THE SECRET OF THE STOLEN GAINSBOROUGH--AND THE LESSON OF THE CAREER
OF RAYMOND, THE "PRINCE OF SAFE BLOWERS," WHO BUILT A MILLIONAIRE'S
RESIDENCE IN A FASHIONABLE LONDON SUBURB AND KEPT A YACHT WITH A CREW
OF 20 MEN IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
It was on the morning of May 15, several years ago, that the manager of
Agnew's great art gallery in London turned the key in the lock of the
private gallery to show an art patron the famous "Gainsborough." His
amiable smile faded from his lips as he came face to face with an empty
gilt frame.
The great $125,000 painting had been cut from its frame.
Who stole this masterpiece? How was it stolen? Could it be recovered?
The best detectives of Europe and America were asked to find answers to
these questions. They never did. I will answer them here for the first
time to-day.
The man who cut the Gainsborough from its frame was a millionaire, he
was an associate of mine, he was a bank burglar. Adam Worth, or Harry
Raymond, as he was known to his friends, did not need the money and
he did not want the painting--he entered that London art gallery at 3
o'clock in the morning and took that roll of canvas out under his arm
for a purpose that nobody suspected. I will explain all this presently.
I have said that Raymond was a millionaire, and I said in previous
chapters that crime does not pay--how is it possible to reconcile these
two statements? We shall see.
Among all my old acquaintances and associates in the criminal world,
perhaps no one serves better as an example of the truth that crime does
not pay than this very millionaire burglar, this man who had earned
the title of the "Prince of Safe Blowers." For a time he seemed to
have everything his heart could desire--a mansion, servants, liveried
equipages, a yacht; and it all crumbled away like a house of cards,
vanished like the wealth of Aladdin in the Arabian Nights. And so
Raymond, most "successful" bank robber of the day, lived to learn the
lesson that crime does not pay.
Raymond was a Massachusetts boy--bright, wide awake, but headstrong.
Born of an excellent family and well educated, he formed bad habits and
developed a passion for gambling.
RAYMOND'S FIRST CRIMES
Unable to earn honestly all he needed to gratify his passion for
gambling, Raymond soon drifted into the companionship of some
professional thieves he had met in the army. From that time his
downfall was rapid; he never earned another honest dollar. Like myself
and many other criminals who later achieved notoriety in broader
fields, he first tried picking pockets. He had good teachers and he
was an apt pupil. His long, slender fingers seemed just made for the
delicate task of slipping watches out of men's pockets and purses out
of women's handbags. Soon he had plenty of money and a wide reputation
for his cleverness in escaping arrest.
Aside from his love for faro and roulette, Raymond was always a
prudent, thrifty man. In those early days he picked pockets so
skillfully and disposed of his booty to the "fences" so shrewdly
that it was not long before he had enough capital to finance other
criminals. The first manifestation of the executive ability which was
one day to make him a power in the underworld was his organization of
a band of pickpockets. Raymond's word was law with the little group of
young thieves he gathered around him. He furnished the brains to keep
them out of trouble and the cash to get them out if by chance they got
in. Every morning they met in a little Canal Street restaurant to take
their orders from him--at night they came back to hand him a liberal
share of the day's earnings.
But even the enormous profits of this syndicate of pickpockets were not
enough to satisfy Raymond's restless ambition. He began to cast envious
eyes at men like my husband (Ned Lyons), Big Jim Brady, Dan Noble, Tom
Bigelow, and other bank sneaks and burglars whom he met in the places
where criminals gathered. These men were big, strong, good-looking
fellows. Their work looked easy--it was certainly exciting. They had
long intervals of leisure and were always well supplied with money. "If
these men can make a good living robbing banks," thought Raymond, "why
can't I?"
It was through Raymond's itching to get into bank work that I first
met him. One day he came into a restaurant where my husband and I were
sitting, and Mr. Lyons introduced him to me. I myself saw little in him
to impress me, but when he had gone my husband said: "That fellow will
be a great thief some day."
