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PROMOTERS OF CRIME--People
as “Backers” for Professional
Criminals; the Extraordinary
“Mother” Mandelbaum, “Queen
of the Thievesand Grady,
Who Had Half a Dozen Gangs
of Cracksmen Working for Him
Who Plan Robberies and Act
if Grady, the Burglars’ Backer
having fill
ope with t
him.
s eye as
y with
ted the
no
ige for
slowly i
cart
his pockets with diamonds and made
s woman he loved, suddenly discovered
the glass fall and shouted:
murder it shali be, but I’ll do the mur-
seized her arm. But before death he
She screamed and, pulling with the
out of»Grady’s grasp, leaving half her
her, and yet at the very instant when
again his eyes turned glassy, paralysis
while the fainting woman tot-
had overcome him at this supreme
vfd
es.
I lions,
r the
:ing
y, fat,
Mary
me ally
s row
g of
ed, and,
the
R'.mrc" Not a rent would the old woman
give her for hail, counsel fees or even
for special meals in the Tombs. Mary was
desperate, and sent for the District Attor-
r. y. It just happened that District Attor
ney Olney was an honest man He listened
to Mary's tale about "Mother” Mandelbaum
and acted.
"Mother” Mandelbaum, her son Julius
and Herman Stoude. one of her employes,
were arrested.
"Abe” Hummel did his best, but ihe in
dictment held, and there was a mass of
foil Dealing with Thieves
or
watches, jewelry and silverware.
■) were kept bulky articles and stslen
coats, etc. Here, too, the price tags,
nd other marks were always removed
taces and silks. The room (F) con-
beds whefl thieves were lodged when occasion de-
l marks
the room
such as f
’ numbei
itolen fur
m (H) was a store room, where crates
in goods w re packed up for shipment
At the end of the passageway leading
vas a secret trap door (G). In case of
e, and if her front and back doors were
d by deteclives, she could use the trap door (G) to
:ves escap down through a hole in the basement
vflich led jp into! the house next door, which
ir”. Mandtlbaum also owned under another
d. The
ses of 3to
customers
room (H)
by the pol
evidence sure to swamp her at the trial.
But "Mother” did not wait for the trial.
She and the others "jumped” their bail’and
escaped to Canada
>Here she lived a few years a wretched
and broken figure, yearning and working to
get back to the haunts she loved. But
neither her money nor her political friends
were able to secure her immunity. Once
she did sneak to New York for a few hours
and escaped unnoticed. It was at the time
of her daughter’s funeral, which she
watched from a distance, unable to attend
publicly.
Though "Mother” Mandelbaum 'had
money when she died, yet she was an exiled
broken-hearted old woman, whose money
did her no good. Unusually talented
woman that she was, it took most of her
lifetime for her to learn the lesson that
crime does not pay!
And now let us take a look at Grady,
Mrs. Mandelbaum’s great rival. Did this
remarkable man find that criflfS paid in
the long run?
Grady the Daring
John D. Grady, known to the police and
the Underworld as "Old Supers and
Slangs,” probably never handled as much
money or had his finger in quite so many
crimes as "Mother” Mandelbaum. His
career, too, was somewhat shorter, but it
made up for these defects in the un
equalled daring and magnitude of his ex
ploits
'Mother" Mandelbaum "played safe.”
Not so John D. Grady. His was a desperate
game, well played for splendid stakes, with
risks few men would care to take and
with all the elements of romance and a
tragic death to cap it.
Grady, like "Mother’’ Mandelbaum, was
a "fence," but while she dealt in every
thing, Grady specialized in diamonds. He
had an office opposite the Manhattan Bank,
which bore the sign, "John D. Grady, Dia
mond Merchant.” From the windows of
this office, Grady, Jimmy Hope and his
gang gazed hungrily across at the bank
and plotted its ruin. Up to the actual day
of the robbery Hope and Grady were in
accord on all plans. Afterward the two
leaders quarrelled over the disposition of
the bonds. Hope had his way and there
is little doubt that had Grady taken charge
of the two million dollars of securities he
would have succeeded in selling them,
whereas Hope failed.
