis his glass tu 0 drink I 1 saw that he had only hl ill thumb and fore forefinger finker on his hand you can bet I 1 did not let this pair of 0 worthies get out of sight the al were given an excellent reputation a th the hotel had never been out eve aings ggs and it was thought that the were wealthy miner miners aroi from the west I 1 got joe foley to take a peep at them he ile identified them as being McCra clu Iv en and kelly beyond doubt they were booked for passage tot foi europe on the following day which was saturday under fictitious names I 1 went with them from the hotel to the steamer r about an hour before th steamer sailed to see it they had any confederates in the city no one met them when the bells rang to L t ashore I 1 placed kelly and mccracker under arrest and took them off tile th steamer they made a terrible fuss and protested innocence of any coln inal trial act I 1 kept a careful watch match or 01 the pair of them while the police polled were taking them away and I 1 saw mo cracken drop a paper which I 1 picked up at once it proved to be a bill ol 01 lading showing several boxes to have been consigned to J R wilson london the men were locked up at polica headquarters and were mere identified b by jj several persons who had seen them near the their ir homes prior to being rob bed they were identified by th this ob cleveland aa as mo chief ot of police cracken and kelly helly all of the loot bot from the rogers Is home was recovered and an d mccracken and bellr went up the river for ong ter terms ms there was a noticeable I 1 falling oft in irr second story robberies I 1 alter after they were landed |