The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 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
and walk away with safes from coun-
try banks as If they were really some
thing to be proud Of, but l tell you,
my boy, they are nothing compared
to the way in which Kid Kelly and
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 l did in this
city. l will say from what l know,
that so far. as the police were con-
cerned. if it 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 log. The way
the wealth Of the New Workers rolled
into my net was a caution.
Il had been doing time In Joliet,
ILL.,, for burglary, and got out on the
same day with Kid Kelly, one Of
the best thieves l ever met. He was
no bigger than a 12-year-old boy. but
he was az quick as creased lightning.
There was nothing on the calendar
that he would not tackle. He was
the only person I ever met who was
absolutely without fear. He seemed
to have no idea Of what fear meant.
remember on one occasion. when the
Kid and l got into close quarters in
st. Louis, that he was shot through
tho hand. He neglected to take care
OF the wound. took him to see
surgeon, who said that the only way
to save Kids arm and life was to
amputate all of his hand except the
thumb and forefinger.
"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 it. He actually
sat down in a chair, held up his hand,
and watched the surgeon cut through
his flesh and snip off the bones with
a pair Of forceps without a tremor.
While the Kid was getting over this
l kept easy, and read a great DEAL
One day l struck a story about the re-
markable decrease in second-story
robberies in New York, and 1t 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 thief to get in his
fine work.
1.-The Kid and 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 l ever
saw There were few houses on
Fifth, Lexington and Madison ave-
nues, ~ we'll as on the cross streets,
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
be seen by q woman who entered a
room in which We were working on
Twenty.ninth street and Madison ave-
nue., but went away without see
ing W. She never knew how close
" she came to having her light put
out. You never heard Of such great
excitement 10 there was In the city.
The papers were filed with stories
about the second-story work going on
from day to day. The police were
abused for not catching the thieves.
It was rare sport for ~ to read these
stories and hear tho comments upon
them.
We wore putting up. at the Aston