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f 4 Copyrlgnt, 19U, by the Star Company. Great Britain Rights Reserved. Why Crime Does Not Pay- No. 17 of a Series of Remarkable Reve-' lations, by Sophie Lyons, QUEEN OF THE BURGLARS.” I felt a hand on my shoulder and knew instinctively it was a detective’s. Quickly thrust ing the bulky wallet hack into the old man’s pocket, 1 threw my arms around his neck and kissed him again. ‘Oh, Uncle Dan!’ I cried between the kisses with which I fairly smothered the astonished old man, “Where in the world did you come from.” N OT all the crimes the professional criminal commits are carefully planned in advance. Very often they are committed on the spur of the moment, when the opportunity to steal some article of value without detection tmddenly presents itself. The habit of wrong doing becomes so strongly developed that the thief Is unable to resist the temp tation to steal even when he is not in need of money and when there is every incentive for him to avoid the risk of arrest. This was exactly what happened to me In Springfield, Mass one day The fact that 1 was unable to withstand the glittering lure of a tray full of diamonds proved the starting point of one of the most eventful weeks of my life What happened to me during the week which began with my bold robbery of a Springfield diamond merchant is as good an example as ] can select from my pa. career to give point to the lesson I have learned and am trying to teach -that crime In the long run can never be made to pay. .lust think of it—in the seven days that followed the unlucky moment when I thrust my hand into that open showcase in Springfield. I was arrested three times. Jumped my bail once and successfully made my escape from a Boston cell. During all that time I was never free from fear of arrest -asleep or awake I would start at the slightest sound, fearful that it was a detective coming to snap those. hateful handcuffs on my wrists again. •And what did I have to show for all the nervous strain, all the suffering and hard t>hip I underwent during that week? Worse than nothing at all Although I stole cash and valuables amounting to more than seven thousand dollars. 1 was penniless when 1 finally succeeded in getting back to New York A good share of the money had gone to the lawyers A thousand dollars of it 1 had been obliged to leave behind when 1 made my escape from the Boston police, and the trayful of diamond rings 1 had stolen was hidden in Springfield, where 1 would not dare show my face for many months. Even the rings on my own fingers had gone to pay my lawyers' fees and my bail But let me go back to the very begin ning and explain just how all these things came about It was when I was on my way back from an unsuei essful bank robbing 'expedition to a Canadian town. I was feelim tired, out of sorts and generally disgusted with myself. "If 1 ever get back to my home in New York." 1 said to myself remorse fully. "I will surely settle down to an honest life" But alas for all my good intentions' Just before I reached Springfield 1 hap pened to recall that this was where an old school friend of mine lived. She was a thoroughly respectable woman, the wife of a hard working tradesman, and 1 deter mined to stop off and surprise her with a visit. As luck would have it. I found her house locked, and one of her neighbors told me that she was aw'ay visiting her mother in Worcester. Knowing no one else in Spring- held, there was nothing for me to do but kill time for two or three hours until an ther train left for New York I Written By Sophie Lyons 9 was strolling leisurely along one of the main streets as innocent as one of my babies of any intention of wrong-doing, when T happened to notice something wrong with my watch. Thp hands had evi dently stuck together, and it had stopped more than an hour before. Just across the street I saw a large jewelry store T walked over there to see about my watch It was the noon-hour and the store was deserted except for an old man whom I judged to be the proprietor, and, at his bench for in the rear, a lone watch maker. The proprietor was arranging some trays of diamonds in one of the showcases wheD I approached him and stated my errand He said my watch could be fixed in two minutes, and started • off with it to the watchmaker's bench. His back was no sooner turned than I took in the fact that he had neglected to close the sliding door of the showcase. Inside there, within easy reach of my long arms, were two, > hree a dozen trays or costly diamond rings, brooches and necklaces. Forgetting all my recent resolutions and regardless of the consequences. 