AMBITIOUS TO BE A BANK BURGLAR
It was hard for a young man to get a foothold with an organized party
of bank robbers, for the more experienced men were reluctant to risk
their chances of success by taking on a beginner.
"No doubt you're all right," they told him, "but you can see yourself
that we can't afford to have anybody around that hasn't had experience
in our line of business. It's too risky for us, and it wouldn't be fair
to you."
"But how am I going to get experience if some of you chaps don't give
me a chance?" Raymond replied; but still he got no encouragement from
my husband and his companions.
"All right," he finally said one day. "I'll show you what I can do--I
won't be asking to be taken in with you; you will be asking me."
So Raymond, in order to get experience, cheerfully made up his mind to
make his first attempt in that line alone. He broke into an express
company's office on Liberty Street and forced open a safe containing
$30,000 in gold. The inner box, however, in which the money was kept,
proved too much for Raymond's limited experience. To his great disgust,
daylight came before he was able to get it open.
Tired and mad, Raymond trudged home in the gray of the morning, dusty,
greasy, and with his tools under his arm. The newspapers printed the
full details of the curious failure to reach the funds in the express
company's safe, and Ned Lyons and his companions guessed very quickly
whose work it was. Meeting Raymond a few days later, they accused him
of having done the bungling job. He admitted that the joke was on him,
and they all laughed loudly at his effort to get some experience.
"You're all right," said Big Jim Brady. "You've got the right
idea--that's the only way to learn; keep at it and you will make a name
for yourself some day."
His next undertaking was more successful. From the safe of an insurance
company in Cambridge, Mass., his native town, he took $20,000 in cash.
This established him as a bank burglar, and he soon became associated
with a gang of expert cracksmen, including Ike Marsh, Bob Cochran, and
Charley Bullard.
ROBBING THE BOYLSTON BANK
Raymond was very proud of having gotten a footing among the big bank
burglars, whom he had long looked upon with respect and envy. After
several minor robberies Raymond became uneasy, and declared that he
wanted to do a really big job that would be worth while--something
that would astonish the police and would merit the respect of the big
professional bank burglars.
[Illustration: ROBBING THE BOYLSTON BANK]
Being a native of Massachusetts, he decided to give his attention to
something in his own State. He made a tour of inspection of all the
Boston banks, and decided that the famous Boylston Bank, the biggest in
the city, would suit him.
And, in picking this great bank, Raymond had indeed selected an
undertaking which was worthy of his skill and daring.
On Washington Street Raymond's quick eye at once discovered a vacant
shop adjoining the Boylston Bank. He rented this shop, ostensibly for a
patent medicine laboratory, filled the windows with bottles of bitters
and built a partition across the back of the shop. The partition was to
hide the piles of débris which would accumulate as the robbers burrowed
into the bank next door; the bottles in the window to prevent passersby
seeing too much of the interior.
When news of this clever ruse of Raymond's came out in the papers after
the robbery, I made a note of it and used the same idea years later
in robbing an Illinois bank at its president's request. That is an
interesting chapter in my life which I will give you soon.
Careful measurements had shown where the tunneling through the thick
walls of the bank could best be bored. Work was done only at night, and
in a week's time only a thin coating of plaster separated them from
the treasure. The robbers entered the vault on Saturday night, broke
open three safes which they found there and escaped with a million
dollars in cash and securities. After this crime America was not safe
for Raymond, so he and his comrades, including Charley Bullard, fled to
Europe.
In Paris Bullard opened a gambling house, and there Raymond lived when
the criminal ventures from which he was amassing his first fortune
permitted.
And now there entered into Raymond's life a very remarkable romance,
which almost caused him to reform.
In one of the big Parisian hotels at this time was an Irish barmaid
named Kate Kelley. She was an unusually beautiful girl--a plump,
dashing blonde of much the same type Lillian Russell was years ago.
Bullard and Raymond both fell madly in love with her.
The race for her favor was a close one, despite the fact that Bullard
was an accomplished musician, spoke several languages fluently, and
was in other ways Raymond's superior. The scales, however, were surely
turning in Raymond's favor when the rumor that he was a bank robber
reached Kate's ears.
