The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1877-01-30
From tho New York World, 14th inst
rHE CRACKSMAN'S DEFEAT;
John Calcott's Successful
l. f- sis Challenge. raH -.
4 Protection Not Dreamed Of In
the Chailenger's Philosophy.

3 ts htf'tta' ts-lia.lA ---f "s-- t' ..-..~-. -
! don't suppose you feel much inter
est in burglars, nor are their habits a
very choice theme in polite literature !;
but then that occurrence At Glen Spring
was really an extraordinary affair. X on
see, the way. came to get wind Of II
was through ssCalica Charley as they
called him. i was on the force then rs
q, sergeant. That was when Acton and
Kennedy made It too hot for both the
politicians and the thieves, We used to
boast at that time that we had the best
police force in the world Well. "Cali-
CO Charley" went up for ten years for
helping TO crack old d Oppenheiner's s
place there In the Bowerys 1t was an
unlucky job for him all through, and as
/ was one of the specials that "piped''
and took him, and as had known him
off and On for long time before that. it
was just like me one day, when l was up
at Sing Sing, to 60 over to the stone
quarry and get the keeper to let me have
q talk with him, got his whole history
He wasn't one Of your common cracks
men not q bit of it. He was too smart
by q long sho, for that sort OF thing -
Don't you run away with a notion That
burglars are such awful smart chaps =
That's q queer idea that people get ou,
Of the story papers. Let me tell you
that I've had nigh onto fifteen years
chance to find out. and I've never seen
one that woaldn't run his head into q
slip moose the minute he had the least
luck. O, no. ] heard the chaplain say
once, over to the island, that man whose
mind and body were all right wouldn',
be q thief no more'n a healthy fello~'d be
a pauper. There's always something the
matter with 'em; atwist in 'em some.
where that knocks 'em hat when Q sound
man gets after 'em.ag g aI'Rm fte
Calico Charley, I was going to say,
was pretty much Of On exception. He
was brought up we'll; his father was one
Of The best machinists in the country and
be took more pains to make q man oi
his boy than the fellow deserved. The
old man had little place down there in
Maiden Lane when | was q shaver; I re
collect it we'll; 1t was q kind Of mschine
shop where he made and sold three ol
four tricks he'd invented himself He
had the boy Charley with him-a bright
smart chap he was then. When he wa'
twentysone he got to be pretty lively
about town, for the old man bad saved
up handsome property and let Charley
have more money than was good fol
him. Then they gotup new safe lock
ard it made big stir, land ! believe they
went into that sort of thing pretty heavy
Any way Charley went over with the
lock TO the first world fair in London
There be go: tripped up; never heard
exactly how It was. They put up s
| wicked job on him OF some kind, anG
got him mixed up with apretty bad Lon.
don "mob." The story that We heart
was that he picked d safe lock for par
ty that shouldn't have been picked. An,
way he got in with the wrong crowd an6
they wouldn't let 60 Of him. Hestayed
over there about I've years and got TO 'bt
q regular first class sneak, and worked
half q dozen jobs in the most scientific
manner: We got word from ScotianG
Yard that he vas coming back, and 4
dropped in ut the old mans place there
lih Maiden lane to try and find out some
thing. Old Calcott (that was his name
had got rich; what with bis bank.loct
and other inventions, his mean way Q
living, and bis luck in buying some dowr
town property before people had anides
Ihow big the city was going to be, he't
come to be regular nabob. Icouldn'
get word out Of him about his boy; h
said he'd given him up, and was gnint
to retire from business. MoneyEmus
have come in pretty fast then to the olt
fellow; he showed me half q dozen pat
ents that he was going to sell out; 'an,
one Of 'em must have been worth q pill
lof dollars. ............-..oQ.leg 1og gagyS
/ Now / think OF it, it was Calcott viii
put the first Franklinite in an1iron safe
4 and he invented the rubber fange eIwhicl
prevented the thieves from using the al
pump. when they wanted to blow up5
4 safe. : 4Jauoa ,ga8g
II seems. that. when Young Calcot
Istarted for. America he'd made up hi
mind to cut bis London acquaintance
and tricks, and equare il by going bac
to the old man; none Of us knew it a
thetime. Well, when he got here Gu
lrious thing happened we had man il
the Central Office named Meehan, VIII
II waa In with an east aide moh he wa