The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-10

r. l.
strong-arm ma That and a
bit of a swim lr, too. In fact,
his success as a ST. yhg-arm man was
due to the finesse which made him,
upon occasion, a successful swindler.
But 1t was as a strong-arm man that
he eXcelled. He possessed the first
ssential-individual strength to very
great degree. 1t is the lack of fine
physical ability, the lack of strength,
that has too often been the ruin of
strong-arm men, and has brought the
profession into disrepute. A strong
arm man who can neither successfully
evade nor battle with the police de-
partment, individually and collectively,
is something less than a cipher. He
is more than a knave-he is fool.
His place is behind the ribbon coun-
ter in a dry goods store. He is, lit
orally, no good.
Constitutional Smith was none Of
these. He had been too well brought
up. He was thoroughbred. His
father was the man who cracked the
County National bank in New York
In '73. and made the most successful
and sensational loot of the decade. His
mother came of a family of well known
and well recognized housebreakers, and
his grandfather was one of the most
accomplished horse thieves west of the
Mississippi. The branches and ten
drills of his family root had for gener-
alton after generation received life and
nourishment from many varied strata
of the underworld.
Constitutional Smith had several
virtues. He had no sweethearts, and
no regular associates or pals. He had
no entangling alliances. He worked
alone. Beyond that, apparently, he laid
no schemes and made no plans; he
left no track or trail behind him; there
were no earmarks to his jobs Mem
bers of the force arriving at the scene
or operations in any particular case
could never say, from evidence he left
This is, one of. Constituencies jobs.'
Not by a long shot. And herein he
was wise. For it is the man who care
fully lays plans who makes trouble for
himself, the man who hangs around a
job before it is executed that is identi-
ned upon his trial. 1t is the man who
walks in and does h S job and then
walks out that goes scot free. There
are many instances of this. Up in
Massachusetts a few years ago some
one-who, no one knows to this day
walked into a house, butchered its &C.
cupantS, executed a robbery, and then
walked out. A hundred people might
have seen this thing. AS matter of
fact, no one. saw it. A year later the
same, thing Happened in Brooklyn. The
whole countryside discussed each of
these cases for year. Each is still
mystery. -
Now, Constitutional Smith was not
butcher. He had never killed even
In self-defense. But his methods were
just that. Suddenly he Swooped down
upon his victim, be it house or bank or
individual, did his work and left-that
was all. He was too economical to
leave his visiting card. He walked
away-and there was another little
mystery to his credit; and a new fail
ure chalked up against the sleuths.
And Constitutional Smith had an
other virtue-he was close mouthed;
he never talked. He never blabbed.
He took good care that word of his
achievements never reached the dives.
No one ever whispered in the holes in
the ground that "Constitutionars made
another haul" To make confidants of
his fellow criminals was, as ConStitu-
tional regarded it, placing just so much
material evidence in the hands of the
police. The constitution guaranteed to
Constitutional the right Of free speech,
but Constitutional Smith knew that in
his case freedom of speech meant the
curtailment of his liberty. Silence is
and in this case speech meant just the
sort of time that Constitutional pre-
ferred not to do; and silence was
money in his pocket. So he kept mum
did Constitutional Smith
Constitutional had another virtue
he was gentle. He had giants
strength, but he rarely used it like g
giant. Like a successful and popular
dentist he could not always help hurt
ing his victim, but he hurt no more
than was necessary. But whereas the
dentist hammers in the vicinity of the
skull to put gold in, constitutional
hammered for the purpose of takins
gold out. But his little love taps were
fatal. He had another dentists habit
he used an anaesthetic. Abstractins
money from the person of an individ-
ual Is always painful. He mercifully
deadened the pain as much as possible
But he never carried tools or arms o.
chloroform save for about an hour be-
fore or an hour after each Job. II,
knew better. He was well up in tn,
law of evidence.
AS an earnest of the skill and inge
nuity of Mr.. Smith. it Is only fair t,