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Show I Why Crime Does Not Pay Jj I ou; Crime Which Requires Only a Few I ' k Minutes to Commit Is the Result of Weeks 1 Sfe " and Months of Careful Planning, and How if ffiMv Even the Most Skilful Thieves Often Get mHm Nothing for All Their Pains. It Copyright, 1913, by Star Company. ( "T""113 cnshlor is positive that fii he wa$s not out of tlie 9 bank more than five mln- jf utes. That was time enough, how-" jfi over, for the thieves to make their IV way to his desk and carry off ?30,000 I worth of cash and securities." n ' "The safe was locked, and there !! was no sign of life In the office I when the watohman made his usual rounds at midnight. But when he 1 1 returned at 1 o'clock he found that II burglars had drilled their way Into II the strong box and made their es-I es-I capo with its contents, including Jtt $1,200 In cash and diamonds valued Jj at $15,000." jjjj These are quotations from the Ijj newspaper accounts of crimes In fl which I myself took part. I find Jj them in the yellowed pages of an l old scrap hook which I have kept all jj these years as a melancholy remind- j er of the days before I had learned I my lesson that crime does not pay. jj All of you muBt have read similar II statements in the newspapers, and doubtless you have frequently Bald: 'Must think of getting away with all that money in the twinkling of an II eye!" Perhaps, even, you have been tempt- I eri by such state- a ments as these to fl envy the criminal l and to think that his tt way to Wealth Is a 1 ; jfi far easier and much JR quicker one than ' C 'IJj the workaday rood . you are travelling. v : ill iwiiWifflj li t&- Hill But do not be misled. Even if the I I criminal succeeds in escaping arrest III he is by no means so well paid as . I ill you think for what seems to be only iJHj a few minutes of effort. The truth ! S of the matter is that the crime ! j II whose actual commission takes only J HI n few minutes usually involves ; IN weeks, months and even years of the ! most careful preparation. IB I " That robbery of the Illinois hank, Wl where George Mason nearly lost his ijttjll life, was accomplished between dusk l and daylight, but my companions iff HI I I had given the greater part of six months to laying the careful jug plans which made it possible. 'Jig The famous Manhattan Bank rob- 1 1 f Jj 1 i bery was the result of several years' fjT I hard work, and so was Ned Lycns's 1991 MHfL ?f -?200'000 from a bank at llJy j It was seven years after its invit-I invit-I Mill I ,Dg poasibilltios were first noted belli be-lli j tore the Wolfeboro (N. H.) National iBml Bank's vault was finally entered by K 1 1 fi band of clever burglars. I j I never knew of a "successful" II crime one where the robbers got 1H the plunder they were after and es-caped es-caped arrest, at least for the time f-Hll being that did not Involve the ex-Ulll ex-Ulll penditure of a large amount oV ill time, money and effort In advance. II jJl In fact, as a rule the crimes which in are done the cpiickeBt are the ones JT j which, take the longest to prepare jl And there is another reason why i crime is far from being the royal ;B 1 road to wealth it sometimes seems. i I For every crime the resourceful 'j I criminal succeeds in committing I 'M there are a dozen attempted crimes W ml to 'nIch 110 as Slven freely of his Wfj j time and money, but which for one j!! j reason or another he was never able Ijj 1 to carry out. The police and the 1-9 I public, of course, never hear of those IJ I crimes that die "aborning"; only SU j the underworld knows how many of If j them fail or are delayed for years in El 1 spite of the most careful planning. 1J Some of the most interesting ex- Ifflj periences of my criminal careen Edit have to do with crimes which, to my 311 keen disappointment nt the time. I JrtlJ never .succeeded In committing, iftjl Once, for oxample, I travelled from Hi Now OrleanB to Toledo, Ohio, and SjU ppent two weeks planning the rob- mm bery of a wealthy farmer. Just as wtt wo almost had our hands on bis fat roll of bills, eomethjlng happened 1 that frightened us away and left us lil without a penny to show for all our KM trouble. IK It wns Chauncey Johnson, the es- WKA pert bank sneak, of whom I have Wfm frequently spoken, who telegraphod 'i mo t0 comQ ani3 liell nJm carry NjMj through what looked like a j very profitable robbery, Hav-ing Hav-ing the greatest respect for $ Chaunccy's judgment and skill, ss& I welcomed the opportunity to 1 be associated with him, and, accordingly, took the first train for Toledo. 'I Chauncey, as I learned, had for several weeks boon trailing a wealthy old farmer who was an active speculator In live stock and lands. He was in the habit of coming to one of tho leading banks once or twico a week to deposit or withdraw large sums of money. "It will bo easy," said Johnson, "for us to devise some scheme of getting that roll of bills either by changing satchels with him or by actually snatching it out of his hand. He's near-sighted, quite hard of hearing, and none too quick to think or act I know, for I've been sticking to him closer than a brother for ten days now." But it did not prove so easy as the optimistic Ghauncey would have had me believe. For' two weeks we haunted that bauk and snadowed that poor old farmer wftGout finding 4 the opportunity we wanted. At last one morning our patience reached its limit, and we determined to make the attempt then or never. It was a busy day at the bank, and the old farmer Teached there just as long lines were