Raymond admitted this was the truth. But he never attempted to take
advantage of his friend Bullard by telling Kate that he also was a
thief. That was characteristic of the man. Criminal though he was, he
never stooped to anything mean or underhanded, and would stand by his
friends through thick and thin. Instead of trying to drag Bullard to
disappointment with him, he pleaded with Kate to forgive his past and
to help him make a fresh start.
"Marry me," he urged, "and I'll never commit another crime. We'll go
to some distant land and I'll start all over again in some decent,
honorable business."
But Kate would not be persuaded. She could not marry a self-confessed
thief--no, never! A month later she married Bullard, little dreaming
how glad the American police would be to lay their hands on him.
Raymond was best man at the wedding, and to his credit it should be
said that the bridal couple had no sincerer well-wisher than he.
RAYMOND'S GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT
Kate never realized how she had been deceived until several years
later, when Bullard was given a prison sentence for running a crooked
gambling house. She got an inkling of the facts then and her husband
confessed the rest. By this time, however, she had two little children,
and her anxiety for them impelled her to become reconciled to the
situation and stick to her husband. After his release they left the
children in a French school, returned to this country, and took a
brown-stone house at the corner of Cumberland Street and De Kalb
Avenue, in Brooklyn. Here they installed all the costly furniture,
bric-à-brac, and paintings which had made Bullard's gambling house one
of the show places of Paris.
Soon afterward Raymond also came to America, although there was a price
on his head for his share in the Boylston Bank robbery. He lived with
Kate and Bullard until the latter's jealousy caused a quarrel. Then he
went to London and laid the foundations for the international clearing
house of crime which for years had its headquarters in his luxurious
apartment in Piccadilly.
With Raymond's cool, calculating brain no longer there to guide him,
Bullard became reckless and fell into the hands of the police. He was
sentenced to twenty years in prison. For her own and her children's
support his wife had nothing except the rich contents of the Brooklyn
home. She tried various ways of making a living, with poor success, and
was at last forced to offer a quantity of her paintings for sale in an
art store on Twenty-third Street.
In this store one day she met Antonio Terry. His father was an
Irishman, his mother a native of Havana, and he had inherited millions
of dollars in Cuban sugar plantations. Young Terry was infatuated with
Kate's queenly beauty, and he laid siege to her heart so ardently
that she divorced her convict husband and married him. Two children
blessed this exceedingly happy marriage. Before Terry died he divided
his fortune equally among his wife, his own children, and the children
she had by her first husband. Kate Terry lived until 1895, and left an
estate valued at $6,000,000. She passed her last years in a magnificent
mansion on Fifth Avenue, surrounded by every luxury.
Kate Kelley's refusal to marry Raymond was one of the great
disappointments of his unhappy life. He married another woman, but I am
sure he never forgot the winsome Irish barmaid who had won his heart
in Paris. "What's the news of Kate?" used to be his first question
whenever I arrived in London, and his face would fall if something
prevented my seeing her on my last visit to New York. Had this woman
become Raymond's wife I am confident that the whole course of his life
would have been changed, and that the world would have something to
remember him for besides an unbroken record of crime.
PLANNING THE GAINSBOROUGH ROBBERY
As I have said, Raymond had not been long in London before he had
forced his way into a commanding position in the criminal world. The
cleverest thieves of every nation sought him out as soon as they set
foot in England. They sought his advice, carried out his orders, and
gladly shared with him the profits of their illegal enterprises. Crimes
in every corner of the globe were planned in his luxurious home--and
there, often, the final division of booty was made.
No crime seemed too difficult or too daring for Raymond to undertake.
