Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME XVI.
CROOK? YES!
NOT THIEF!
SAYS LILLIS
k
EW YORK.—Jim Lillis,
as he is known through
out the length and
breadth of the land, is a
crook —at one time he
was one of the m6st suc
cessful crooks in the
, world. He studied rob
bery, worked bird at it
for many , made
■ himself an - t at it,
but came to grief over
over again. He is now, at
the age of 51, an old man, broken In
spirit, broken In health. Seven long
terms of imprisonment In penal Insti
tutions on both sides of the Atlantic
have convinced him that his chosen
profession is a poor one, and now —
he finished his last term only two
weeks ago—he has resolved to lead
an honest life.
“Everybody will say an habitual
criminal like myself cannot reform,”
sal'd Lillis, the other day. “I don’t
believe a thief can reform. This Is
my opinion formed after association
with thieves for forty years. But a
crook can reform. There is a differ
ence between a thief and a crook.
The crook, I say, can reform, if he
takes himself in time. I would place
30 years of age as the time when the
probabilities of reform are greatest.
Os course, there are exceptions; I, for
instance, expect to lead an honest life
though I am past 50.
“The ordinary crook is saturated
with the idea of obtaining money
easily and spending it rapidly. If, be
fore he is 30, he sees the difficulties
he will always have to face he can
turn aside with a fair chance of bury
ing his past. But I wouldn’t give the
average crook much for his chance
for reformation If he waits until he
reaches my age.
“Thieves” and “Crooks.”
“I am not a thief, although I have
stolen thousands of dollars. A thief
Is a thief through natural Instincts.
Thieves are born, not made. A crook
Is not a thief by instinct, but by pro
fession. I have devoted my time to
stealing, in the same manner as other
men devote their time to law, to busi
ness or to medicine. Stealing was my
profession. It was misdirected ener
gy. Had I devoted the same amount
of time and energy to law or medL
cine, I should have been a successful
lawyer or physician. There is, how
p *er, one great difference between my
profession and others. There can be
no lasting success in it. I am abso
lutely convinced of this fact, and for
that reason I have now dropped it.
“No, I am not going to reform. I
am simply giving up the profession
which I have followed for nearly forty
years.
“There is no longer anything left
for men in my profession. Criminal
ingenuity has not been able to keen
pace with modern invention. We are
forced into other lines of work. Some
of the brightest of us have become
promoters and swindlers. I have tried
before to drop my profession, but
circumstances have been against me.
I was unable to get honest work and
It was either steal or starve. I have
thought of suicide, but ’way down in
heart I believe in a God, so I have
never attempted to take my life. Now
that I am a free man, I am going to
remain free by abandoning the poor
est profession in the world.”
No Money In Thievery.
The history of this remarkable
man, who is now in New York, earn
ing an honest living, is a record of
a series of astounding crimes and ter
rible misfortunes, and from it only
one conclusion can be drawn —thiev-
ing as a profession doesn’t pay.
Lillis was born in County Clare,
Ireland, in 1855. His parents moved
to Cincinnati in 1861, and, as his fa
ther joihed the Union army, he had
to help support his mother. Accord
ingly, he sold newspapers in the
streets, and he received his early edu
cation from hackmen and from oth
er newsboys. He made several dol
lars every week during war times,
and everything went smoothly until
one day in 1867 a well dressed strang
er came up to him, snatched the news
papers from under his arm, placed a
$5 bill in his hand and tossed the pa
pers into the gutter.
“Boy,” said the stranger, “if you
will work for me I’ll give you $5 a
lay."
“You will?” cried the lad, trembling
with excitement. “Five dollars a day
for me?”
"Yes. Will you work for me?"
'1 will.”
His First Successful "Getaway."
The stranger was “Joe” Butts, the
notorious bank thief. He had planned
to rob the safe in the office of the
Phenix Brewing company, and he
needed a small boy to take the money
from the safe while he “newspa
pered,” or occupied the attention of
< t
Srnnittnn Wlktitu
NUMBER 30.
the clerks. Young Lillis, who was
then 12 years old, was just the boy
for the job.
A few days after the meeting the
robbery was pulled off. Lillis made a
“getaway” with $9,000, of which his
employer, the generous “Joe” Butts,
took all but SIOO. Still, that sum was
a fortune to the lad, and then and
there he resolved to be a crook. He,
worked with, or rather for, Butts for
two years and “pulled off” several dar
ing jobs. He made a specialty of rob
bing banks and bank messengers in
broad daylight, and In crooks' par
lance became what Is known as a
“bank sneak.”
Robbing Chemical National Bank.
Perhaps the most exciting episode
in Lillis’ adventurous career occurred
in New York city in 1869. Greatly en
couraged by his success in Cincin
nati, he was urged by Joe Butts to go
to New York to receive the finishing
touches of his education from the
noted crooks in that city.
Butts gave him a letter of introduc
tion to “Old Chauncey” Johnson, one
of the most noted crooks of that day.
It did not take Johnson long to ap
preciate Lillis’ remarkable criminal
ability, and he introduced the youth to
all of his associates. “Long John”
Walsh made him his protege, and to
gether they planned and executed sev
eral daring “sneaks."
