The Prescott daily news., 1911-04-26

the clerks. Young Lillis, who was then 12 years old was just the boy for the job
 A few days after the meeting the robbery was pulled off. Lillis made a getaway" with 5000, of which his employer, the generous Joe" Butts, took all but $100. Still, that sum was fortune to the lad, and then and there he resolved to be crook He worked with, or rather for, Butts for two years and pulled off" several dar- ing jobs. He made speciality of rob- bling banks and bank messengers in broad daylight, and in crooks par bank sneak"
 Robbing Chemical National Bank.
 Perhaps the most exciting episode in Lillis' adventurous career occurred in New York city in 1869. Greatly en- couraged by his success in Cincin- nati, he was urged by Joe Butts to go to New York to receive the finishing touches of his education from the noted crooks in that city,
 Butts gave him letter of introduc- tion to "Old Chauncey" Johnson, one of the most noted crooks of that day It did not take Johnson long to ap- preciate Lillis' remarkable criminal ability, and he introduced the youth to all of his associates Long John" Walsh made him his protege, and to- gether they planned and executed sev eral daring "sneaks."
 "Old Chauncey" Johnson and Long John" Walsh conceived the idea of robbing the Chemical National banks messenger on the steps of the bank as he was returning with his collec- tions. They took Lillis to Wall street to get the lay of the land and size up the job. It was their plan to have him snatch the satchel with the money from the messenger and make break for safety while they prevented the messenger or any one else from inter- fering Lillis looked over the ground and said he could do it. He found that he would be obliged to sprint nearly 300 yards before he could make the getaway" so he spent several days in Central park training to sprint. He was able to make 100 yards in about eleven seconds flat, but his l speed for 300 yards did not satisfy | Long John" Walsh, so they decided to get some one else to make the sneak" They found a pronising | youth in the person of Kid" Meany, one of the fastest sprinters in the country, and on July IA, 1869, the four went to the steps of the Chemical Ma tional bank.
 LilIls' Iron Nerve.
 Lillis was to bend over and tie his shoe the instant the satchel was stolen and thus block the messenger from going in pursuit. Johnson and Walsh were to block any others who attempted to catch the thief. There was a policeman on the corner a few hundred feet away and the narrow street was so crowded that it seemed almost impossible for the sneak" to be successful, still thc. took their sta l tions to await the messenger. Tn due time he arrived and started up the small flight of steps to the bank The critical moment had arrived, but Kid" Meany, who was to make the snatch" did not move. He stood on the steps white as sheet and shak- 1 ing like a leaf. His courage had failed him at the critical moment Lillie saw instantly that Meany had "funked" Although his pals had ad- vised him not to attempt the sneak, as he could not hope to make the dash to safety quickly enough, Lillis snatched the satchel from the hand of tho rnessenger cleared the flight of