It was his almost unbroken record of success in getting large amounts
of plunder and in escaping punishment for crimes that gave the
underworld such confidence in him and made all the cleverest criminals
his accomplices. Another reason for his leadership was his unwavering
loyalty to his friends. Raymond never "squealed"--he never deserted a
friend. When one of his associates ran foul of the law he would give
as freely of his brains and money to secure his release as if his own
liberty were at stake. It was his loyalty to a friend--a thief named
Tom Warren--which led to his bold theft of the famous Gainsborough
portrait for which J. Pierpont Morgan later paid $125,000. Here is how
it came about:
Warren was in jail in London for his share in one of Raymond's
forgeries. He was a great favorite of Raymond's and Harry vowed he
would have him out before his case ever came to trial. This, however,
was no easy matter, because England is not like this country, where
almost anyone can furnish bond. The bondsman in England must be a
freeholder and of good reputation.
While Raymond was searching his fertile brain for some way out of the
difficulty, he and an English thief named Jack Philips happened to be
walking through Bond Street and noticed the large number of fashionable
carriages stopping at Agnew & Company's art gallery. To satisfy their
curiosity they entered the gallery and found that everybody was
crowding about a wonderful portrait of the Duchess of Devonshire,
painted by the master hand of the great artist Gainsborough.
It was Gainsborough's masterpiece, and the Agnews were considering a
number of bids that had been made for the painting. They had one offer
of $100,000 from an American, but they were holding it on exhibition in
the belief that a still better bid would be made.
Raymond stood long and thoughtfully on the edge of the crowd, studied
the painting, took in the doors, walls, windows, chatted with an
attendant, and slowly sauntered out, swinging his cane.
"I have the idea," exclaimed Raymond the instant they were in the
street again. "We'll steal that picture and use it as a club to compel
the Agnews to go bail for Tom Warren."
"You don't want that picture," said Philips. "It's a clumsy thing to do
anything with."
"Of course I don't want the picture--but Agnew does," Raymond replied.
"If I get it and send word that Tom Warren, who is in jail, knows where
it's hidden--don't you suppose Agnew will hurry down to Old Bailey
Prison, bail poor Tom out mighty quick, and pay him something besides
if Warren digs up the picture for him?"
"He might," admitted Philips.
"Why, of course he will," persisted Raymond. "And it's the only way I
can see to make sure of getting Tom Warren out before he is called for
trial. When they try him they'll convict him; and then it's too late."
Philips was not enthusiastic over the scheme. In the first place
he thought it too risky. Even if they did succeed in getting the
picture he feared it would prove an elephant on their hands. Raymond,
however, was a man who seldom receded from a decision, no matter how
quickly it had been made. He argued away Philip's objections and with
the assistance of Joe Elliott, a forger whom they took into their
confidence, they proceeded with their plans for the robbery.
HOW THE GREAT MASTERPIECE WAS STOLEN
It was decided to make the attempt on the first dark, foggy night.
Elliott was to be the "lookout" and keep a watchful eye for any of the
army of policemen and private detectives who guarded the gallery's
treasures. Philips was to serve as the "stepladder." On his broad,
powerful shoulders, the light, agile Raymond would mount like a circus
performer, climb through a window and cut the precious canvas out of
the frame. It was a job fraught with the greatest danger, for the
gallery was carefully protected with locks and bars and, besides, no
one could tell when a policeman or detective might appear on the scene.
A thick fog settled down on the city the night of May 15, 1876. Under
its cover the thieves decided to make their descent on the gallery
early the next morning.
Just as the clocks were striking three, Raymond stole cautiously into
the alley at the rear of the Agnew gallery. Then he was joined after a
judicious interval by his two comrades.
Elliott remained near the mouth of the alley to watch for "bobbies."
Raymond and Philips stealthily made their way over the back fence and
to a rear window, whose sill was about eight feet from the ground.
Straining his ears for any ominous sound, Philips braced his big body
to bear Raymond's weight. Then he made a stirrup of his hand and
Raymond sprang like a cat to his shoulders.
Crouching in the darkness, Elliott watched and waited while Raymond
applied his jimmy to the window. "Click" went the fastenings--but not
too loud. The sash was cautiously raised and Harry Raymond dropped to
the floor inside.
