Year: 1877

1 don't suppose you feel much in


terest in burglars, nor are their hab-


its very choice theme in polite lit


erature but then that occurrence In


Glen Spring was really an extraordi-
nary affair. 1 was on the police force
at the time and know Calico Charley


well. His father was one Of the best


machinis.s in the country, and he
took more pains TO make q man of


his boy than the fellow deserved.
The old man had little machine
shop, and had the boy Charley with
him-a bright, smart chap he was
then. When he was twenty-one he
got to be pretty lively about town, for
the old man had saved up q hand
some property, and let Charley have
more money than was good for him.
Then they got up a new safe lock,
and it made q big stir, and I believe
they went into that thing pretty
heavy. Any way Charley went over
with the lock to the first worlds fair,
in London. They got tripped up. I
never heard exactly how it was.
They put up wicked job on him of
some kind, and got him mixed up
with q pretty bad London "mob."
The story that we heard was that he
picked safe-lock for a party that
shouldn't have been picked. Any
way he got in with the wrong crowd
and they wouldn't let go of him.
He stayed over there about five years
Rnd got to be q regular first-ciass
sneak, and worked half a dozen jobs
in the most scientific manner. We
got word from Scotland Yard that he
was coming back and / dropped in at
the old mans place to try and find
out something. Old Calcott THAT was
his name) had got rich. What with
his bank lock and his other inven-
tions, his mean way Of living, and
his luck in buying some down town
property before people had an idea
how big the city vas going to be, he'd
come to be q regular nabob. /
couldn't get word out of him about
his boy. He said he'd given him up,
and was going to retire from business.
Money must have come in pretty fast
then to the old fellow. He showed
me half a dozen patents that he was
going to sell out; any one of 'em
must have been worth pile Of dol
lars.


Now 1 think of it, it was Calcott
who put the first Franklinite in an
iron safe, and he invented the rubber
fiange which prevented the thieves
from using the air pump when they
wanted to bow up safe.


1t seems that when young CRlcott |
started for America he'd made up his |
mind to cut his London acquaint- |
ances and tricks, and live honestly |
by going back to the old man. None
OF US knew it at the time. Well,
when he got here a curious thing hap
pened. We had q man in the central |
office by the name of Meehan, who
was in with an east side mob. He
was broke about q year afterward.
Meehan had got word from the Lon
don gang, and met young Calcott on |
the dock with facts enough to send
him up; and he made q straight offer
to him to stay with the east side
gang If he didn't want to end his
career for usefulness, and Calcott,
at the prospect of going to
prison, forgot his good resolutions,
and Joined the thieves.


1t was in the winter of '65 that the
places along the Hudson river were
broken into by q river gang. You
may recollect it. Judge Schermer-
hern;s house at Glen Spring was en-
tered one night and robbed of $50, 600
worth of property. The papers made
q good deal of fuss about it, and we
had three or four men working at it.
One day MattisOn comes into the of
fee with a copy of the Glen Spring
Herald, and said "LOok at this.
Here's a go. Read that" And he
pointed out an advertisement. This
is the way it read:


t'AIl burglars, house-breakers,
and assassins are here
by notified that 1 have over O,OOO
worth OF coins, jewels snd silverware
In my house which they are welcome
to II they will come and take it. No
dogs, servants OF laborers about the
place. The house is mile from any
other residence, and the only occu-
pant is an old man, not in very good
health, by the name Of


"JoHN CALCoTT."


"Ips some old lunatic," says I,
'Who hasn't got money enough to
get credit"


'rNo,n says Msttison. "They say
up there he worth half a million, He
lives in q fine house all by himself
about two miles from the depot"


1t was three days talk in the Of
flee and then we forgot it. But the
was kept in the paper,
and one day it seems Tony Frost,
down at Dobb's Ferry, struck it. That
was the way it got to the gang. They
poohpOohed il as "cheff," but Frost,
it seems went up to Glen Spring,
poked about, sifted the thing, recon.
noitered the premises and came down
to the city with q big yarn, for his
pals. His report was that the old
iflunyn had got q sign on his fence
everybody that passed that
here was the unprotected house full |
of valuables that the river gang didn't |
dare to walk into. He was sure, too,
that there wasn't any CANNON about
the stuff, for he'd found out that old |
Calcott was immensely rich and kept |
nearly sll his wealth in his house.


Now, don't suppose it is reasons-
able that 8 regular cracksman should
bite at any such bait as this; but
Tony Frost kept poking away at 1t,
and one day somebody in the gang |
saId it was too much to have the pro-
fession insulted in that way, unless
they were all afraid of the old duffer. |
After that Tony Frost went to the
house, got up as q tramp, and tried
the bacK door. The moment he
knocked it flew open, and an old
mans voice hailed him over the
stairs


"Hsllo there. what d'yOu want ?"


"Summat to eat, II yer please"
says Tony, shutting in and taking a