Cracksman

“ The ‘fence’ preys upon the ‘cracksman,’ the cracksman—​well, he preys upon the public—​that is, the rich public—​and they in most cases have made their money out of the poor. From the lowest to the highest it is one system of cheating and robbing—​that’s my view of the matter.”
“Oh, you are not far off the mark, it’s right enough,” returned Bill. “You are never so happy as when you are moralising,” he added, with a laugh.
“Ah, you may laugh,” cried Peace, “but pray tell me how many persons you know in this world as you can trust—​just you answer that question.” ”

“ My lord, there is always two in a job of this sort—the professional man and the confederate. Cowen was the confederate, hocussed the wine, loaded the pistols, and lent his pass-key to the cracksman. The cracksman opened the door with his tools, unless Cowen made him duplicate keys. Neither of them intended violence, or they would have used their own weapons. The wine was drugged expressly to make that needless. The cracksman, instead of a black mask, put on a calf-skin waistcoat and a bottle-nose, and that passed muster for Cox by moonlight ”

“ He had made quite a study of the cracksman's craft, in a resolve to circumvent it with his own. I remembered myself how the ground-floor windows were elaborately bolted and shuttered, and how the doors of all the rooms opening upon the square inner hall were fitted with extra Yale locks, at an unlikely height, not to be discovered by one within the room. It had been the butler's business to turn and to collect all these keys before retiring for the night. But the key of the safe in the study was supposed to be in the jealous keeping of the master of the house himself. ”

“ This was the cracksman—​a famous burglar, and a pal of the Smoucher in all the lays which the latter devised and the former accomplished.
This huge miscreant had been at one time a boon companion and accomplice of Gregson, whom he resembled in a remarkable degree.
The untimely end of the Bristol Badger failed to have the slightest effect in turning this callous criminal from his evil ways.
“Now, young man,” said the Smoucher, looking up from his papers, “you said you could read, I think?”
“Yes, a little, sir. I’ve been to school.”
“All right, so much the better; nothing like education. ”

“ Speak up, speak up, you hear? Are we to fly at once to the mill and join him? Has he succeeded? Is it done?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" shouted back Serpice, throwing up his cap and capering. "It is done! It is done! Under the very nose of the cracksman, too! Merode's got them—got them both! The little lordship and the Mademoiselle Lorne, too! They took the bait like gudgeons; they stepped into the automobile without a fear, and—whizz! it was off to the mill like that! La, la, la! We win, we win, we win!"
The shock of the thing was too much for Cleek. ”

“ The burglar dislikes extremely the use of any tools or instruments but his own; he generally believes that another man’s{21} false keys, jemmies, and so forth, would bring him bad luck. Only in matter-of-fact America does the cracksman rise superior to superstition. There a good business is done by certain people who lend housebreaking tools on hire.
Instinct, aboriginal and animal, has helped at times to bring criminals to justice. ”

“ I have generally observed in cases of rape, and crimes of that kind, when the female was advanced in life, that the crimes were not so black in reality as they were represented in the newspapers, and that the offenders, if not made actually worse in prison, would be much more easily cured than the thief genus, who require special, and as I think, very different treatment to that which they now receive.
In this prison I also made the acquaintance of a professional "cracksman," or burglar. He was a man of fair education, good appearance, and considerable natural ability ”

“ But no more followed.
"Do you think you would live happily?" I made bold to ask him.
"God knows!" he answered. And with that he left me, to marvel at his look and tone, and, more than ever, at the insufficiently exciting cause.
III
Of all the mere feats of cracksmanship which I have seen Raffles perform, at once the most delicate and most difficult was that which he accomplished between one and two o'clock on the Tuesday morning-, aboard the North German steamer Uhlan, lying at anchor in Genoa harbour. ”