While “Mother” Mandelbaum was build
up her trade with pickpockets and shop
lifters, Grady was carrying his business
about in a satchel. No man ever took
greater chances. At all hours of the night
this short, stocky man went about the
darkest and most dangerous parts of New
York. In the little black satchel, as every
criminal knew, was a fortune in diamonds.
When a thief had made a haul Grady
would meet him at any time or place he
pleased and take the diamonds off his
hands. Only once was he "sandbagged”
and robbed of several thousand dollars
worth of the stones. He took the misfor
tune in good part, said it was ’ is own
fault and never took revenge on the men
who robbed him.
Steam Drill Burglary
While "Mother” Mandelbaum engineered
house and dry goods store robberies, Grady
set his mind and energies on the great
banks. As bold as the Manhattan affair
was his assault on a West Side bank. The
vaults of this bank were surrounded by a
three-foot wall of solid concrete.
Grady opened a first-class saloon next
door, and as soon -as he got his bearings
installed a steam engine in the cellar. This
engine was supposed to run the electric
light dynamo and an air pump. In reality
it was there to drill a hole into the bank
next door
Selecting a Saturday which happened to
be a holiday, he commenced operations
Friday night, and there was every prospect
of being Inside the vault long before Mon
day morning. But unfortunately a wide
awake policeman of inquiring mind heard
the unfamiliar buzzing out in the street.
He prowled around and finally discovered
that something unusual was going on in
the cellar under the saloon. No answer
coming to his knocks, he burst in the door
and descended to the cellar. The thieves
ran out, but two were caught in the street.
Though Grady financed and planned this
scheme, he escaped untouched, for there
was no evidence against him.
Criminals, successful and unsuccessful,
rarely lack women to love them. Strange
ly enough, this grim, daring, successful
general of crime was perpetually spurned
and flouted by my sex. Finally there came
to him like an angel from heaven a very
beautiful, well-bred daughter of the rich.
Of course, John fell in love with her—any
man would have—and things looked favor
able for him
This woman was the young and almost
penniless widow of a member of the "four
hundred.” She had involved herself in a
financial situation from which there was
no honest escape. Just as servants of the
rich ran to "Mother” Mandelbaum with
their secrets, so this woman went to Grady
with her inside knowledge
A sort of partnership sprang up between
them which was profitable to both, but
particularly to the woman, who used her
sex unhesitatingly to get the better of her
bargains with the cunning old master of
the Underworld. Grady’s passion grew
stronger and stronger and the young
widow, who really despised him, found it
harder and harder to keep him at a dis
tance.
Finally things came to a head. Grady
knew that the secret of the Manhattan
Bank was soon to come out and that his
position in New York would be no longfer
safe. He was ready to flea, but his passion
for the woman had become so completely
his master that he would not move without
her. It was a peculiar duel of wits that
followed. The woman was financially, de
pendent on Grady and dared not hide from
him nor pretend that she did not return
his passion.
The night came when she must either
elope with him or lose his aid. The thought
of either was unbearable, yet she met him
in his empty house at midnight prepared.
She knew that Grady would have his en
tire fortune with him in the form of the
diamonds and her plan was nothing less
than to murder him and take his jewels.
She had brought a little vial of poison
with her and held it in trembling fingers
within her muff. She knew Grady had a
bottle of yellow wine and she knew it
would not be hard to have him drink a
toast to their elopement.
Grady produced the bottle but also only
one dirty tumbler. They were both to
drink from that, it seemed. The woman,
at her wits’ ends, glanced about the room
and spied a battered tin cup.
"There,” she cried, pointing, "the very
thing.’’
Grady’s Romantic Death
While Grady went to get it she emptied
the vial into the dirty glass. Grady soon
poured a quantity of the yellow wine on
top of it and then filled Ihe cup But to
her horror, he handed her the glass anti
took the cup.
"No. no, John," she gasped, "you tako
the glass. I’ll drink from the cup.”
“Why," asked Grady, his eyes afiame
with sudden suspicion, “what’s the mat
ter?’’
“Oh, only that I left a kiss for you on
the glass,” she faltered
Grady took the glass and slowly, very
slowly, he raised it toward his lips, all the
while gazing unwinkingly at the woman.
