The Alaska citizen., 1911-02-22

took us to the big cities, and was also the reason for our sometimes leaving these same cities with more haste than dignity. There came time when Mainline" took up a res!denC, In certain city which was of such length that it might have been called permanent, but that is other than what I have In mind.
 Mainline" was of vasabond na- ture He was reckless to foolhardi. ness. but resourceful when caught in a pinch, and equal to most oc- casions The name Mainline" he acquired when common hobo-he rode the limiteds.
 You don't find me registered on no brand h.line tool-shacks." he said. T frequent the busy marts and pa tronize the fliers."
 Our regular business l do not in- tend to analyze particularly; we have our trade-secrets as well as the oil and steel interests, and our methods are as much our own affair, though We are of the other side. the darkness and the slences.
 In time of financial stress, truly we might suddenly confront an iso lated pedestrian on some quiet street and, at the point of shining men, ace. compel him to part with few paltry dollars or a ticker; never theless that was not our business Usually We visited our patrons in their homes. where our dealings were consummated with exceeding quiet and without ostentation.
 In fact some of our most success ful transactions were accomplished when the party of the other part was beatty tied 10 a chair, and his or her means of audible communi cation stopped by reason of a towel properly adjusted
 A yegg-1 mean the one who en- ters by the rickety basement win dow and loOts the little suburban grocery of box of nickel cigars and four dollars and eighty seven cents in small change-is an un- worthy member of the profession He is as bad as the "yillager." or dynanliter of hamlet safes
 The common "stick-up" Is but lit tie better. He takes small risks for small gains
 But the veivet-footed shadow who negotiates your patent locks, avoids your cLnningly intricate schemes of alarm. Investigates every nook and corner Of your castle, sits In your leather chairs, ransacks your pri vate apartment. often with you in them at the time, sleeping in fan cied security with a revolver under your pillow, the electric fluid har messed and waiting for the least false move to summon sudden un- doing: the shadow who stoops by your private strongbox, and, with clairvoyant ear and touch, drops the tumblers of your combination one by one, and swings open the steel door of your safe to pry into your private affairs-such gentleman represents the fineness, the finished art of the craft
 Mainline" and I usually slept in modest lodging houses, not too many times at the same place unless we knew the ground We were great fellows for Deds-sleeping out in barns, nreaways, or box-pi!es shat ters nerves-and in the quiet seclu- sion of lodging-house bedrooms We became sociable human beings
 There Mainline" would get remi- niscent, or we held councils and planned movements. This particu- lar occurrence was related on such an occasion, and. as it is Main lines" story, to him is due the credit:
 When you were lying under GOV er," he said, "in Minneapolis that time, with a bullet in your leg, Il had the busiest kind of a night, and as poorly paid one as you ever bothered with, too, by the way
 If you remember, 1t was Novem- ber and chilly. had nothing partic- ular on hand, though 1t was dark and drizzling, a cold rain-frstclass weather for work-so dropped around to the Orpheum to while away an hour or two watching the black-face, the kid trio of acrobats, the illustrated song He Said Good. by and Bravely Sailed Away, the 'Wife's Revenge on different musi. cal instruments, the kinodrome, etc stood myself a two-bit seat, sec ond floor
 Downstairs, in the boxes and front rows there were some real pcople-the kind with the sparks and the chiffon and the carriages waiting. Coming down into the lobby, after the show, l got herded in with these people in the crush.
 Just outside the man was call ing the carriages, and the driving mist and rain sparkled in the glare. Ladies with their escorts, ladies ac-