“ Drill a hole and get in the 'jack,' and I can bring power to bear on it sufficient to open any safe. The great thing is to be able to get the time, the work I can easily do; then Bob, my pal, is one of the best blacksmiths in England, and as true as steel. I always take him with me in a job of that sort."
It so happened that I had a very good opportunity of proving that the burglar's high opinion of his "pal's" ability was not without foundation. On our removal to England, the "cracksman," was leg-ironed to me as an additional security against his making his escape. ”

“ Mr. Todd and the other members of the police force were, however, of a different opinion. The London detective gave him a bad character, not that he had ever been in trouble before, but he was said to have been a suspected person for a considerable period while residing in the metropolis. It is needless to observe that they were not very far out in their reckoning.
Mr. Todd when put in the box gave a full detail of the prisoner’s capture, and the attempted rescue of him by the Cracksman, who was a well-known thief. ”

“ I cried out, with involuntary indignation, and his fell scheme broke upon me in a clap.
"Yes, sir!" said Maguire, fixing me with his bloodshot orbs. "My trap for crooks and cracksmen is a bottle of hocussed whiskey, and I guess that's it on the table, with the silver label around its neck. Now look at this other decanter, without any label at all; but for that they're the dead spit of each other. ”

“ I saw obvious objections: the man was au fait with cracksmen and their ways: he would certainly have firearms, and might be the first to use them.
"I could wish nothing better," said Raffles. "Then it will be man to man, and devil take the worst shot. You don't suppose I prefer foul play to fair, do you? But die he must, by one or the other, or it's a long stretch for you and me." ”

“ Do you know who you've let slip, butter-fingers? Crawshay—no less—him that broke Dartmoor yesterday. By the God that made ye, P 34, if I lose him I'll hound ye from the forrce!"
Working face—shaking fist—a calm man on fire. It was a new side of Mackenzie, and one to mark and to digest. Next moment he had flounced from our midst.
"Difficult thing to break your own head," said Raffles later; "infinitely easier to cut your own throat. Chloroform's another matter; when you've used it on others, you know the dose to a nicety. So you thought I was really gone? Poor old Bunny! ”

“ Death!" shouted the smugglers with no uncertain voice. Crocker made a desperate effort, shook off the men who advanced to hold him, and, flinging himself down before the captain, clasped his knees and begged for mercy. In a second, however, his executioners sprang upon him and bound him hand and foot, and a scarf was fastened over his eyes. One of the men drew a pistol. I watched the scene, for the moment unmindful of my dangerous position, but drawn by an indescribable feeling to watch the last moments of a doubly-dyed rogue. ”

“ Crack, cracky crack, crack, crack, crack, half-a-dozen flashes and puffs of smoke came from over the ridge of the low earthwork in front, emptying four saddles, while one horse went down headlong, pierced from chest to haunch by a bullet, and the fleeing pair saw the rest of their pursuers open out right and left, to swing round and gallop away back, pursued by a crackling fire which brought down six more before they were out of range. ”

“ Years of this relaxing climate and intense depression tempted her to seek relief, and once she had touched the drug it gripped her like a vice and made her a prisoner.”
“Whom you are struggling to release? Does Herr Krauss know?”
“No; he has no suspicion. No more had I till recently. Lily, the ayah, Mr. FitzGerald, you and I, are all that are in the secret.”
“It is much too heavy a load for your shoulders. Won’t you tell Mrs. Gregory? She is so practical and so safe, and full of clever expedients and energy.” ”

“ There was a quick snort of anger. Then, with a burst of relief and pleasure, came the words, "By God, I'll clout him now!" The sound of a mighty buffet succeeded, something cracked like a broken egg, and the clever-tongued young clerk went down on the paving-stones with a clatter, as his torch extinguished itself in the gutter and his sword flew ringing across the street.
"Come on, lads—they have struck the first blow. We are safe from the law. Kill them every one!" ”

“ We did nothing to entice to crime. We merely waited. I knew, Barry knew, my husband knew, Roblee, your coachman, knew, Mrs. Hume knew. Cracker, the naughty Cracker, was merely told to watch certain people, and he has been scorching up and down this 278avenue like a thing possessed. We did not call in the aid of the local police or the New York police till the last day or two. Two young newspaper men here have helped us wonderfully. One of them guarded Jennie. ”

