Once inside, the two would search the car for easy marketable products. These would be packed in bags, the bags tied and packed at the door for easy egress. A merchandise train is generally what is called a through train, that is, it seldom stops between divisions, unless it does so for water. Just before our agreed place for debarkation one of the outside men, by the aid of a rope ladder, would slip over the side of the car, break the seal and open the door. The goods would then be thrown out, and a little further down the road, we ourselves would alight. The goods would then be placed in a wagon and driven to a house already rented for the purpose. Here the stuff would be assorted, packed and shipped to different “fences,” according to their needs. I myself generally followed the shipment and collected our due. The plan worked well through a year. The railroads were becoming harassed by our depredations. Police were sent to guard the very trains upon which our efforts were centered, but with no marked avail. The losses still went on. All “good things,” through one cause or another, eventually come to an end. Ours came too. I remember the day of my arrest like the dawn of yesterday. It was on a Sunday noon, in the early summer. One of my pals and I had arranged to take our girls that afternoon to a nearby resort. We had left our hotel and walked to the corner and stood waiting for a car. The car came and stopped, and just as we were about to get on, two men in the blue uniforms of the police laid their hands on our arms and informed us that the captain would like to see us for a moment. Of course I knew instantly that the end had come, yet I was curious to know through what source of information our arrest had been brought about. CHAPTER XIV BETRAYAL AND ARREST The Saturday preceding the Sunday of my arrest was one of rain. I was reading in my room when a knock sounded at my door; I opened it and found one of my acquaintances of the underworld standing there. He also was “working the rattlers,” but on a much smaller scale than I. I invited him inside, and in the course of our conversation he mentioned the fact that he had a gross of Stetson hats which he was anxious for me to dispose of for him. The proceeds of the sale he told me were to go to procure a “mouthpiece” (a lawyer), to secure the release of his pal by habeas corpus proceedings. I told him I thought I could do as he desired, and asked him the whereabouts of the hats. It seems that they were at that time hidden out in the woods on the outskirts of the city. The stuff was too much for him to handle at once, so he came to me. Our reputation in the underworld was such at that time that I frequently performed the same services for other gangs.