Morning journal and courier., 1883-07-18
s'DoeS 8 thief's trade pay ?n

| Thfeves-NeRrIy All Die Miserable Pau | Pers i'm Prison or i'm their Boots.
 From the New York worldl
 ''Does thiefs trade pay?"
 | The question put to Inspector Byrnes
 in his office at police headquarters by a World | reporter. The inspector, to whose successes
 as detective shrewd knowledge of human
 nature has contributed no less than down. right ability as policeman, looked at his ! questioner thoroughly, then at the trophies of triumphant detective skill and expiated crime that lined the walls, knocked the ashes | from his cigar and said with laconic dryness. ' Hardly"
 "-Ever" was on the lips of the irrever- ent scribe, but warning look of the chief in the direction of a collection of battle axes in the corner made him swallow the word. ! "Then why do men steal ?" he asked. | Some because they cannot help it, others 1 because they find the chance. Most because ! bad company and lewd women drive them to | it. There are families in which crime runs | like insanity. I know of five brothers born | and bred in New York who are now in prison for theft. Such people, you may fairly 5ume, are born to steal. Bank cashiers and collectors are tempted by their opportunities Young clerks on small pay, whose employers fail to look closely enough after their person al habits, serve their apprenticeships at such resorts as sf McGlory's, Owney Geoghegan's and The. Aliens, where they spend their
 
 young Stern, who robbed his father, and Jacob Vix, who stole from his employer, are charac- teristic instances Drink helps to drown the voice of conscience and the gambling table finishes the job. The man turns thief. Ac- cording to his ability he ranks in that as in all other trades. Some steal great sums, others small very few keep anything A common fate awaits them all. All thieves gam ble and waste what they steal Plenty of them never work unless they are two thirds drunk; along with almost every re- port of burglary comes the story of whiskey bottles left behind-evidence that the thieves required stimulants to give them courage When their money is drank up or gambled away they have no alternative but to steal They rarely attempt it till driven. The tools and money are furnished by class of men who, without participating in the actual crime, find the funds and get percentage if the trick is successful What the thief himself gets, be it much or little, goes always the same way"
 RICH THIEVES.
 'tDo none get rich and retire from busi- ness ?"
 Every few. Most of them die in misery, or paupers, or in their boots many at the hands of their own comrades Fear and guilt are the passions that sway them. There is ne such thing as honor among thieves. I could easily count on my fingers those who have amassed wealth, and to how many of them has it been of use? Adam Worth, a noted bank-sneak, is one of them. He is an American and 8 very skillful mechanic. He devised several improvements in burglars tools that proved very useful. His last job was to rob a Boston bank. With the instinct of an Israelite he saved what he got Now he lives in luxufy in London, where his house is the resort of all great American thieves who go abroad. He drives around in his dog-cart every day and has all he wants Yet he would give all his wealth if he could come back to America. But he can't and he knows it. He is wanted here.
 ''Rufe Minor, the bank sneak who was caught week or two ago and is now doing time for 8 robbery in Baltimore-one of the half dezen big robberies he is wanted for-is another. He is said to have considerable real es tate'in New York, but what good is 1t to him now? Mortimer Kelly, great thief in his day, who robbed Larry Jerome of $2OO, GOO, but got off for want of evidence and died in an insane asylum in Paris, left much proper ty in Boston, where he belonged, but it did not benefit him. John O'Keefe, alias ''Johnny the Creek, an expert pickpocket, died two years ago, leaving $10,OOO. Joe Dollard and Jack Welch, two of the worst men running around at large. burglars who associated with Johnny Dobbs Jack Irwin, Billy Porter and men of their stamp and made it very hot for the police in New York and it's suburbs and accumulated good de al ! of money. After working the South and | West, when it was unsafe to stay here any longer, they concluded two months az to try their hands in Europe They went over to England and were caught there in a bur glary three weeks ago. Now they are both doing time on g five years sentence Oh, | yes few of them have money. But the ! great mass are poorer than Jobs turkey"
 It required some persuasion and the men. tion of several well known burglars as cases in point to get the inspector to tell the other | end of his story. 1
 POOR THIEVES !
 ttDutch Heinrich" said the inspector, Zig I perhaps as fair 8 sample as any. He had | been in the stealing of two or three millions | of dollars, and had hand in the largest rob ! berries. Five years ago he became poor | hummer, grew half -Witted, and used to come in and get lodging at night in the Mercer | street police station. Finally little purse | was gotten up for him. and he was sent to | Germany, where he died in an insane asy- | lum. He worked with the best, and did I some clever things while he had his wits b ut | faro banks and women knocked him out. ! William Boyer, alias 'Boils,' who was called | the king propman,' because of his handy | way of stealing gentlemen's diamond 1 pins (props,) died without 8 penny; and | Tommy Stack, the piekpocket who, a good | many years ago, robbed New York editor | of SIP, 900 in government bonds, is now par alyzed, blind, and a burden to himself. | He was pardoned out of the CharIestown | penitentiary R5 an utter wreck.
 ''Tim O'Brien. alias Red Tim very noted expert pickpocket and gambler, once worth thousands, died in Philadelphia, consumpti@ without 8 dollar or a friend Pete. Wiley, who had a hand in many large silk robberies and made lots of money, died there, too, poor and miserable No friend came to see Charles Rothschild, the shoplifter who once drove his four in hand and | scattered money with lavish hand, on his l death bed, and he did not leave enough to defray the expenses of the commonest funer- al. Jacob Levy, pickpocket and we'll known receiver of stolen goods in Hester street, who owned a farm at Jerusalem, l.. l., and was looked upon as wealthy, died penniless In New York hospital
 'sKerwin Carr. ahotel and house thief, who with Troy Dennis and Bill Vosburgh stole $200, 900 at the house of Mr. Moore on Mad ison avenue, died in the BlackwelEs Island | insane asylum without dollar Of his two | -confederates, Troy Dennis, whose specially | was that of tsecond-story worker, was killed while committing burglary in l