“ Just then—Crack! crack! Two—four—a dozen musket and pistol shots, followed by such a chorus of yellings and howlings and unearthly laughter! The creature that held me seemed startled—relaxed his grasp slightly. At that moment a dark arm was passed before my face, there was a blinding flash, a yell, and I fell to the ground released from the clutch of my opponent. I remember nothing more. Overcome by pain, fatigue, terror, and the noxious vapors of that vile ravine, my senses abandoned me, and I swooned away. ”

“ At any rate, they must be allowed to escape, and, after a moment’s hurried thought, the waiter drew out his own revolver and cautiously pushed the muzzle under the lower edge of the curtain.
“Massey doesn’t happen to be the only crack shot on hand,” he told himself.
“I’m now going to ring for help,” the millionaire announced, moving slowly toward an electric button set into his desk. “You’ll remain just where you are until the servants come, and the very first man among you who attempts to play any tricks will be shot down like a dog, without any further——”
Crack! ”

“ Crockett, as he reached these formidable weapons, ducked his head, so as to pass beneath them, and as quick as thought buried his knife into the side of the brute.
It was a terrible blow, and gave the creature such a spasm of pain that his paws dropped almost involuntarily, and Crockett was compelled to extricate himself in such haste, that he was unable to withdraw his knife and take it with him.
This made his situation ten-fold more perilous. He had no weapon at all with which to defend himself, and it was only left for him to await the fierce onslaught of the terrible foe. ”

“ But this last exploit was considered 200dangerous, and generally was done only on condition that we gave a certain number of fire-crackers to the boy who took the risk. While we were all together, to hear someone else shoot fire-crackers was a very different thing from shooting them yourself. Although you did nothing but touch the string to a piece of lighted punk and throw the fire-cracker in the air, it sounded better when you threw it yourself than when some other boy threw it in your place. ”

“ Mr. Nichols ordered tersely. "I'll look after Crocker myself."
"You've nothing on me," the old man muttered. "I was being blackmailed, that's all."
"It's no use trying to put up a front," the detective told him. "We know everything. This man was a blackmailer right enough, but the real Walter Crocker has a just claim to a large portion of your estate. A more serious matter is that you are wanted for the robbery of the Kirmenbach residence."
"I'm wanted for what?" gasped the old man.
"You are under suspicion for stealing a diamond necklace." ”

“ My heart stands still as I realize that it is Frick shouting. "Alive?" I wonder. I hurl the stranger aside and fire at the crawling figure of Frick. The man struck my hand,—I have missed! He grapples with me, and we wrestle across the room. I try to throw him, but spying an opening between his arm and body, I thrust the revolver against his side and aim at Frick, cowering behind the chair. I pull the trigger. There is a click—but no explosion! By the throat I catch the stranger, still clinging to me, when suddenly something heavy strikes me on the back of the head. ”

“ Crack, crack! crack, crack! what a fuss thou makest! as if it concerned the good people to be informed that a man with a pale face, and clad in black had the honour to be driven into Paris at nine o'clock at night, by a postillion in a tawny yellow jerkin, turned up with a red calamanco! Crack! crack! crack! crack! crack! I wish thy whip——But it is the spirit of the nation; so crack, crack on."
Here is another instance;—
"Ptr—r—r—ing—twing—twang—prut—trut;—'tis a cursed bad fiddle. ”

“ Was the old gentleman the grand character he appeared or as shrewd as they make them and playing safe? He could have blushed for his own suspicious mind, but Parsons called the crooks his “friends” and was trying to protect them. What the devil did it all mean?
“When your inspector first called upon me to make certain inquiries last week, at the time a manservant—from the same house as that in which the young girl passed away—also died, he told me of the poison believed to have been used: physostigmine.”
“Calabar bean,” McCarty nodded. ”