Jack Dawkins had started his professional career at an early age as a pickpocket working games at Yankee Stadium, on crowded subway platforms, and among the nighttime throng of Times Square tourists. He proved so nimble and artful that he could take a watch off a man's wrist without his knowing. But in his awkward teenage years he had grown clumsy and been caught. In Juvenile Hall, Jack learned a new trade with a much lower risk of getting nabbed.