St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-10-14
BIG JIM's STORY.

lose tnelr nerve either when they are
doing a trick. or afterward when they
are pushed hard by the police. Women
are squealers from way back, as a gen.
eral rule, but when yon fluid a
woman that will give the police
the laugh every time they try to
find out what she knows you can
lay dollar 10 doughnut that she is
just the kind of partner for me. Give
me a woman every time if she is made
of the right kind of stuff. and will not
fear for the success of any job that
want to go into. My friends used to
call me fool for taking in women
partners, but Oh the dead level l was
thrown down oftener by men than by
the women / ever had anything 10 do
with in Il crooked line. l knew enough
to select the light sort of women, and
that is all there is to it.
The very best woman crook that |
ever knew was Elise Ramsey, who was
known also as Little Nell. She was a
little bit of dame. and SO attractive
and pretty that fellow could not help
falling in love with her on sight. l
never saw prettier smile on the
human face than Nell had, and the
beauty OF it was that whether luck came
had or good the smile was always
present. ltell you, my boy. that smile
has fooled many a cove and won way
to many fat pocketbOok.
81 ran across Nell in Paris, when l
was under cover for that jewelry rob
beiv in Brussels with Pete Burns and
Julius Hickey. 1t was very close
shave, and it was certain death for any
of us to have got caught, as detective
who was put to work on the case soon
after we cleaned out the jewelry
store and bagged lot of diamonds
was murdered the next day. We
were given the credit of laying out the
man, but had nothing to do with it. in
fact, as we were hundred miles from
Brussels when ne was killed. But we
would have been executed just the
same if we had been caught. although
about three months later the man who
killed the detective confessed that he
had taken his life because he mad ruined
his sister.
The three of us separated when we
got out of Brussels. for safety, and
made for Paris, where l knew a couple
of crooks who would look out for me.
l wrung myself so that my own brother
would not know me. and lived very
quietly. 1t so happened that Nell was
under cover. too, for lifting some
Frenchman's bank roll. and was intro
duced to her by French crook.
Nell came from Leeds. England. and
she could MARBLE French, German and
Spanish like native. She was about
thirty-fiye years old then, but did not
look her age. She never asked me any
questions about what l was lying to for,
and | knew from that that she was dead
fIa Ii, i,nr hA ho1
some heavy weight friends in Paris, and
through their influence was able to
square her little business by giving up
The money she had sWiped. She was
then free to 20 where she pleased, but
she surprised ME by staying in my
neIghborhood to keep me company, she
said.
II was tired of being cooped I'D in
Paris, and wanted TO get away. | did
not dare get out and make any arrange
mentS to quit the country. When |
spoke OF leaving to Nell she said she
could fix it easily enough if l would
take her with me to America. Nothing
could have suited me better, for Nell
was lively soul. and liked her better
than any woman had ever met. She
fixed ne up in a few days with clothing.
wig and eyeglasses. and posed as her
father-in-iaw in some of the places
that she took me to. The rig was
so well put up that my appearance did
not arouse any suspicious. We went to
a seaport town in Spain and shipped on
sailing vessel for Algiers From
Africa we went to Naples, and took
passage on steamer for this country
got rid of the jewelry that l took as
my share of the Brussels robbery here.
and made tour of the country with
Nell in pretty swell style. We wound
up the season at Narragansett Pier,
and then L was about at the end of my
roll.
1--WE had to raise some coin some way,
and decided to try and work bit of
confidence business. Nell had attracted
lot of attention at the hotel where we
were stopping, and when | announced
that l had been suddenly called away
by pressing business there were plenty
OF sporty boys ready to make 1t pleas
ant for her during my absence. l was
within easy call all the time and Nell
fell desperately in love with nice
Boston gent who was said to be very
wealthy and had family of grown up
daughters. She fooled him along
until the game appeared like
"a cinch for him, and
then she made an appointment to meet
him at a sporting house in the village
| The tip was given to me by Nell when
toappear, and worked the outraged
husband on the Boston sport to the
| queens taste. Nell played the part OF
the wife pleading for forgiveness SC
strong that the fellow who kept the hote
wanted me to make up with her. but /
would not listen to such thing.
| threatened to bring divorce suit al
| once and expose the whole business.
| but $4,000 check cooled my anger and
| Nell and l spent the money with pleas
ure. We worked several other schemes
of the same sort in different places.
tine prettiest job OF all was put up
on James D. Lyon, an old fellow, who
| was trustee for a lot of wealthy people
and heirs of large estates. He had al
| office in Nassau street. opposite the old
| postoffice. Nell met Lyon one after
| noon in the postotfice when she was out
| cunning tor good things, and she at
tracted his attention by acting like a
stranger in the place. He went to her
and pointed out the place where she
could find out about sending some
money to her mother. Lyon was about
sixty years old. and was so attracted by
| Nell's innocent ways that he. like
Mary's little lamb, fingered near. and
when she went away he went with her.
Nell played all her little arts to
such perfection that Lyon invited her
to take dinner with him at an uptown
cafe, and when he left Nell had planted
the seeds of infatuation deeply in the
old coye's heart. Nell called upon him
at his Office in couple of days and
| gave him an elegant story about her
having a large amount of property
| which she wished to place in his
charge to care for and invest during her
| absence In Europe. She asked him a
lot of questions about his family, busi-
ness, bank account, and the contents of
the safe which he kept in his Office, in
| her own sweet way. without appearing
to be inquisitive. She learned that in
order to protect his clients. who FIRE.
| queDtly called upon him for large sums
of money. he carried heavy deposit in
the bank.
| "Nell had strange power which she
could use with some men and make
them do anything that she suggested
She tried it Oh Lyon In a small way