1 reached my hand across the showcase and down inside. It took a powerful stretch of my muscles to reach the nearest of the trays But at last my fingers closed securely over its edge, and with a skill born of long ex perience I drew my arm back and the tray of rings came with it. This was an operation that required a good deal of care, because In my position the tray was not an easy thing to handle without letting some of its precious con tents fall clattering to the floor and give the alarm In less time than it takes to tell, however, and before the proprietor had fairly reached the watchmaker's bench. I had the tray safely concealed in my hand bag The proprietor returned w-ith my watch It was only a trivial matter to adjust it, he said, and there would be no charge w hatever. I thanked him and hurried out. shaking inwardly for fear he would dis cover the absence of the tray of rings before 1 could lose myself in the streets After getting his plunder a thief’s first thought is to get it out of his possession What he wants is a temporary hiding place a place where he can conceal it until whatever outcry the theft may have caused has had time to die down and he can safely dispose of his booty to one of the numerous fences” who are to be found in every large city Whenever pos stble, the pruuent thief selects a tempor ary hiding place before he actually lays his hands on his plunder, and loses no time in getting it out of his possession, so that in case the police arrest him soon after the robbery they will find nothing incriminat ing. This crime of mine, however, was so entirely unpremediated that 1 had not the faintest idea what 1 was going to do with my tray of rings when I walked out of the store. Down the street a few blocks I saw the railroad station, and this sug gested a plan. I would check my bag there and hide the check in some place where 1 could easily recover it whenever the coast was clear. This was a plan 1 had often followed w ith success, and it is a favorite with thieves even to this day. l saw by the newspapers that the misguided young man who robbed the New York jewelry firm of $100,000 worth of gems the other day went straight to the Pennsylvania Rail road Station and checked the suitcase con taining the plunder which had tempted him to his ruin By this time all intention to reform had left my mind, and I thought only of the ways I could use the money the diamonds would bring. The hurried inspection 1 had been able to give them placed their value at fully $3,000. I walked quickly, but with no outward signs of excitement to the station, where I locked my handbag and exchanged it for a brass eheck Then I walked out of the station and seated myself on a* bench in the public square. It was the work of only a minute to dig a little cavity in the gravel under one of the legs of the bench with the pointed heel of my French boot. A big red-faced policeman was standing un comfortably near all the while, but soon he turned his back. 1 bent over quickly, placed the check in the little hole I had dug and quickly covered it with earth. I continued sitting there for some minutes, making a mental photograph of the spot so that 1 would be able to locate it again, even if 1 had to wait months. As I rose and crossed the square to a department store I realized that 1 had not acted a bit too quickly, for 1 overheard some men discussing the daring robbery of the jewelry store. It had just been dis covered, so they said, and the police were already scouring the city for the thieves. 1 made haste to purchase a satchel very similar in appearance to the one contain ing the diamonds. In this I placed a few trinkets and such things as a woman might naturally carry, and returned to the rail road station. I checked this satchel just as 1 had the other, and walked away— my mind somewhat at rest. Walking along the main street 1 en countered a detective who was convoying a couple of men to the station. The face of one of the men was familiar, and he recognized me before 1 could turn away. Using a store window as a mirror I was able to see that all three had stopped across the street and were looking at me. I lost no time in getting away, and the detective, of course, had his hands full. But I knew my chances of getting out of town were mighty slim and it was no sur prise an hour later when two detectives confronted me at the station. "How do you do?” said one; “do you live here?” “I live in New Haven,” I said, rapidly adding a fictitious name and address. I explained my visit to town, but they were not satisfied, and to the police station I went. In searching me the detectives held up my satchel check and hurried off gleefully to the depot, quite certain that they had found the missing diamonds. They returned crestfallen, but the cap tain had an instinct that told him I had those diamonds, and he ordered me locked up over night. From a neighboring cell the two men ar rested earlier in the day called out: "Hello, Sophie, how did you get in?" I did not answer, and pretended not to know them. The pelice unlocked my cell door and invited me to come out and meet my friends, hoping, of course, to learn something. Thrilling Events Which Crowded One Short Week of This Famous Criminal’s Life—How She Profited Nothing from All the Risks She Faced * But I said in a loud voice that I never saw the men before, and that they must have mistaken me. The two men were good enough to take the hint at this point that 1 was in trouble, and soon after I heard one of them saying that from a dis tance I looked like Sophie Lyons. In the morning the police captain re luctantly released me. But he sent a de tective to make sure 1 got out of town, and he gave me his parting promise to run me banks, hut saw no chance of snatching anything. We were both very much in need of raising some funds right away, and something had to be done. A sure-enough farmer cashed a large check, counted the money five times, laid it in a huge wallet, and tied the wallet together with a piece of string. Then