Unluckily for the owners of the Gainsborough, the watchmen were asleep
on an upper floor. Raymond, with the clever thief's characteristic
caution, first groped his way to the front door to see if he could
unfasten it and thus provide a second avenue of escape for use in an
emergency. But the locks and bars were too much for him and he gave up
the attempt.
By the dim rays of his dark lantern he could see the gallery's
pride--the famous Gainsborough, hanging on what picture dealers know as
"the line"--that is to say, about five feet from the floor.
The place was as quiet as the grave. A sudden sound gave Raymond a
start--but it was only a cat that came mewing out of the darkness.
Outside a cab rattled by and the heavy tread of a policeman's feet
echoed through the street.
Raymond procured a table, which he placed before the portrait. By
standing upon it he was barely able to reach the top. With a long,
sharp knife he carefully slashed the precious canvas from its heavy
gold frame.
At one of the bottom corners Raymond's knife made a series of peculiar
zigzags. Later he cut from the portrait a little piece that matched
these jagged lines. This was to send to the Agnews as evidence that he
really had the picture.
[Illustration: HOW RAYMOND CUT THE FAMOUS "GAINSBOROUGH" OUT OF ITS
FRAME.]
After cutting the picture out, Raymond rolled it up carefully, tied it
with a string, and buttoned it underneath his coat. Then he went out
the same way he had entered, being careful to close the window behind
him. With his companions he returned to his Piccadilly house and hid in
a closet the picture which he hoped would prove his friend's ransom.
Next morning all London was in a fever of excitement over the loss of
the Gainsborough. The Agnews offered $5,000 for its return and soon
increased the reward to $15,000. A hundred of the best detectives in
Scotland Yard scoured the city for clews.
The crime was shrouded in mystery. The doors of the gallery had not
been tampered with. The fastenings of a rear window were broken, but
the watchmen averred that no thief could have entered there as they had
been sitting close by all night.
In all London the only persons who had no theories to advance as to the
Gainsborough's fate were Raymond, Philips, and Elliott. They quietly
waited for the excitement to subside, realizing that with the public
mind in its present state it was altogether too hazardous to think of
attempting to negotiate for the picture's return.
Meanwhile something happened to make the Gainsborough of no use
to Raymond--his friend Warren was released from jail through the
discovery of a technicality in his indictment. The famous portrait now
became a veritable "white elephant." Raymond dared not return it--he
feared to leave it in storage lest some one recognize it. So he carried
the roll of canvas with him about the world until later, when, through
"Pat" Sheedy's aid, he returned it to the Agnews and secured $25,000
for his pains.
PAT SHEEDY'S PART
And that is the history of what happened to Gainsborough's famous
"Duchess of Devonshire" painting, which is now in J. Pierpont Morgan's
private art gallery on Madison Avenue, New York. As I said earlier in
this article, Raymond, who stole it, neither wanted the picture nor
the money it represented. Raymond cut that painting from its frame as
an act of loyalty to a fellow thief who was in trouble--to use it as a
powerful lever to make sure of getting Tom Warren out of prison.
And right here, before going further with the episodes of Raymond's
remarkable career, let me explain the mystery of how "Pat" Sheedy,
the New York gambler, happened to be the person who sold the stolen
Gainsborough back to the Agnews.
Long before that "Pat" Sheedy and Harry Raymond had done much business
together. After Sheedy had accumulated a fortune by gambling, he
built up a large and exceedingly profitable business in the sale of
stolen paintings. Through his wide acquaintance he formed a convenient
connecting link between the rich men who could afford to buy rare
paintings and the clever criminals who knew how to steal them. Raymond
took up the stealing of paintings when he became too old and too well
known to the police to attempt more profitable kinds of robbery, and it
was through Sheedy that he disposed of most of them.
A number of years before Raymond died he met me in London and asked
if I could do some business for him. Being in need of ready money,
I readily agreed. He took me to his apartments and handed me two
paintings which showed at a glance that they had been cut from their
frames.