beginning to form at the various windows. Chauncey Johnson followed and took up a position po-sition directly behind him. There were ten or a dozen other men between be-tween the farmer and the little wicket where the receiving teller did business. I followed soon after and seated myself at one of the little tables provided pro-vided for tho bank's patrons. I was already known In the bank as a wealthj' widow, and to carry out'this role I produced a bundlo of worthless worth-less checks and began industriously scribbling my indorsement on them. Between the strokes of my pen I let ray eyos wander over to where Chauncey etoo(d pressing his way along In the line Just behind the unsuspecting un-suspecting farmer. I knew that if he succeeded in getting hold of the farmer's money he would at once try to smuggle it into my hands. T had not been sitting there long when my attention was attracted by a man who Tcept walking up and down In front of the receiving toller's tol-ler's window. I noticed that he never took his eyes off Chauncey. This close scrutiny scru-tiny made mo jump to the conclusion conclu-sion that he was a detective and that -he was just on the point of making up his mind to ask my friend what business brought him to the bank. With a great show of deliberation I folded up my checks and walked over to a point where Chauncey could see me by turning his head ever so slightly. As I did so, I raised one hand to the collar of my Jacket and kept sliding it carelessly up and down the edge of the lapel. That, let mo explain, is the signal used by criminals the world over to let one another know of the dangerous dan-gerous proximity of a detective. I cupposo it had its origin in the way detectives have of seizing their prisoners by the lapels or collars of their coats. But Chauncey, the careless man, had no eye3 for mo or my signal. He was too busy watching tho farmer, who by now had his big roll of "yellowbacks" clutched In one hand. To my dismay I saw the detectlvo take up his stand almost at Chaun-coy's Chaun-coy's side. From his actions T know that in anothor inBtant he waa go ing to tap my friend on the shoulder. There was nothing I could do to prevent the impondlng trouble, and if I stayed In the bank any longer I, too, might bo arrested. Accordingly I walked lolsurely out and crossed 'the street to await developments. I didn't have long to wait. Out of the bank Chauncey came, on the dead run, with tho dotoctivo close behind. Chauncey was not good at sprint Ing, and the detective overhauled him before he had gone two blocks. I followed along on the opposite side of tho street prepared to hunt up a lawTor for Chauncey as soon as 1 saw him led away to the police station. sta-tion. Besides my sympathy for my friend I felt no little regret at having" hav-ing" our plans for making some money ruined in this way after I had gone to the trouble and expense of coming such a long distance. But right hero the cloud of misfortune mis-fortune which had gathered so unexpectedly un-expectedly began to show a silver lining with a suddenness that fairly took my breath away. Instead of my friend's being seized by tho collar and dragged off to the police station I was amazed to Bee the detective and he enter into earnest conversation. After talking several minutes the detective pulled out a handful of cigars and handed them to Chauncey. Chaun-cey. Then the two men shook hands like old friends, the detective started back toward the bank and Chauncey set off in the direction of the railroad rail-road station. What did It all mean? I followed Chauncey to the station and bought a ticket to Chicago, as he did. He gave no sign of recognizing recog-nizing me until the train had gone forty or fifty miles. ' Then he came Into the car where I was sitting and sat down beside me. "Well," said I, eager to have the mystery explained, "how on earth did you manage" to get away from that deteotlve?" "Oh," said Chauncey, with a chuckle, "that was quite simple. I pretended to bo very Indignant and demanded to know what he meant by interfering with ino when I had an arrangement to pay his chief of police ten per cent of all the money I was able to make in Toledo." "But do you roally know tho chief of police?" I Inquired innocently. "Certainly not," said Chauncey, "but that was the flret excuse I could think of. "You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw the effect ef-fect It had on him. He actually apologized apolo-gized for Interfering with a friend of the chief's and assured me that such an unfortunate mistake would never happen again!" Miscarriage of his plnns once came near putting "Langdon Moore at; the end of a lynching party's rope. "With e party of Western bank sneaka he had selected the Exchange National Bank in AnderBon, Ind., as a propitious place for staging a bold daylight robbery. Thore was cvory reason to believe be-lieve the haul would yield a cool $100,000, so the robbers loft no stone unturned to make their arrangements arrange-ments perfect to the smallest detail. For bIi week they lived in Ander son, posing as cattle buyers, and all tho time studying the interior arrangement ar-rangement of tho bank and tho habits hab-its of its officials. Every night Mooro and his companions com-panions would gather In his room at the hotel and painstakingly rehearse re-hearse every detail of the robbery as they planned it. "There isn't a chance of a slip," Moore declared, when he and the othors had rohearsed their parts-for the thousandth time. Accordingly, noon the next day was fixed as the time