The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-23

how big and strong fellow may be in
pushing his way along. if he has not
| got the wit to appreciate that brute
force belongs only to brutes, and in
genious tricks are safer and more pro-
fitable, he is going to have a hard time.
'Solly and l were partners from the
time we were kids, and we did a long
bit in the reformatory together. 1t was
always my rule to be a, gentleman,
drunk or sober; and I have raised
many a smile among my partners by
being so polite when L was doing the
masked burglary business on the IA
NOUS tour 1 made up the Hudson vii
lagos with Denny Lyons gang, that in
some places where the people who
had given up their valuables We're
actually sorry to have me go.
Yes, my boy, politeness is the
great thing to give you a push along
when your luck has been very bad.
''Solly and had struck a lot OF tame
ducks, and it seemed as if there was
some sort of hoodoo going along with
| US. We were running on a stretch for
months when there was not a dollar
came our way. and then all of a sudden
came the boom that gave us a little
fame and big Doodle. was in Null
Inns billiard parlors in East Fourteenth
street one night when there was nice
looking young fellow got into trouble
with a tough young scrapper from the
east side over "a game of billiards. The
good boy had been drinking a little.
When saw that the thug was trying
to take an unfair advantage of him
and was getting up a muss SO that in
watch, why, l entered in my usual
watch, why, 1 intereferd i'm my usual
polite manner and dumped the sport
into the soup. The young fellow whom
I had stood by told me his name was
Hoffman and he took a liking to me
right away. 7 stuck to him a bit to
find out whether or not he had wealthy
relations that it might pay me to get
acquainted with and l found out that
he was the assistant secretary of the
New England Express company. That
was good news for me, for / was an eX-
pert in the handling of express pack
ages, and became quite intimate with
young Hoffman.
az know that this company used to
have the handling Of about all the
heavy money shipments between this
city and ell points east, and in my own
polite way, which some people might
call a coy game, / began to pump my
friend about the business. He was
very talkative chap, and when he saw
that I was so deeply interested in mat
ters pertaining to railroad transporta-
ton, he was delighted to tell me all
that he knew. l led him around grad
ually to the handling OF the money
packages so as not to make him sus-
picious. / knew that 1t was equival-
ent to a discharge from the company
to be found talking about such mat
tiers, but l had gained Hoffman's con-
fidence and he did not hesitate for a
moment to tell all that he knew. He
described in detail how the money was
counted in the Office before being put
into little burglar-proof boxes. Then
the seals were put on over the locks,
and they were taken to the cars and
put into a large fire-proof safe in the
express car. There had never been
robbery on the road and for that rea-
son only one express messenger was
sent to guard the Doodle in the car.
The time when the valuable packages
were shipped was kept a profound
secret, but Hoffman knew all about it
because he had to sign the receipts
after the money had been counted in
the Office. learned from him who the
messengers were, and where the ex-
press car was kept, while lying in the,