"I got these from a cathedral in Antwerp," said Raymond. "I want you to
take them to New York and sell them to Pat Sheedy for $75,000. If he
won't give that, bring them back to me. I'll pay you well for your time
and trouble."
Accordingly I sailed for New York. By wrapping the pictures in some old
clothes at the bottom of my trunk, I got them by the customs inspectors
without any trouble. I had then never met Sheedy and it occurred
to me that if I had to leave the pictures with him he might try to
take advantage of my ignorance of art by substituting copies for the
originals. So, before setting out for Sheedy's office in Forty-second
Street, I took an indelible pencil and marked my initials, very small,
on the back of each canvas.
As I had expected, Sheedy asked me to leave the pictures until the next
day as he was not sure he could afford to pay $75,000 for them. The
next day he put me off with some other excuse, and so it went on for
two weeks until I felt sure something was wrong. Then one morning he
handed me two pictures, saying:
"Sorry, but I don't think these are worth more than $10,000. If you'll
take that for them, I'll buy them."
RAYMOND AND HIS YACHT
Of course, I told him my instructions were not to accept a cent less
than $75,000, and if he didn't want to pay that I would have to take
them back to London. I was about to roll them up when I chanced to
think of looking for my initials. They were not there--Sheedy was
trying to palm off cheap copies on me in place of the originals. Quick
as a flash, I pulled out the revolver I always carried in those days;
shoved it right under Sheedy's nose, and said:
"Come, Mr. Sheedy--hand over the original paintings I left with you, or
I'll blow your head off!"
He was considerably amazed at this warlike nerve on my part, but still
had nerve enough left to argue that those were the pictures I had given
him. But I was not to be tricked like that. Finally he went into an
adjoining room--I after him with the gun in my hand--pulled open a
drawer and took out the canvasses which had my initials on the back.
I carried them back to London, where Raymond sold them for $75,000, of
which he gave me $10,000. I sold many stolen paintings to Sheedy after
that, but he never tried to take advantage of me again.
Raymond often used to tell me that all his bad luck dated from the
night he stole the famous Gainsborough. If the portrait really was
a "hoodoo" its evil influence was a long time in taking effect. The
two or three years after his robbery of the Agnew gallery saw the
most daring crimes of his life and the money they yielded made him
a multi-millionaire. Even his heavy losses at Monte Carlo could not
seriously affect a fortune which was being steadily increased by all
sorts of illegal undertakings.
He lived like a prince in London and Paris, owned several race horses
and maintained, besides a sailing yacht, a palatial steam yacht with
a crew of twenty men. He liked to vary the monotony of his cruises by
deeds of piracy as sensational as any Captain Kidd ever attempted. On
one such occasion he robbed a post-office on the island of Malta; on
another he attempted to loot a warehouse on the docks at Kingston,
Jamaica. This last exploit would have ended in his capture by a British
gunboat which pursued him for twenty miles had his yacht not been a
remarkably speedy craft.
RAYMOND'S EXPERT ON SAFE CRACKING
Raymond was a natural leader of men, and he had a sharp eye for able
assistants. In his gangs were the greatest experts he could collect
around him. Raymond was not a technically educated machinist, and he
felt the need of an expert mechanic. For a number of years he watched
the work of various other bank burglars and gave especial attention to
any work that showed peculiar mechanical skill in getting into locks
and steel safes.
Finally Raymond got his eye on a very promising young burglar named
Mark Shinburn, who turned out to be a perfect wonder as a safe opener.
Shinburn had served an apprenticeship in a machine shop and soon got
a job in the factory of the Lilly Safe Company. Locks and safes had a
peculiar fascination for Shinburn and he rapidly mastered the whole
scheme, theory, and practice of lock-making, and knew the weak points
not only of the locks his own company made but also of all the other
big safe makers whose locks and safes were on the market.
Shinburn was just the man to fit into Raymond's band of experts. He
had the peculiar and valuable technical knowledge that Raymond lacked.
