The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-01

room with, and this particular gentleman
had more than he needed-and while I
was going about collecting the vases and
other little knick- knacks that pleased nv
fancy, 1 stumbled upon the study of this
billionaire's son.
1T was 8 o'clock in the morning and
the lad was still at work upon his mathe-
MATES, upon which he had funked AT his
Yale eXamina lions. Naturally he sprang
70 ms 1eet and demanded to know what I
wanted. l told him l wanted to be help
ful to anybody who needed assistance
Whereupon with some degree of sarcasm
he observed that possibly l could help him
on his mathematics Well, of course I'm
an educated man. and 1 accepted the chal-
lenge right away I sat down alongside OF
him, tackled the problems that We're wear
ing the bloom off his fresh young brain
and In one hour and thirty minutes had
made the whole thing so clear to him that
cOlors."
He must have been grateful" said l.
- He was" replied Gentleman Pete. He
sent me home in a cab and helped me
carry my sWag down stairs. But does not
TINS evidence convince you that l have a
ngnt 10 be considered an authority on the
difficult subject of Polite Burglary"
II certainly does. | cried. with real
enthusiasm. You are the Chesterfield OF
the business par excellence, and shall be
glad enough to include your book in my
series What shall we call 1.-THE
IhlefS DOntS?
He looked at me reproachfully
Really. my dear sir, do you know
sometimes you surprise me-" he said
Never such title as that! You apparent
~ 90 not dlfterentiate between thief
and burglar. Thieves are necessarily
low people They are the submerged class
among the light fingered"
humbly beg your pardon" 1 put in.
handlng him box containing a hundred
cigars as sort of paliatiOn of my offense.
i've never looked into the question and
so cannot say that 1 appreciate all the
nlcet1es OF the business"
We'll l can sum up the situation in a
very brief statement which you will prob
ably remember" he said kindly. Suppose
you take Meissonier. He is a painter-or
was. Eh?"
Yes" said l.
and the man who inscribes in huge
yellow letters the legend Shocks Ginger
Will Cure Headache on the side of a
New Jersey barn-he is also painter. is
Certainly" I assented.
We'll, you wouldn't call them both
No said l. 7 would not 1 should
make distinction"
"Well, there's just as much difference
between thieves and burglars as there IS
nier. The thief is a common, low born,
unskilled litter of other peoples property.
hands on, from the plumbing of coun-
try house to a door mat. for the mere
pleasure of stealing, of depriving some
body else of what he has But the ideal
burglar is q different creature His is not
a business. but a profession. He acquires
intelligently, not at haphaZard. You
wouldn't catch a burglar of standing rob-
bling a small fiat temporarily deserted by
the family of an ice chest or a pongee
silk bath robe by climbing down the fire
escape from the floor above. He leaves
that kind of work to sneak thieves. His
work is carefully planned in advance; his
operations are bold and profitable, and as
a rule he robs people who can afford to
be robbed. 1t can never be said of Gentle
man Pete that he took from the poor and
needy, and it is just to 1nculcate such
ideas as this that L wish to put forth my
volume in this undoubtedly valuable series
OF yours"
Here. perceving that he had taken as
much of my time as he was entitled to and
putting my new pocket camera into his
overcoat pocket, he rose up to depart.
II will send you the manuscript tomor-
rowSby express" he said. whereupon we
shook hands. and he went out. and
turned back to my work very much i'm
pressed with the serious interest and pride
the man took in his profession. AS yet
the manuscript has not arrived, but have
had additional evidence of Gentleman
Pete's capacity as a polite burglar in the
note L received by messenger from him
during the heavy rain OF yesterday. 1t
ran as follows:
Dear Sir-In the hurry of my departure
from your Office the other day forgot to
take with me your very handsome silver
mounted silk umbrella. / hate to trouble
YOU. but il is raining so hard this morn
ing that l really need it, and 1 shall be
very much obliged if you will send 1t to
me at once by bearer. Yours very truly,
Peter Pinkerton. b"
OF course l sent the umbrella and re-
ment of my prompt compliance with his
request