he placed it in the breast pocket of his coat and marched out. Of course, w-e followed. Lizzie, who was known as “The Woman in if I ever came W'ithin his reach. There was nothing for me to do but to take the train and hone to return some day for the diamonds. I got off at New Haven and sat in the railroad station pon dering ways and means. My thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of Lizzie Saunders, a woman criminal of no mean ability. From the effusiveness of her welcome I suspected that she was ''broke” and wanted a loan, as indeed, proved to be the case. 1 hadn't much to spare, and was forced to listen to her schemes. She told me that the town of Holyoke was a splendid in Black," because she never wore anv thing else, kept a lookout while I oper ated. The old man was watching the street parade,, hands in his trousers pockets chin stuck out and whiskers projecting a foot in front of him. I reached my hand into his pocket, got a grip on the wallet, and was about to the quick snap of the wrist and jostle which Is part of the pickpocket’s tech nique, when I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder I knew instinctively that it was a detective. Quickly thrusting the bulky wallet back into the old man’s pocket, I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. . “Oh, Uncle Dan! I cried between the kisses, with which I fairly smothered the astonished old man; “where in the world did you come from?” The old man almost got apoplexy, for I kissed him and hugged him with a vehemence that made everybody forget the parade. I can remember the sea of whiskers I dived into. “Gosh a 11 hemlock, who are you?” he gasped when I let him go. “I ain't Dan, I’m Abijah.” The detective really believed that I knew Abijah, but he remem bered Lizzie and took her away. I was about to escape when a red faced woman arrived and shouted: “You hussy, what do you mean by hugging my husband?” The detective hesi tated and looked back, but he would have let me go it' Lizzy hadn’t been fool enough to call 'By concealing the ticket in my handkerchief, I ° U *sophie, find me a nanaged to get it into my mouth as I wiped away the lawyer and get me out ears. Long before we reached the station house I had of this." shewed up the piece of pasteboard and swallowed it.” f J ^ ^ck-headed^p " dace to pick up money, as it was crowded vith farmers attending a fair. 1 was tired and disgusted and wanted o return to New' York Yet I did not i-ant to go so far from the diamonds, and nolishlv I listened and was persuaded lice detective, and he took us both away. The old man refused to testify against us. He was afraid he would not be believed and the scandal would get back to his home town. He was right, it would have. Arrived at the station, no talk or act ing was of the slightest avail, and the Li^lrr^ nnvf dnir holfl SOPHIE LYONS. of course, “jumped” it and arrived at Bos ton together. I was thoroughly disgusted w ith Lizzie, but she stuck to me like a leech, in spite of a dozen tricks that would have rid me of a detective. At last I succeeded In getting away from her and happened to meet an all round knight of the underworld known as "Frisco Farley.” Together we worked the soda fountain trick, which was new- then, and which I will explain in a later article. In the course of the day we took in con siderable profits, which had not been di vided or even counted when we foolishly stepped into a jewelry store, merely to look at a new-fangled thief-proof showcase. The first thing I knew, Farley was gone and I was arrested. It seems Farley had operated in that store a year ago, had been noticed and had escaped just in time. I was arrested as his accomplice. On the w'ay to the station w-hat worried me most was the fact that I had in my pocket a ticket to New York. In Boston, for some reason, a ticket to New v ork is looked upon by the police as conclusive evidence of guilt. I burst Into tears and wailed and sob bed at the shame and humiliation of my arrest. By concealing the ticket in my, handkerchief, 1 managed to get it into my mouth as I wiped away my tears. Long before we reached the station hoa.,3 I ..aJ chewed up the small piece of pasteboard and swallowed it. The story I told had only one weak spot. here was $400 more in my pocket boob ihan I thought, and this one discrepancy made them iock me up. I’hat night I was placed in <; ceil with an intoxicated woman. I was able to ; end out and get a bottle of whiskey, but not for myself. About midnight the woman woke up and was glad of a drink I not only gave her one, but many, until she was in a stupor and made no protest when I changed clothes with her. In those days, in Boston, it was usually the custom to let intoxicated persons sleep in a cell and then to put them out on the street in the morning without bringing them to court. In the morning I pretended to be half sober and protested violently against be ing thrown out in the cold: But they pushed me out onto the sidewalk, much to my outward grief and inward joy. I borrowed the price of a ticket to New York, leaving my money in the police station and my jewels at Springfield. Thus a week of hard, nerve-wrecking work net ted me absolutely not one cent, but in reality the loss of my jewels, my time- and considerable money. SOPHIE LYONS. What the Stars Predict for August A