The Springfield herald., 1912-09-20
Willy MITcHELL's YARN.

"A crook who Is up to snuff," said
Willy Mitchell, who is noted among
other things for having been tried and
acquitted three times for murder. "and
wants to get along in the business
without working too much for the
state. must be like good general.
He must always arrange his plans SO
as to cover his retreat. l know about
all the top-notch thieves in the coun-
try. and have noticed singular de-
feet In most Of them.
Some thieves are SO constituted that
they do not mind going to jail for a
five or 80. Punishment of that sort
has no terrors for them. and, while
liberty is sweet to every man. they
take their medicine. and rather enjoy
prison life. always had horror of
going to prison. but 1t was never quite
strong enough to lead me to become
honest. When the big door closed be-
hind me every time that entered jail
1t gave me a chill, and never got over
1t until was out in the sunshine
again.
80 It naturally happened that when
I was In active business, it was my
special desire to do everything in my
power to keep out of jail. l always
paid a great deal more attention to
laying plans for a getaway after a
robbery than to the work itself. For
that reason I used to get into quar-
rels with the men worked with.
They did not like my caution. and l
have pulled many times out of what
looked easy jobs Just because I could
not see my way clear to escape. 1t
was my notion that any bit of work
would not pay, no matter how much
money there was in 1t. If it were fol-
lowed by a ten-years' contract with
the state in the stone-breaking line.
at was this trait of mind which led
me into the Kingston National bank
robbery. At the time when I ran
against this trick l was fugitive from
justice. with the charge of killing Ned
Wallace hanging over me, SO. natural
ly. had to go bit slow. There was
no doubt about my killing Ned. but |
had to do 1t to save my own life. l
knew that | would be acquitted II |
were pinched and held for trial; but
| hated to go through 1t all, and |
made up my mind that the best way
out of 1t was to keep under cover I'M
til the clouds blew away. got over
to Kingston, where | had a solid
friend. and in my trips about the place
! struck the bank.
MY attention was attracted to the
bank by story in one of the papers
about a large sum of money which
p had been deposited in its vaults by
some company that was going to build
a railroad and a water works. l knew
that this money was going to remain
in the bank for several weeks. SO I
sent for Bill Noble, who was at that
time running gambling house In
East Houston street. near Broadway.
Bill was always ready to take hand
with me because he understood my
ways and did his. and we never had
had any trouble. 1t was just what Bill
wanted, for his bank roll had been hit
very hard had not been out of the
house In the daytime because the muir
der of Wallace was very hot and l
knew that the coppers were making
n lively chase for me. l arranged with
Bill for him to do all the preliminary
work. He turned book agent on
short notice, which gave him chance
TO visit the bank without exciting sus-
picion.
"I don't remember what book IT was
that Bill was selling. but he did such
slick work that the clerks bought all
his stock, and he had to get more
books to fill the orders, Just to make
1t appear all straight.
"While Bill was talking books he
sized up the vault. and saw that the
door was an old-fashioned affair. with
a new and intricate lock, which had
lust come out, and was believed to be
burglarproof. Bill got everybody s
phiz in the bank firmly fixed in his
mind. and the signs on the desk In
front of them indicated the part of the
business that each man looked after.
THE next step was to find out who
closed up the vault. This was a very
delicate thing to pick up without be
ing inavssit!ye The fact that Bill had