Newspaper Page Text
I
WHY CRIME DOES NOT PAY—,
P
Sophie Lyons—the “Queen of the Burglars
7 it Series of Extraordinary Revelations
Written by SOPHIE LYONS
The Most Famous and Successful Criminal of Modern Times, Who Made a
Million Dollars in Her Early Criminal Career and Lost It at Monte Carlo, and
Has Now Accumulated Half a Million Dollars in Honorable Business Enterprises
Written by Sophie Lyons.
Copyright, 1913, by the Star Company.
I n' there is any one familiar adage that
fils every criminal in the Underworld
it is "Easy come, easy go." Surely
there is a curse on stolen money. More
than once in my former life 1 have re
ceived $60,000 as my share in a Sunday
morning bank burglary—and by the next
Saturday night not even a five-dollar bill
remained.
Professional thieves are rich one day
-. id poor the next. The fact that more
money is always to be had without the
hard labor which brings honest reward
makes thieves as Improvident as children.
All thieves are gamblers—scarcely in all
my acquaintances can 1 recall even one
exception. Sometimes the entire pro
ceeds of a robbery arc lost in a gambling
house within twenty-four hours after the
crime
And this is how it has come about that
an over the world In every big city there
are "backers" of thieves; men, and some
times women, who take the stolen goods
off their hands, find hiding places for
criminals who arc being pursued, advance
money to them when they are out of
funds and even pay the expenses of their
families when the burglars get into prison.
Some of these friends of thieves are
really promoters of criminal enterprises.
They name the banks and jewelry shops
that are to be robbed and select the resi
dences of wealthy persons that, are to be
enlered. They are like the backers ol
theatrical enterprises who put up the
money fer the necessary expenses and ad
vance t’.'.e salaries of the actors; they are
like - promoters in the mining world
w ho pi y for the tools, the pack animals
and who “ .“ub-slake” the miners to out
fit them oa protpocting tours in the moun
tains
Quecii o: Llic Thieves
Curiously enough the greatest crime
promoter of modern times was a New
York woman, "Mother” Mandelbaum.
Alas! I knew her well too well. A hun
dred, yes, perhaps nearer five hundred
transactions T have had with her, tittle
and big Many were entirely on my own
account, oftentimes I dealt with her in
behalf of thieves who were In hiding or
in need of help or were in jail.
Nobody anywhere did such a wholesale
business In stolen goods or had such val
uable associations among big criminals.
' Mother" Mandelbautn. of course, cracked
no safes, she did not risk her skin in
house burglaries, her fat hand was never
caught in anybody's pocket, no police
man's bullet was ever sent after lier flee
ing figure. Here, then, we have a dealer
in crime pretty shrewdly protected from
■the dangers that beset criminals. Apd
yet I shall once again prove to my read
ers and from this very woman who was
the uncrowned "Queen of the Thieves,”
rich, powerful and protected by the police
- from this very "Mother” Mandelbaum
1 shall again show that CRIME DOES
NOT PAY!
But was this woman exceptionally un
lucky? No. 1 will recount to you also
the career ot John D. Grady, her very re
markable rival in the same field of crim
inal promotion—the man who financed
the great $3,000,000 Manhattan Bank rob
bery and had the famous Jimmy Hope and
his band of expert cracksmen in his em
ploy, From Grady 1 will also prove the
jgrea* moral truth that surely CRIME
t)OES NOT PAY*
"Mother" Mandelbaum’s real name was
Mrs. William Mandelbaum., She was born
in Germany of poor but respectable par
entage. As a young woman she arrived
in America without a friend or relative.
But her coarse, heavy features, powerful
physique and penetrating eye were suffi
cient protection and chaperone for any
one. It. is not likely that anyone ever
forced unwelcome attentions on this par
ticular Immigrant.
Arrived in New York she was com
pelled to pawn one or two gold trinkets
while looking for work This brought her
in touch with the. flourishing pawn-shop
business.