CCORDING to the stars, August will be a month of ill omen for the United States. In the lunation on the 2d the two malefics. Mars and Saturn, are nearing conjunc tion in the zenith, the functional quarter of the city, State, and national governments. A sinister influence surrounds these cen tres, and every device of statecraft will be needed to circumvent malicious attacks upon the integrity of chief executives. Presi dent Wilson, Governor Sulzer and the Mayor of New York will each feel the force of this, and a fanatical attempt will be made upon the life of one of them. Anxiety and ill-health will be prevalent in high places and the death of an Eastern Governor is foreshadowed. Heretofore we have found Jupiter a helpful arbiter in gov ernmental affairs, but the pendulum has suddenly veered the other way, with a national crisis threatening. The nation itself is in a crucible, and it is a question whether the test will pan out refinement or dross. There will be opposition to any specific measures advocated, and never before will we have realized so fully the inadequacy of our navy. A certain Power, cognizant of the astral law, has been await ing the psychological moment to force certain demands. In any event, Jupiter and Venus protect the Panama territory, although we shall suffer loss to both our navy and merchant marine through fire and explosion. There will be marked activity in the way of national defense, with movement of large bodies of troops. Serious rumors of war are sure to be prevalent with Mars so near the midheaven Grave troubles are threatened in the Eastern section of the country through disgrace in social and political quarters. Mar ket centers will be torn asunder through reports and actual in vestigations. and the full force of Mars and Saturn combined in our ruling sign will make itself unpleasantly manifest. The writer has seldom met with so disastrous a lunation as concerns the body politic during August. The building trades will be benefited, however, and currency interests in some way improved. The public health will suffer through peculiar disorders, with many cases of nervous prostra tion and of accident The weather promises cooler till after the 17th; then hot and humid, with destructive storms in the last week, accompanied by earthquake shocks. Specific happenings may be looked for as follows: AUGUST 1.—Excitement In a public gathering a casualty in traffic centres: a bullish market trend in the Mat nine days of the month. AUGUST 2.—Slanderous rcp"“t? in ,'ocial circles end . n itc portant divorce case attract attention AUGUST 6.—Considerable excitement In the stock market: advance in quotations between this and the 8th inclusive. A t diplomatic transaction satisfactorily effected in the same period. < AUGUST 10.—A seaside calamity; peculiar thefts involving women; an odd escapade in high society may be looked for. AUGUST 11.—Market depression, with quick recovery; dan ger to a public building; probable death of a prominent financier. AUGUST 13.—A scandal in financial marts; increase in public expenditures popularly sanctioned; the navy benefits. ( AUGUST 18.—The President, if on vacation, is visited by Cabinet members, a complex diplomatic problem having to be * dealt with. AUGUST 19-20.—Military activity around this period: war supplies shipped to insular posts. Illness in the President’s official family. AUGUST 24.—Mars conjunction Saturn; this horoscope a replica of the monthly lunation, accentuative of the evil therein mentioned, but its effects extend into December, and are too involved and far-reaching to be detailed here; of evil significance as regards national prestige. Various calamities on this day, with a pleasure resort disaster. Violent storms, destruction of property, and a train of circumstances is now set in motion that leads to many subsequent Governmental complexities. AUGUST 28.—Accident on an electric railroad; subways and the New Haven railroad are endangered. Jupiter this month assures a pleasant trend to the affairs of people born at the close of December and April, or near the beginning of September or November of any year. Business will be stimulated, health improved, new friendships formed, and those in employ will come into lines of promotion; they should seek favors and advancement. The December and Sep tember natives of the fair sex will receive offers of marriage, if eligible. An opposite condition of affairs in the nativities of people born between the 5th and 10th of March, June, September or December. Difficulties of a saturnine character will arise, progress will be impeded, and chronic disorders and genera] physical debility will be felt by many of them, yith danger from ptomaines and gastric troubles. They should avoid initial moves, and keep matters as near the accustomed groove as possible. There are many good birthday anniversaries in this month, particularly the first nine days, between the 18th and 23d, and 25th-27th inclusive. Unusual activity is shown for the year ahead, t with new business enterprise if born between the 6th and 8th, or between the 19th and 22d. Calamitous for those born near • * lOth-llth. 24th or 28th, domestic and business difficulties, reac- Hons and unwise changes The eligible of the fair sex will marry if born on 7th-8th, 19th-20th or 26th; bereavement if near th*> 11fh Oifh