The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-02-01
THE BURGLAR-PR00F MAN.
A DETECTIVES STORY,

don't suppose you feel much interest
in burglars, nor are their habits very
choice theme in polite literature but
then that occurrence at Glen Spring was
really an extraordinary affair. L was on
the police force ut the time and knew
Calico Charley well. His father was one
of the best machinists in the country,
and he took more pains to make man Of
his boy than the fellow deserved. The
old man had little machine shop and
had the boy Charley with him--a bright,
smart chap he was then. When he was
twenty-one he got to be pretty lively
about town, for the old man had saved
up a handsome property and let Charley
have more money than was good for him.
Then they got up new safe lock, and it
made big stir, and believe they went
into that sort of thing pretty heavy.
Any way Charley went over with the lock
to the first worlds fair in London.
There he got tripped up. never heard
exactly how it was. They put up a
wicked job on him of some kind, and got
him mixed up with pretty bad London
"mob" The story that we heard was
that he picked safe lock for party that
shouldn't have been picked. Any way,
he got in with the wrong crowd and they
wouldn't let go of him. He stayed over
there about five years and got to be a
regular tirst-class sneak, and worked half
dozen jobs in the most scientific mali
ner. We got word from Scotland Yard
that he was coming back, and 1 dropped
in at the old mans place to try and find
out something. Old Calcott (that was
his name) had got rich. What with his
1nnly anil hic ntl,ar Inventions hiS
mean way of living, and his luck in buy
ing some down town property before
people had an idea how big the city was
nabob. 1 couldn't get "A word out of him
about his boy. He said he'd given him
up, and was going to retire from bust
ness. Money must have come in pretty
fast then to the old fellow. He showed
me half dozen patents that he was
going 10 sell out ; any one of 'em must
have been worth pile of dollars.
Now think of it, it was Calcott who
put the first Franklinite in an iron safe.
and he invented the rubber f1ange which
prevented the thieves from using the air
IHEap pump when thes wanted to blow mp
1t seems that when young Calcott
started Tor America he q made up his
mind TO cut his London acquaintance
and tricks, and live honestly by going
back to the old man. None of us knew
it at the time. Well, when he got here
a curious thing happened. We had
man in the central Office by the name of
Meehan, who was in with an east side
mob. He was broke about year after
ward. Meehan had got word from the
London gang, and he met young Calcott
on the dock with facts enough to send him
up; anl he made a straight offer to him to
stay with the east side gang if he didn't
want to end his career for usefulness, and
Calcott, frightened at the prospect of
gong to prison, forgot his good resolu-
tons, and joined the thieves
1t was IN the winter of 65 that the
places along the Hudson river were
broken into by river gang. You may
recollect 1t. Judge Schermerhorn's
house at Glen Spring was entered one
night and robbed of $50, 900 worth of
property. The papers made good deal
of fuss about it, and we had three or
four men working at it. One day Matti-