Encouragiug Pickpockets
Tlie pawn shops were practically un
regulated by law in those days and the
German girl's painful experience as a cus
tomer, instead of making her angry, im
pressed her with great admiration. There
was a field for an ambitious person and
if ambition is a virtue none was ever more
virtuous in that particular than “Mother "
But how to enter this profitable indus
try was the question. To be a pawn
broker has always required capital. That
is , it always has for anyone but this
woman, who had none. She made a hur
ried survey of the pawn shops along the
Bowery and elsewhere, and among others
noticed the place of one William Mandei-
baum.
William was unmarried, rather weak
willed for a man of bis calling, lazy and
afflicted with chronic dyspepsia. He
cooked his own meals over a kerosene
lamp, which was undoubtedly the cause
of his indigestion. "Mother" Mandelbaum
introduced herself as Fredericks Gold
berg. and offered to cook and tend store
at nominal wages.
The “nominal wages" item secured her
the position and the cooking made her
firm in it. Within a week, William's diges
tion was better than he could ever remem
ber since boyhood; he had gained seven
pounds in weight and business was grow
ing beautifully—all on account of the
capable Fredericks.
At the end of the week. William and
Fredericks had a business talk. Fredericka
didn’t want an increase in wages. She
didn’t want any wages at all. It was
partnership or noth'ng. William ate one
meal cooked by himself and then sur
rendered. Within a few weeks they were
married. Mrs. Mandelbaum forever after
ward was the head of the house of Man
delbaum.
Among her customers Mrs. Mandelbaum
noticed an occasional one who would
hurry in and get what he could on a mis
cellany of watches and small pieces of
jewelry. These hasty, furtive young men
and boys took what they could get and
showed little disposition to haggle. Also
they never returned to redeem their
pledges.
The new head of the house encouraged
these customers, who were, of course,
pickpockets. At first, through ignorance,
and later as a matter of policy, Mrs. Man
delbaum was more lllberai in her terms
than was customary. Some pawnbrokers
would not accept anything from a pick
pocket if thev knew it. The others took
advantage of the pickpocket's peril of the
law to drive the hardest possible terms.
It was not long before Mandelbaum’s had
the Mon's share of the pick pocket busi
ness. One who disposes of stolen goods Is
known as a "fence,” and Mrs. Mandelbaum
soon became one of the most important
"fences" for pickpockets in the city
As the pawnshop grew more and more
notorious, the weight of the police grew
heavier and heavier on the proprietress.
She dealt less liberally with pickpockets
than before. She squeezed them to the
last notch but they still remained her
customers for she w-as no harder than
the other fences.
In order to meet the ever increasing
blackmail of the police. Mrs. Mandelbaum
found it necessary to steadily enlarge her
business. • Carefully she developed a sys
tem for scattering her stock so that her
New York headquarters never contained
a very large stock of stolen goods. She
kept men busy melting down gold and sil
ver and disguising jewelry and others fer
retting out supposedly honest merchants
who were willing to buy her wares and
ask no questions.
It must always lie borne in mind in these
articles that crime cannot be carried on
by Individuals. It requires an elaborate
permanent organization. While the in
dividual operators, from pickpockets to
bank burglars, come and go, working from
coast to coast, they must be affiliated
with some permanent substantial person
who is in touch with the police. Such a
permanent head was "Mother" Mandel
baum
The field of usefulness to thieves of the
big "fences" like "Mother" Mandelbaum
and Grady are infinite. Suppose you are
a burglar and last night’s labors resulted
mostly in jewelry and silverware, you
would have neither the time nor the plant
to melt down the silver and disguise or
unset the stones. "Mother " Mandelbaum
would attend to all that for you on about
a 75 per cent commission
This wonderful woman kept certain
persons busy on salary melting down sil
ver. Others worked steadily altering, un-
setting and otherwise disguising jewelry
What w'ould you do with a stolen watch
which bore, deeply engraved on the back,
the name and address of its rightful own
er? You might melt down the case and
get a little something for the works, but
“Mother" would do better. She would
turn it over to one of her engravers who
would rapidly and not inartistlcally en
grave a little scene or decoration on the
watch case, completely masking the name
and address.