Raymond would select a bank, study the habits of the bank clerks,
survey the situation, and lay out the plans for the job. Raymond would
execute all these preliminaries and would lead his men into the bank
and face to face with the safe; but at this point Shinburn would bring
his genius into action and Raymond would stand by holding his dark
lantern and watching Shinburn with silent admiration.
Raymond and Shinburn were the moving spirits of the bold gang which
robbed the Ocean Bank in New York of a million dollars. With them were
associated Jimmy Hope, who later led the attack on the Manhattan Bank;
my husband, Ned Lyons, George Bliss, and several others.
On his return from a series of bank robberies on the Continent,
Raymond took apartments in the house of a widow who lived with her two
daughters in Bayswater, a suburb of London. He became in time much
attached to this woman and her children, and lavished every luxury on
them, including the education of the girls in the best French schools.
For years this family never suspected their benefactor was a criminal,
but supposed him to be a prosperous diamond importer.
When the eldest daughter's education was finished Raymond married her.
She was a beautiful woman, but a weak, clinging sort of creature--very
different from strong, self-willed Kate Kelley. Although passionately
fond of her, Raymond's attitude toward her was always that of the
devoted father rather than the loving husband.
After his marriage Raymond made many sincere attempts to reform. He
became a student of art and literature, and for months at a time would
live quietly in his London home or on board his yacht. Then the old
life would call him--he would mysteriously drop out of sight for a few
weeks, and with the aid of some of his old associates add another crime
to his record.
On one of these occasions he and John Curtin, a desperate burglar,
went to Liège, Belgium. Their object was the robbery of a wagon which
carried a large amount of valuable registered mail.
Raymond had fitted a key to the lock on the wagon and had sent a decoy
package, whose delivery would necessitate the driver leaving the mail
unguarded at a certain place. Curtin was to delay the driver's return
while Raymond climbed up on the front of the wagon and rifled the
pouches.
TREACHERY AND TRAGEDY
But Curtin carelessly failed to carry out part of this arrangement
and the driver caught Raymond in the act. He was arrested, convicted,
and given the first and only prison sentence he ever received--eight
years at hard labor. With the loyalty for which he was famous Raymond
steadfastly refused to reveal the identity of the confederate to whose
folly he owed his own arrest, and Curtin escaped to England.
Soon after his sentence began, rumors reached Raymond in prison of the
undue intimacy of his wife and Curtin. He investigated the reports and
found them true. Raging with indignation at his wife's weakness and his
friend's treachery, he broke his lifelong habit of loyalty, confessed
to the authorities Curtin's share in the attempted robbery and told
them where he could be found. Curtin was brought back to Belgium and
sentenced to five years in prison.
Mrs. Raymond's mind gave way under its weight of remorse, and soon
after her husband's release she died in an asylum. This was not the
only crushing misfortune the released convict had to face. Through
unfortunate investments and the dishonesty of friends he had trusted,
his fortune had dwindled to almost nothing. He had to sell his yachts,
his horses, and his London house with its fine library and art
galleries in order to raise enough to provide for the education of his
three children. He sent them to America, where they grew to manhood and
womanhood in ignorance of the truth about their father.
With an energy worthy of a better cause, Raymond at once set about
making a new fortune. The whole world was his field-forgeries, bank
robberies, and jewel thefts his favorite methods. But the nervous
strain under which he had always lived and the long prison term were
beginning to tell on him. His health was poor--his hand and brain
were losing much of their cunning. Each crime made the next one more
difficult, as the police got to know him and his methods better, and at
last he was forced to abandon the bolder forms of robbery and devote
his time entirely to the theft of famous paintings.
Yet, in the face of these handicaps, Raymond made in those last years
of his life several fortunes. But one after another they were all
swept away as quickly as they were made, and he died, as I have said,
penniless.
Did crime pay Harry Raymond? He invested his natural endowment of
brains, resourcefulness, daring, energy, and perseverance in criminal
enterprises--and died a hunted, hungry, trembling outcast. One-half
his industry and intelligence expended in honest business would have
insured him a great and enduring fortune and a respected name. If
crime does not pay for the really great criminals, how can the small
criminals have any hope?