Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-01
Pathetic Scenes Are Not Drawn From
Real Life.
THE STORY OF A PRISONER
Crook Tells Experience With Child
Who Helped Him Find Big
Loot Of Diamonds.

A little while ago. in the smoking car OF
a train from New York to Philadelphia, I
overheard q notorious crook delivering him.
self Of some engaging "reminiscences. The
crook. now a middle-aged man. was Lit
i tie Mitt" Slater, burglar who has done
time in many prisons in this country and
abroad and who has been mugged in many
cities. Handcuffed to a detective whom I
knew. he was being taken from Jersey City
to the prison at Trenton for job at which
the police of Hoboken had caught him red
handed with the goods all packed. Up in
one of the forward seats Of the smoker
there was a worried-looking man with a
little two-year-old boy who howled inces-
sanity. The youngster reminded Little
Mitt" Slater Of some things. and, commu-
NEGATIVE under the stimulus OF the couple Of
drinks which the detective had staked him
to before boarding the train. he proceeded
to unreel them.
This kid stuff" said Little Mitt," is
a scream with me. I'm thinking now Of
these kids ON the stage in the burglar
shows.
As Seen on the Stage.
ION the stage. y remember, the sill-slider
with the kit and the bulls eye glim always
get catarrhy lump under the front collar
and the cute little nightie nails him just
as he's about to open the escritoire where
the stuff is The kid squeaks something
about mamma, and the nitro oiler backs
away, clutches at his throat. gurgles some
thing aJout Meh own little ones, ana
flags the job. He winds up by sitting down
on a Verney- Martin lounge and taxing the
flaxen-hemped squeaker in his lap, ad)ustln
the kids nightie nice and pretty around
the cute pudgy legs SOS the kid won't take
cold from the stage uraughts, ana tnen ne
oozes a lot O. gasps about his own little
ones, Just like YOU he says. chuckin' the
kid under the chin; and then and there
the stage burglar makes up his MIND TO
quit window pushin.
He sits there on the lounge with the Kid
till the kids dad comes home from the
club in his split-tail coat, and then, when
he finds out the lay. the dad slips the porch
climber the big fin. stakes him to couple
O. thousand out Of the roll In the escritolre
and q little superheated steam about the
higher and nobler life. and then the bur
glar, with a final crunch Of the kid to his
buzzom, sinks out. head down.
Great! Finel Only-bullets. and nix
IT never seen 1t come of that way. pals.
and I've had lot O. doin's with the
squeakers. Before I took to workin' with
a kit O. tools 1 used to do the gumshoe
thing around the hotels, and I've snagged
into the young 'uns while at that lay more
times than I've got fingers and toes ana l
| don't remember ever havin' missed connec-
tions with the swag or gettin' phiegmy I'M
der the neckband. with out-in-the-snow
| music in E-aat. at such times.
Helped by the Kid.
"The last time I ran Into a kid on a
hotel Job, in fact. the kid helped me to
| locate the loot. Mighty accomodatin and
good-natured little Teller. that squeaker.
and always remember him kindly. Hap
pened in Chicago. worlds fair year, when
was gummin' around the big hotels, dom
| the best could-I hadn't begun the night
work and the kit stuff at that time.
Tho hotel was one Of the biggest
on State street. and you won't have any
bother doping out the name Of 1t. stopped
there myself that year-had a SCOT of two
| rooms, for the game was pretty middlrn'
soft with the exposition marks film the
| dump to the roof used to play billiards
after dinner with the detective of that
hotel-the bull took 1t from me that I was
| a mining man from Alaska. down to see
the fair. and 1 was aces with him. Not
that the sleuth cuts into the story, but
just mention 1t to show how soft the rig-up
| was.
II had a hundred chances for good pick
ms around that hotel. but I was waitin'
for somethin' big to drift along. 1 didn't
| want to give up my comfortable SCOT Of
rooms till nailed q bundle worth while.
| So. when couple come along from Mon
tana and took a f1ve-room SCOT on the
! third floor. and I looked 'em over, I knew
that I was pretty nigh through seem the
Chieas on fair tina. They were the people
such a cinch to me that I packed up the
bulk Of my gear and shipped 1t out Of town.
for I knew that I'd be hiking myself pres
entity.
wads. He'd been a carpenter around the
Montana mining camps. He'd got his pick
in at the right time. and he'd sold his
claims out to syndicate for a hull lot Of
hnB k,,~v =
married the neat locker of daughter of
his old boardin house landlady. That
was the couple. He'd staked her to enough
of the gleamy rocks to fill leghorn lid.
brim and all, and she wore most of 'em
at dinner in the public dining room every
day-y'know these new-wads and how the
wimmen among them spraddle around and
put on the dog. Their one squeaker was a
cunnin little pinkie-kinkie Of boy, bout
four or five years old. with the Fauntleroy
hemp and pair O. indigo windows the size
O. moss agates. They brought lummox Of
swede nurse girl for the boy along
with them. and they blew their gilt around
Chicago like as IL 1t was plaster of paris.
Glittered With Jewels.
ut was after I noticed that the wife
Of the ex-carpenter didn't tuck her KIM
berleys away in the hotel safe after wear
Ing 'em at dinner that 1 figured her gilt
terry junk to be just as good as in my
kick. and 1t was then that 1 sent my main
gear away from the hotel After fashin
around at dinner and in the hotel parlors
and reception rooms for while she'd 60
up to their SCOT of rooms with her man,
and then, after q bit. they'd come down
together and go out to the fair grounds
to spend the evening. She'd have no
sparks on when she went out. First evenin'
l noticed this followed :em out to the
fair grounds and all over for three hours
to see IL the woman had the gig-lamps with
her. I never had any bother findin' out If
the wimmen had the goods on them in
chamois bag. for when they carry on under
cover they're always feelin' Of the bag and
then glancin' around to see II anybody's
rubbern'. l made dead sure that this one
didn't pack her rocks with her. and. as she
didn't leave the stuff In the hotel safe.
there was nothn' to it-she left 'em behind
in her SCOT. When I'd got the lay charted
this far 1 could see that 1t was gein' to be
up to the Scandihoolihan nurse girl and the
squeaker. l did the glide around the third
floor halls-my own SCOT was on that floor,
which made It handy--to watch the Swede
girls moves.
II seen that she was gettin' right chummy
with lot O. other nurse girls around the
hotel, and that she soon fell INTO the
habit, when the couple went out o evenin's
and she'd got the boy to sleep. of sneak
ing up to the top Of the house, where
lot Of the chambermalds had their quarters
and where a bunch of the kid nurses stop
ming at the house als0 went sha xtpo tbair