A stolen automobile is the worst kind
of a "white elephant” on your hands tin
less you know where to take it. Every
city has Its plants where a stolen car is
quickly made over, usually into a taxicab,
and so well disguised lliat its former own
er may pay for a ride in it without sus
picion.
The force of artisans and mechanics
employed on the fruits of burglaries and
pocket picking is several thousand in a
city the size of New York or Chicago.
All burglars and thieves are busy with
their own enterprises, and have no time to
look after all these matters. Somebody
there must be who will organize these first
aids to the captured criminals—the
"squarers of squealers,” the lawyers, the
men to provide bail, etc. Such a one with
"Mother" Mandelbaum
Hacks, taxicabs, express wagons and
even moving vans must be readily avail
able. Peddlers are extremely useful. They
prowl about wherever they please and act
as advance men for the burglars. Keep
ing peddlers and tramps off your premises
Is one of the best, forms of burglar in
surance
The army of enemies of society must
have Its general, and 1 believe that prob
ably the greatest of them afl was "Mother”
Mandelbaum
made, for there was nothing missing this
time An hour later she handed the
$8,000 gem to "Mother” Mandelbaum.
The following morning the man who pol
ished the counters at Tiffany's found a
piece of chewing gum wedged underneath
the counter where nobody would see it.
Inspection of the gum revealed the im
pression of the facets of a diamond of
the general size of the missing stone.
Then everyone understood. The man had
placed the gum beneath the counter when
he came in. At his first opportunity he
stuck the diamond in it. The girl coining
in later had only to feel along the coun
ter and remove the gem to make the
theft complete.
This first robbery planned by "Mother”
Mandelbaum was so delightfully successful
that the pickpocket industry seemed slow
by comparison. The chewing-gum trick
could not be worked again, because the
jeweller's association had notified all its
members of the new scheme. It was a
short step from jewel-stealing to sneak-
thief operations in banks. Sneak thieves
and confidence men began to frequent the
back rooms of the Mandelbaum establish
ment. It became a clearing house for
crimes of larceny—big and small
Many able and successful burglars are
unimaginative, and, left to their own de
vices, would never discover anything to
rob. These earnest but unimaginative
souls hung about the premises as if it were
an employment agency waiting for the
"boss” to find a job suited to their partic
ular talents.
Robbing Tiffany
Of all the stolen things brought Into her
shop, Mrs Mandelbaum preferred dia
monds. She rapidly became an expert on
stones and they presented few difficulties.
A stone once outside Its setting usually
bears no "earmarks” by which it can be
identified. Nothing is so easily hidden
nor so imperishable as a diamond, and. as
everyone knows, they have an unfailing
market. She exhorted her pickpocket cus
tomers to specialize on stickpins, and
doubtless they did their best to please her.
While pickpockets are “pickers," they
cannot always be choosers, and the per
centage of diamonds remained disappoint
ingly low. This interest in diamonds
brought the "fence" to visit Tiffany's sev
eral times. She stole nothing, in fact, l
am sure “Mother” never stole anything in
her life. But it cost her nothing to ex
amine and admire the beautiful stones,
and during one of her visits she was
struck with an ingenious idea which
marked the second step in her career.
She planned a robbery.
In the rear of the Mandelbaum store a
consultation was held between the pro
prietress, a confidence man known as
“Swell” Robinson and a shoplifter, just
arrived from Chicago, by the name of
Mary Wallenstein.
Robinson, as his name would indicate,
was a man of good clothes and presence.
He walked into Tiffany’s, went to the dia
mond counter and spent a long time ex
amining the big stones. After about
twenty minutes of questioning he was un
able to make up his mind and decided to
think the matter over and return later.
