The Washington herald., 1921-05-01
An O. Henry Stor y
THE MARIONETTES.

TzHE policeman was standing at
.lrE the corner OF fwenty-fourth
street ana u prodigioasiy
dark alley near where. the elevated
ratlroad crosses the street. The
tinses was , o'clock in the morning;
the-outlook a stretch of, cold. driz-
zifrg. unsociable blackness until the
dawn
Aman wearing a long oyercoat.
with his hat tilted down in front
and carrying some thing In one
hand, walked softly but rapidly out
OF the black alley. The policeman
aecosted him civilly. but with the
assured air tnat is linked with con-
scious authority. The hour, the al
ley's musty reputation. the pedes-
TRANS haste. the burden he car
ried-these easily combined into the
suspicious circumstances" that re-
Quired illumination at the officers
hanis.
The suspect" halted readily and
tilfed back his hat. exposing, in the
flicker of the electric lights, an emo
tioniess. smooth countenance with
a rather long nose and steady dark
eyes. Thrusting his gloved hand
into . side pocket of his overcoat.
he drew out a card and handed 1t
to The policeman Holding 1t to
catch the uncertain light. the ON
cef read the name Charles Spen-
cef1a ames. NJ. D." The street and
number of the address were of a
naieh hborhood so solid and respecta-
bR~as to subdue even curiosity.
Thepoliceman's downward glance. at
the article carried in the doctors
hand-a handsome medicine case of
black leather. with small silver
mountings-further indorsed the
gdaSsntee of the card. .
SAIL right. DOCTOR" said the off,
ceres stepping aside. with an air OF
brfky affability, Orders are to be
e2tra careful Good many burglars
aud hold-ups lately. Bad night to
bsont Not so cold. but-clammy."
with a formal inclination of his
head. and a word or two corrobor-
atfve of the officers estimate of the
weather, DR.. James continued his
sofnewhat rapid progress. Three
times that night had a patrolman
accepted his professional card and
the sight Of his paragon Of medi-
cine case as vouchers for his hon
-
aryA one of those officers seen Mt, on
tne morrow. to test the evidence of
that card he would have found 1t
borne out by the doctors name on
a handsome door-plate, his presence.
calm and well dressed, in his we'll
eauipped office-provided ii were
not.. too early, DR.. James being. a
lses-riser-and the testimony of the
nefghborhood to his good citizen
snip. his devotion to his family. and
hfs success as a practitioner the two
Years he had lived among them.
.Therefore, it would have much
surprised any one of those Jealous
guardians of the peace could they
have taken a peep into that immac-
ulate medicine case. Upon opening
II, the FIRST article to be seen would
have been an elegant set OF the
latest conceived tools used by the
box man" as the ingenious safe
burglar now denominates himself
Specially designed and constructed
were the implements-the short. but
powerful Jimmy" the collection of
curiously fashioned keys, the olued
drills and punches of the finest tenn
per-capable of eating their way in
To chilled steel as a mouse eats into
a cheese, and the clamps that taste n
like q leech to the polished door of
a safe and pull out the combination n
knob as a dentist extracts tooth.
In q little pouch in the inner side
of the medicine" case was a four
ounce vial of nitroglycerine now
half empty. Underneath the tools
xas a mass of crumpled banknotes
and a few handfuls of gold coin. the
money altogether. amounting to
$3.50.
To a very limited circle of friends
DR.. James was known as The Swell
Greek" Half of the mysterious
term was a tribute to his cool and
gentiemanlike manners; the other
half denoted. in the argot Of the
brotherhood. the leader. the planner.
the one who. by the power and
prestige Of his address and position.
secured the information upon which
they based their plans and despa-
rate enterprises
OF this elect circle the other mem
bers were Skitsie Morgan and Gum
Decker. expert box men,, and
Leopold Pretzfelder, jeweler
downtown, who manipulated the
"sparklers" and other ornaments
collected by the working trio. All
KOOd ana lOy6L IlChs oc ANNe~ NOA
gued as Memnon and as hckle as
the North Star.
That nights work had not been
considered by the firm to have
yielded more than a moderate re-
payal for their pains. An old-style
tvo-story side-bolt safe in the
dinzy once of a very wealthy old
style dry-goods firm on a Saturday
a.
than S2,5o0. But that was all they
found, and they had divided II, the
Ehree of them, into equal shares
upon the spot. as was their custom.
Ten or twelve thousand was what
they expected. But one of the pro-
-prietors had proved to be just a
'sfrife too old-style. Just after dark
re had carried home in a shirt box
most of the funds on hand.
Doctor James proceeded up Twen-
-ey-fourth street. which was, to all
importance, depopulated. Even the
Sneaterical-folk. who affect this
district as a place of residence, were
long since abed. The driZZle had
accumulated upon the street; pud-
dies OF 1t among the stones received
THE hre of the arc lights. and re-
turned 1t. shattered into a myriad
liquid spangles. A csptious wind.
.1hower-soaked and chilling, coughed
from the lsryngeal fues between the
houses
: -As the practitioners foot struck
even with the corner of a tall brick
residence of more pretension than
its fellows the front door popped
open. and a bawling negress cIat-
tered down the steps to the pave
ment- Some medley Of words came