“Old Chauncey” Johnson and “Long
John” Walsh conceived the idea of
robbing the Chemical National bank’s
messenger on the steps of the bank
as he was returning with his collec
tions. They took Lillis to Wall street
to get the lay of the land and size up
the job. It was their plan to have
him snatch the satchel with the money
from the messenger and make a break
for safety while they prevented the
messenger or any one else from inter
fering. Lillis looked over the ground
and said he could do it. He found
that he would be obliged to sprint
nearly 300 yards before he could make
the “getaway,” so he spent several
days in Central park training to sprint.
He was able to make 100 yards in
about eleven seconds fiat, but his
speed for 300 yards did not satisfy
“Long John” Walsh, so they decided
to get some one else to make the
“sneak.” They found a promising
youth in the person of “Kid” Meany,
one of the fastest sprinters In the
country, and on July 14, 1869, the four
went to the steps of the Chemical Na
tional bank.
Lillis’ Iron Nerve.
Lillis was to bend over and tie his
shoe the Instant the satchel was
stolen and thus block the messenger
from going in pursuit. Johnson and
Walsh were to block any others who
attempted to catch the thief. There
was a policeman on the corner a few
hundred feet away and the narrow
street was so crowded that it seemed
almost impossible for the “sneak" to
be successful, still they took their sta
tions to await the messenger. In due
time he arrived and started up the
small flight of steps to the bank. The
critical moment had arrived, but
“Kid” Meany, who was to make the
“snatch,” did not move. He stood on
the steps white as a sheet and shak
ing like a leaf. His courage had
failed him at the critical moment.
Lillie saw instantly that Meany had
“flunked.” Although his pals had ad
vised him not to attempt the sneak,
as he could not hope to make the dash
to safety quickly enough, Lillis
snatched the satchel from the hand of
the messenger, cleared the flight of
IRWINTON, WILKINSON COUNTY, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 1911.
steps with one jump and ran at top
speed down Wall street to Williams
street, where he disappeared in the
crowd. The bank messenger was too
astonished to go in pursuit, and al
though he cried for help, Lillis was
out of sight before any one was after
him. The “sneak” could not have
been more successfully carried out
had it been planned for Lillis to
snatch the satchel.
The satchel contained $14,000 and
was divided between “Old Chauncey”
Johnson, “Long Tom” Walsh and Lil
lis. “Kid” Meany was cut off with
out a penny for. losing his nerve.
Joined "Combination Mob.”
This bold piece of work made Lillis
famous in the underworld and he
was asked to join the “Combination
Mob,” a band of clever criminals who
were preparing to leave for London
to rob the Bank of England. The in
vitation was acceptc 1 and Lillis be
came an associate of “Little Joe”
Reilly, the forger who got $69,000
from the Union Trust company in
New York; “Rat” Reilly, the pick
pocket; Joe Butts, the bank sneak
and former friend from Cincinnati,
and Sophie Lyons, the notorious
woman thief. When they arrived in
London they were joined by Eddie
Guerin, who was later sent to Devil's
island for robbing the Bank of France,
and Billy Porter, the English thief
who robbed the duchess of Suther
land of a $50,000 diamond necklace.
But they found the bank too well pro
tected, so they gave up the job and
went to Paris, where several months
of work netted them about $40,000
each.
Lillis lost his at Monte Carlo, went
to England, was caught robbing a
bank messenger and spent two years
in Clerkenwell prison.
Beginning of the End.
Then bad luck overtook him at
every step. He was arrested in Louis
ville for robbing a patron of the Seel
bach hotel and was sentenced to one
year’s imprisonment at Frankfort. On
his release he went to Nashville,
Tenn., where, with “Sheeney” Harris
and “Sneaky” Jim, he robbed Jes
sup’s jewelry store. His pals got
away, but he stayed in town the day
after the robbery and was arrested.
He had previously “felt out the job”
and the clerk in the jewelry store
identified him as the man who had
made several purchases during the
week preceding the robbery. He
fought his case hard and carried it to
the supreme court of the state, his
pals having sent him money, but it
was no use. He was sentenced to 15
years in the Nashville state prison.
He served 11 years and 6 months, the
remainder of his sentence being com
muted for good behavior. He was re
leased from there a few weeks ago,
and he went to New York determined
to start anew before it was too late
to lead an honest life.
For two days he went without food,
being unable to secure employment.
Then, in desperation, he entered a
New York hotel, determined to steal
enough money to get something to
eat. He was on the point of entering
one of the rooms' when he conquered
his desires and left the hotel. He
met a friend who gave him temporary
assistance and last w'eek he secured
employment.
He says his crljninal career is ended.
Rather check your appetite than get
In debt, and though penniless be pa*
tienL—Chinese.
To Our Friends
The Buyers
Our Mr. Myrick has just returned from New
York, Baltimore and Philadelphia, where he went
to buy
Our Spring and
Summer Purchases
We just want to say that this year’s offerings
are the best ever shown by us—if you have ever
dealt here you know what this means—the best for
the least money. If you are not a customer of
ours, we would like to have you call on us. Let us
go over the same with you fully; let us show you
how and what it means to deal here.
THE “BIG STORE” IDEA
is different from others.. We want you to know
this store as we know it. Come and see us when
in Milledgeville; we will be glad to see you; oui
welcome will be hearty if you only come to look us
over. Yours for big business.
W. S. Myrick & Co.
“Milledgeville’s Big Store’.’
SI.OO A YEAR.