One of the stones valued at about $8,000
was missing, and the clerk very apolo
getically asked Robinson to wait a mo
ment while he searched for it. A dozen
employees hunted and counted the stones
while Robinson grew more and more in
dignant at the evident suspicion that he
had taken the stone
At last things came to a head and Rob
inson was lead to a room and searched.
Nothing was found and the store, know
ing they had been somehow robbed, were
compelled to let him go. The excitement
had not quieted down when Mary ap
peared.
She went to the same counter and stood
exactly where Robinson and been. She
examined one or two small diamonds and.
like Robinson, she concluded to go home
Dry Goods Store Thieves
On the other hand, timid but shrewd
and observant persons frequently saw
chances to steal which they dared not un
dertake. Servants of wealthy New York
amilies learned that “Mother” Mandelbautn
paid well for tips and plans of houses.
Next came employes of wholesale and
retail dry goods houses.
To hafadle bales of silk and woolen, furs,
blankets and other bulky but valuable mer
chandise presented new problems To
meet these Mrs. Mandelbaum moved her
establishment to larger quarters. She re
tained the pawnbroking department, but
added a miscellaneous store, in which she
carried for sale most all the articles found
in a country store
She was now the mother of Ihree chil
dren, two daughters and a son—Julius.
One of the daughters married a Twelfth
Ward Tammany politician. This political
alliance was extremely valuable. It made
the police more moderate in their extor
tion for immunity, and was the means of
obtaining pardons, light sentences and gen
eral miscarriage of justice on the part of
judges.
I shall hever forget the atmosphere of
“Mother" Mandelbaum’s place on the cor
ner of Clinton and Rivington streets: In
the front was the general store, innocent
enough in appearance; and, in fact, the
stock of goods were only part stolen, and
these of such a character that they could
not possibly be identified.
‘Mother" Mandelbaum led a life which
left her open to many dangers from many
different directions. Every member of the
Underworld knew that stolen goods of
great value were constantly coming into
her resort and from time to time schemes
were devised to plunder the famous old
"fence.”
Mrs. Mandelbaum always sat inside
of a window which was protected by strong
steel slats. The door to the room was of
heavy oak. It was impossible, thus pro
tected, for anybody to make a sudden
rush and catch “Mother” Mandelbaum off
her guard.
But, realizing that thieves might at any
moment raid her establishment and finally
force their way into her den. she provided
still another safeguard.
The Secret of the Chimney
"Mother” Mandelbaum had a special
chimney built in her den, where she kept
a little wood fire burning during the Win
ter and kept the fireplace filled with old
trash during the hot season. This chim
ney was peculiarly constructed, and had a
false back behind the fire, and in this cav
ity was hidden a little dumb-waiter. In
front of the dumb-waiter was a false iron
chimney back on a hinge that could be let
down. She constructed a special brick
wall so that it appeared to be the regular
wall of the house.
In case of sudden emergency, "Mother"
Mandelbaum could gather up any dia
monds or stolen goods which might be
incriminating, pull down the false chim
ney back, which fell down over the fire,
stow away the telltale valuable in the
hidden dumb-waiter, push the dumb-waiter
up out of sight into the chimney and push
back into place the false chimney back.
This simple operation concluded, “Mother”
Mandelbaum was then ready to face a
search or a holdup.
and think it over. There was no objection
If ever anybody lived in the proverbial
'glass house,” surely it was “Mother” Man
delbaum—and she knew it. Her estab
lishment was ostensibly a general store
and a pawnbroker's office, which she
maintained in the front room, but Mrs.
Mandelbaum also dealt in stolen goods of
all kinds and planned robberies with
thieves and often sheltered, protected and
hid thieves in times of trouble.