for tho descent on the bank. While Carroll and Pete O'Brien stood guard in the street outside, a shrewd thief named Bennett was to enter the bank and engage the cashier in conversation. Moore was to follow Bennett in-slde in-slde and act as a screen for Billy O'Brien, who would drop to his hands and knees, crawl around Into the vault and fill his pockets with money. Everything went Just as the robbers rob-bers had planned until O'Brien crawled out of. tho vault and started to make his exit through a side door. In his hurry he let a bag of gold slide out of 'his pocket. It fell to the floor with a resounding crash that burst the sack open and sent the coins scattering in every direction. direc-tion. The cashier, startled by tho unusual un-usual noise, peered over the wire cage, just in time to see O'Brien taking tak-ing to his heels, leaving behind him a trail of gold. Rushing to a window, he gave the alarm. As lie stood there shouting for help he was amazed to see the two "lookout" men running down; the street, closely followed by the man with whom he had been doing business busi-ness a moment before, and also by tb,e well dressed, sllk-hatted stranger who had been waiting his turn at 00' , '.v Swung Open and the Sheriff Appeared with ijjB f V on ke Shoulder of a Man in Cowhicb BooUWK fJj Broad Brimmed Straw Hat and " Clutchinj ; H Hand a Battered Carpet Bag and in the OthaftH Fashioned Green Cotton Umbrella. Could ThiH Feeble Old Farmer, Who Stood There Trembling and Bewildered Before TheijW Desperate Bank Robber the Lynchers Were Seeking? fl the wicket. This last was Moore, who never failed to look the well-to-do business man. "Stop tlhief!" shouted the cashier at tho top of his lungs. It was market day in Anderson and at the cashier's shouts a hundred hun-dred sturdy men started In pursuit of the fleeing robbers. By the time the four of them were captured it was not too late to start horsemen on tho trail of Billy O'Brien, who, with his pockets stuffed with rolls of bills, bags of specie and packages pack-ages of securities, was making slow progress in the opposite direction. The five thieves were promptly lodged in jail. Four of them took their arrest very much to heart and laid tho blame for it on Moore, for no reason except that he had been the leader of the party. But Moore, a born philosopher, wasted no time in listening to the Incriminations of Qils companions. Instead, he proceeded to cultivate the acquaintance of the sheriff, who lived with his family In the front part of the jail. It was not long before be-fore Moore and the sheriff discovered discov-ered that their fathers had been born and bred on neighboring farms in a little New England town. "Come down and have supper with us," said the sheriff, convinced that no New Englander could be as bad as the ovidence painted him. While Moore was enjoying the sheriff's hospitality trouble was brewing down In the village square. Indignation over the attempt to rob the bank ran so high that when some hot-headed man suggested lynching there was a loud chorus of approval. Ropes were quickly procured and the mob started up the hill to the jail, its thirst for quick vengeance growing with every step. Tho sheriff heard the shouting and rushed to the door. "We want those bank robbers," was the cry that greeted him. "Bring 'em out one at a time the leader first." The sheriff had no deputies and he saw that it was useless to attempt at-tempt to resist such a mob. He reluctantly re-luctantly turned back into, the house. "Come, Mooro," he said with a brave attempt at the proper official gruffness, "you'll have to come out or they'll be in here and take you." "I'll be with you In one minute," said Moore coolly, disappearing into the cell room in tho rear, where his four companions, terrified by tho threatening shouts outside, were already al-ready on their knees begging for mercy. Quickly Mooro exchanged his fashionable suit for tho rough garb of an old farmer, who lay In one of the cells sleeipng off tho effects of n debauch. The sheriff could hardly believe his eyes when his transformed prisoner reappeared. A loud shout went up from the mob as tho jail door swung open again and tho sheriff walked out with lils hand on the prisoner's shoulder. But the shouting subsided sub-sided when they saw that the prisoner pris-oner was dressed like a farmer-cowhide farmer-cowhide -boots and a broad brimmed straw hat. clutching in one hand a battered carpet bag and in the other an old-fashioned greet cotton umbrella. Could this rather feettaH: who stood thoro trembMH w lid ore d be the desperation ber tho lynchers were imH crowd waited in sllenftH explanation of the mrEtnB "Frlend3," said MoorH his bag and umbrelli,H barkin' up the wrong be&H stole nothin' in my got two good flstB hero (jH Come on. one at a ttavH show ye that thlB old OB veteran's flghtln blood dried up yet." X The old man's t dravIH piping voice and the B way he squared his fihodH put up lite fl3ts weretos.B the crowd's oTer-wroniiB Some ono in the front raH a loud guffaw, and la iM everybody wa3 laughing. Hi Moore's clevor ruse the psychological momatj mob's desire for vengeaaoB an end even more suddaH had begun. Rather I he crowd began to jcfltterB by twos and threes. So strong was U9'K Mooro had created that Hj leased tho next morale. faint-hearted companion. W for trial and namW -jm prison sentences. ... Mooro escaped wltn l',WL liberty but what had for all his labor and ail VJ he ran? Not one perlenco is another tratlon of the fact tM matter how carefully P1" not be made to wr j |