Just at his lips the glass stopped and the
woman could not avoid a shudder, she
covered her eyes and Grady, used to read
ing people’s minds, read her’s. He let. the
glass fall and shouted:
“So, it’s murder you want—well, mur
der It shall be, but I’ll do the murdering.
She saw death in his eyes as he seized
her arm, but before death he would first
have his way with her. She screamed and
pulling with the strength of despair, twist
ed the arm out of Grady’s grasp, leaving
half her sleeve in his hand.
Still, there could surely be no hope for
her. and yet at that very instant when he
poised himself to plunge after her again,
his eyeB turned glassy; paralysis seized
him and he sank slowly into his chair
while the fainting woman tottered out of
the door.
The next day, it so happened, Shevelin,
the watchman, confessed to his connection
with the Manhattan Bank robbery. The
police were just taking up the trail that
led to Grady’s connection with the affair
when the news came to headauarters that
Grady was dead.
He was found with the sleeve of a
woman’s dress grasped convulsively in his
hand. On the table was a bottle of wine
and a cup. A broken glass and spilled
wine on the floor showed traces of poison
Greed of the “Fences”
An autopsy performed on Grady's body
showed no sign of poison. His death had
been caused by apoplexy. The woman who
meant to kill him by poison had actually
done so by means of the furious emotions
she had aroused. She could have taken
the diamonds had she only dared to wait.
Thus died Grady, still free from the
law, and with his great fortune in dia
monds in his pockets. Yet he died in an
agony of furious disappointment as miser
ably as it is the lot of man 'to die. For
him, as for "Mother" Mandelbaum. It was
destined that the lesson should be finally
but tragically impressed—that crime does
not pay! , ,
As a general thing the receiver of stolen
goods is the greediest, tightest fisted indi
vidual who ever squeezed a dollar. The
bargains he drives are so one-sided that
unless the thief is unusually shrewd he
will find his profits dwindling to almost
nothing by the time he has disposed of his
plunder. The margin between what the
thief gets for his stealings and the price
they finally bring is enormous, and even
with only a few thieves working regularly
for him the “fence” finds it easy to get
rich in a very short time
The greed of the “fences" is one impor
tant reason why many criminals find it
difficult to reform. The more thieves a
“fence” has working for him, the greater
his profits, and naturally the longer they
remain in the business the more valuable
they are When a thief reforms the "fence"
“Mother” Mandelbaum’s False Chimney and Secret Hiding
Place for Stolen Jewels. *
"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 protected, for
anybody to make a sudden rush and catch "Mother” Man
delbaum off her guard.
But, realizing that thieves might at any moment raid
her establishments and finally force their way into her
den, she- provided still another safeguard.
“Mother” Mandelbaum had a special chimney built in
her den, where she kept a little wood fire burning during
the Winter, and kept the fireplace filled with old trash
during the hot season. This chimney was peculiarly con
structed, and had a false back behind the fire, and In this
cavity was a little dumb-waiter (A). In front of the
dumb-waiter was a false Iron chimney back (B). She
constructed a special brick wall (D). so that It appeared
to be the regular wall of the house.
In case of sudden emergency "Mother" Mandelbaum
could gather up any diamonds or stolen goods which
might be Incriminating, puli down the false chimney
back (B), which fell down over the fireplace to the
point (C), stow away the telltale valuables in the dumb
waiter (A), push the dumb-waiter up out of sight Into the
chimney and push back into place the false chimney
back (B). This simple operation concluded, "Mother"
Mandelbaum was then ready to face a search or a hold-up.
Is put to the trouble and expense of train
ing a new man—and there is always the
danger that the new member of the staff
will prove less capable or industrious than
the one whose place he takes.
The "fence” therefore tries to make
crime so attractive or so necessary to the
clever thief that he will continue stealing
until death or arrest overtakes him. He
keeps close watch for signs of a desire to
reform, and does all he can to discourage it.
The "fence” studies the special weak
nesses of his thieves' and understands just
how to play on them to his advantage. If
a thief suggests "turning over a new leaf”
the "fence” pays him more liberally for bis
next lot of goods, or loans him money to
satisfy his craving for liquor, drugs, fine
c’othes or whatever may be his failing.