"Mother” Mandelbaum was never seen
in the front room, where a clerk was al
ways kept on guard. She kept out of
reach in an inside room, behind the win
dow with the steel grating. Her false
chimney and secret dumbwaiter arrange
ment, as already explained, was In this
room In another room "Mother” Mandel
baum kept two or three employes busy
removing stolen jewels from their settings
and engraving designs to cover up and
hide monograms and identification marks
from watches, jewelry and silverware
“Mother’s” Glass House
In an adjoining room were kept bulky
articles and stolen goods, such as fur
coats, etc Here, too, the price tags, fac
tory numbers and other marks were al
ways removed from stolen furs, laces and
silks. One of the back rooms contained
beds where thieves were lodged when oc
casion demanded. Still another room was
a store room where crates and cases of
stolen goods were packed up for shipment
to her customers. At the end of the
passageway leading to one of the rooms
was a secret trap door In case of a raid
by the police and if her front and back
doors were guarded by detectives, she
could use the trap door to let thieves
escape down through a hole tn the base
ment wall which led up into the house
next door which "Mother” Mandelbaum
also owned under another name
Gradually "Mother" Mandelbaum's clien
tele of crooks increased in number and
importance until she had only one real
rival, John D Grady- known as 'Old Supers
and Slangs "
Grady had a more distinguisned body of
bank burglars under his sway than had
"Mother " Bank burglars are the aristo
crats of the underworld, just as pickpock
ets are the lowest
When the Manhattan Bank robbery was
planned and executed "Mother" Mandel
baum was much humiliated that she could
not command the financing and planning
of the splendid project. It was Grady's
funds which financed the undertaking, and
poor "Mother” lost her one pet and star.
"Western George" 'Howard. Howard in
many ways was the greatest of bank burg
lars and he was rated by many as superior
to Grady's Jimmy Hope. Last week I told
you how "Western George” made Ihe Man
hattan Bank robbery possible and then was
murdered.
After Grady’s tragic death "Mother”
Mandelbaum was the undisputed financier,
guide, counsellor and friend of crime in
New York.
oi
The Tragic End of Grady, th
Grady, the "Fence,” having fill d his pc
e womai
et the g
murder
every arrangement to elope with t
she was trying to poison him. iHe
“So it's murder you want—we!
dering!”
She saw death in his eye as ft seized
would first have his way with hey She I
strength of despair, twisted the arfn out of
sleeve in his hand. * >‘3 . /
Still there could be no hope far her, an
he poised himself to plunge for hej again h
seized him and he sank slowly intg his chai
tered out of the door,
Grady was dead; heart dis)
moment.
For twenty-five years she lived on tl
proceeds of other people’s crimes. Duri
that time she made many millions. B\
these millions slipped away for the mou
part in bribing, fixing and silencing peoplj
Still she was a very wealthy, fat, ugl
old woman when the blow fell. Mary
brook, a shoplifter and old-time ally
Mrs. Mandelbaum, had a serious row w
her. This ro* was the beginning of “Mo
er’8” end
Soon after Mary was arrested, and,
course, applied for help from the us
Mrs. Mandelbaum’s Special Devices foi Dea
and Secret Trap-Door l cap*
If ever anybody lived in the proverbial “glass house,”
surely it was "Mother” Mandelbaum—and she knew it.
Her establishment was ostensibly 3 general store and a
pawnbroker’s office, which she maintained in the front
room (B), but Mrs. Mandelbaum also dealt in stolen
goods of all kinds and planned robberies with thieves, and
often sheltered, protected and hid thieves in times of
trouble.
“Mother” Mandelbaum was never seen in the front
room (B), where a clerk was always kept on guard. She
kept out of reach behind the window with the steel grat
ing (A). Her false chimney and secret dumb-waiter
arrangement was at the point (C). In the room (D)
“Mother” Mandelbaum kept two or three employes busy
removing stolen jewels from their settings and engrav
ing designs to cover up and hide monograms ard identi-
watche
i) were
coats, <
nd othe
laces a
thieves
fication marks
In the room
goods such as f
factory numbers
from stolen fur
tained beds whei
manded. The r m (H) i
and cases of stc ;n goods
to her customers At the
to the room (H) vat a se<
a raid by the pol e, and if
guarded by detec ives, she
let thieves escaf down tl
wall, wilich led jp into
“Mother” Mandelbaum
name.