The Springfield herald., 1912-11-01
PETE M'cRAckEN's STORY.

Il gave this community" said Pete.
"a great shaking up. They talk
about the way in which the gangs in
the far west hold up railroad trains
and walk away with safes from coun-
try banks as II they were really some
thirg to be proud of, but l tell you.
my boy. they are nothing compared
to the way in which Kid Kelly and l
held up New York and made hun
dreds of people pay tribute to our
prowess and cunning.
Never was much on Dragging. A
fellow who has spent half his life in
Jail, perhaps, hasn't got much to brag
about, you may think. but l always
felt proud of the work did in this
city. l will say from what l know,
that SO far as the police were con-
cerned, If 1t had not been for some
underhanded business l would have
been running along in the same old
line even to this day. Why, it was
Just like rolling off a log. The way
he wealth Of the New Workers rolled
into my net was caution.
II had been doing time in Joliet.
ILL.,, for burglary, and l got out on the
,ame day with Kid Kelly, one of
The best thieves l ever met. He was
10 bigger than a 12-year-old boy, but
le was as quick as creased lightning.
There was nothing on the calendar
.hat he would not tackle. He was
The only person l ever met who was
absolutely without fear. He seemed
to have no idea of what fear meant l
aSin
Kid and l got into close quarters in
st. Louis, that he was shot through
the hand. He neglected to take care
Of the wound l took him to see a
surgeon, who said that the only way
TO save Kids arm and life was to
amputate all of his hand except the
thumb and forefnger.
"The Kid told the doctor to begin
without delay and the expert started
to give him dose of ether. But the
Kid refused to take 1t. He actually
sat down in chair held up his hand,
and watched the surgeon cut through
his flesh and snip off the bones with
a pair of forceps without tremor.
While the Kid was getting over this
I kept easy, and read a great deal.
One day l struck story about the re
markable decrease In second-story
robberies in New York, and it struck
me that the time was just ripe for me
to pay the big town visit. The peo-
pie would be feeling secure, and that
is the time for a thief to get in his
fine work.
1.-The Kid and l got to New York
In the latter part of September. We
spent about three weeks studying the
houses and what appeared to be the
best places to tackle. The field was
the most promising one that i ever
saw. There were few houses on
Fifth, Lexington and Madison ave-
nues, as we'll as on the cross streets.
that could not be entered from the
second story by either the Kid or me.
I'VE started In on Madison avenue.
In 30 days we got into 60 houses and
picked up property that would make
an average of more than $1,000 a
house.
I'VE did not have the slightest trou-
BILE in any place. We came close to
he seen by a woman who entered a
room In which we were. working on
T>wenty-ninth. street and Madison ave-
nue., but went away without see
ing u.s. She never knew how close
ly she came to having her light put
out. You never heard of such great
excitement as there was in the city.
The papers were filled with stories
about the second-story work going on
from day to day. The police were
abused for not catching the thieves.
1t was rare sport for us to read these
stories and hear the comments upon
them.
I'VE were putting up at the Astor