This last is a favorite method of getting
a thief into a "fence's” power. The "fence”
advances money ’freely, with the "always-
glad-to-help-an-old-friend” spirit. But he
keeps careful count of every dollar loaned,
and when the inevitab'e day of reckoning
comes the debt Is usually so large that the
thief can never hope to nay it except by
crime
Shinburn and the “Fence”
After living an honest life for fifteen
years Mark Shinburn might never have
turned burglar again had he not fallen
into the hands of one of these avaricious
receivers of stolen goods.
Shinburn—as I will tell you in a later
chapter—had accumulated from his carlj
robberies a million dollars. With this for
tune he went to Belgium, bought an estate
and the title of count, and settled down to
the life of a prosperous country gentleman.
But the evil fortune which seems to fol
low every thief never forsook Shinburn.
His mania for gambling and an unlucky
series of speculations in the stock market
at last left him penniless
In the hope of restoring his fallen for
tunes Shinburn went to London There, he
met an old acquaintance of his—a wealthy
receiver of stolen goods Thl« wily trick
ater. eager to aet Sbluburn, the greatest
of burglars, to stealing for him again, re
ceived him with open arms.
"Glad to accommodate you, Mark,” said
the "fence” when a loan was suggested.
"Your word is good for whatever you need
—and pay it back whenever you are able.”
The money Shinburn received in this way
went where much of his original fortune
had gone—at Monte Carlo. He returned to
the London "fence” for another loan and
another—and all were willingly granted.
But when he sought money the fourth time
he found the "fence’s” attitude strangely
changed.
He Turns Burglar Again
"Really,” said the ’fence," “I don’t see
how I can let you have any more money. It
seems peculiar that you should be in such
straitened circumstances. In the old
days you ,used to have all the money you
needed—why don't you use your wits and
get some now?”
After touching Shinburn’s pride in this
crafty way, the ’’fence” casually mentioned
an excellent opportunity which had come to
his ears for robbing a bank In Belgium. It
was, he said, a rather delicate undertaking,
but there was a great deal of money in
volved—and Shinburn was the one man in
the world who could carry It through.
'Shinburn’s shame at being obliged to
borrow money made him an easy victim
)f the "fence’s" wiles. He went to Belgium,
was caught in the act of entering the bank,
and was sent to prison for a long term. As
i soon as he was released the London “fence"
began pressing him for money, and Shin
burn became a confirmed criminal again,
primarily to pay this debt.
And this same fence, Einstein by name,
paid the penalty of his wretched practices
with a bullet in his brain, which -was sent
there by a desperate burglar who had
tried vainly to reform, but was held In
criminal bondage by Einstein
The promoter of crime is not always a
receiver of stolen goods. Sometimes he Is
himself a thief, who has mastered some
branch of the business so thoroughly that
he Is able to sit back and let others do
the active work.
Such a man was “Dutch Dan” Watson,
who was long considered one of the most
expert makers of duplicate keys In Amer
ica. His specialty wag entering "buildings
and taking wax impressions of the keys,
which he often found hanging up In sur
prisingly convenient places.
From these Impressions Watson, In his
own workshop, would make the duplicate
keys and file them away for future use. To
each key he would attach a tag bearing the
address of the building and a little diagram
showing the. exact location of the door
which the key unlocked.
“Dutch Dan's” active part In the proposed
crime ended as soon as the keys were
made. Then from the wide circle of crimi
nals he knew he would select a number of
expert burglars and hand them a set ol
the keys and diagrams showing jUBt how
the robbery was to be carried out.
If the burglars were successful they
turned over to “Dutch Dan” 20 per cent of
the proceeds. This mode of operation
proved very profitable for Watson, and I
remember that he often had as many as
eight different parties of burglars working
for him at one time.
And Watson, like Einstein, was sent to
his grave by a fellow criminal, who had
been discarded from his gang and killed
him In revenge.
Will any reader of this page who has re
viewed wtth me the Uvea of the famous
criminals recounted above dispute my as
sertion' -that truly CRIME DOES NOT
PAY?
SOPHIE LYCN$.
NEXT SUNDAY SOPHIE LYONS WILL DEAL WITH D* fit NO
TRAIN ROBBER'S—Charles Boles, who always worked atone, but dress-
up dummy robbers with wooden guna and planted them along the trs- :.
and other remarkable cases.