Black, Jack, 1871-1932; Criminals -- Canada -- Biography; Criminals -- United States -- Biography
The morning my ten days expired I went over to the store, bought some
tobacco, and waited around till time for the train. I got the make of
the big safe, its location in the store, and any other information I
could, without asking questions, and decided to report the matter to my
friends at Salt Lake. The constable fixed me for a ride, as he promised,
but instead of stopping at Salt Lake I went on to Ogden and wrote a
letter to Sanc, telling him where I would be when he came out. I was
careful with my ten dollars and had half of it when he appeared at
Ogden.
I at once told him of my ten-day sentence and about the fat general
store. He had promised to wait for Soldier Johnnie, who was due in three
weeks, and offered to pay my expenses till then, when something might be
done about my store.
Johnnie was discharged in due time and arrived at Ogden. He was pretty
well supplied with money and there was no rush about doing anything. We
talked over the general store, but Johnnie didn’t like the looks of it.
The night trains didn’t stop at the town, and it was so far from Salt
Lake that horses were out of the question.
“No getaway,” he said. “I can beat the box all right, but we can’t get
out of there if we do get the money.” Sanc agreed.
During my ten-day stay in the town I had turned over in my mind a
hundred plans, but only one of them seemed feasible, and I was almost
afraid to broach that to them. At last, when I saw they were going to
give it up as a bad job, I said to them:
“Can’t you both go over there, get yourselves ten days like I did, make
a key for the cell, and go out at night and get the box? You could plant
the money and lock yourselves up again. Then when your time is up you
can go away and come back for the coin when the thing cools off.”
They looked at me and laughed. An hour later Sanc said to Johnnie:
“Say, there might be something in that, after all. We would have a
perfect alibi.”
The bizarre appealed to Sanc.
After some discussion they decided to “look into it.”
CHAPTER X
An apprentice to a mob of yeggs has to do the rough, unskilled work just
as if he were learning a trade from any craftsman. I was sent out to get
dynamite, caps, and fuse at a railroad construction camp, and returned
with them safely. My next job was to go out and buy a number of twist
drills. Johnnie hired a horse, bought a couple of blankets and a pair
of overalls, and set off to look over the general store. The dynamite
and drills were to be left near the store so they would be available in
case they decided to “crush” into the jail and beat the box while
serving their time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account