Why crime does not pay
BY SOPHIE LYONS Queen of the Underworld .
New York J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING CO. 57 Rose Street
Copyright, 1913, by THE STAR COMPANY
The publishers believe that a picture of life sketched by a master hand—somebody who stands in the world of crime as Edison does in his field or as Morgan and Rockefeller do in theirs—could not fail to be impressive and valuable and prove the oft repeated statement that crime does not pay.
Such a person is Sophie Lyons, the most remarkable and the greatest criminal of modern times. This extraordinary woman is herself a striking evidence that crime does not pay and that the same energy and brains exerted in honest endeavor win enduring wealth and respectability. She has abandoned her earlier career and has lately accumulated a fortune of half a million dollars, honestly acquired by her own unaided business ability.
Sophie Lyons was a thief from the cradle, as one Chief of Police said; at the early age of six years she had already been trained by her stepmother to be a pickpocket and a shoplifter. A beautiful child with engaging manners, she was sent out every day into the stores and among the crowds of shoppers, and was soundly whipped if she came out of a shop with less than three pocketbooks. I did not know it was wrong to steal; nobody ever taught me that, Sophie Lyons writes. What I was told was wrong and what I was punished for was when I came home with only one pocketbook instead of many.
Sophie Lyons
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I
ARRESTED FOR PICKING POCKETS
A THIEF FROM THE CRADLE
MY ESCAPE FROM SING SING
I SEE WHY CRIME DOES NOT PAY
FOR MY CHILDREN'S SAKE
A MOTHER'S LOVE WINS AT LAST
HOW I PLANNED A BANK ROBBERY
WHAT DELAYED OUR PLANS
WE GET OUR PLUNDER
CHAPTER II
RAYMOND'S FIRST CRIMES
AMBITIOUS TO BE A BANK BURGLAR
ROBBING THE BOYLSTON BANK
RAYMOND'S GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT
PLANNING THE GAINSBOROUGH ROBBERY
HOW THE GREAT MASTERPIECE WAS STOLEN
PAT SHEEDY'S PART
RAYMOND AND HIS YACHT
RAYMOND'S EXPERT ON SAFE CRACKING
TREACHERY AND TRAGEDY
CHAPTER III
PLANNING LYONS'S ESCAPE
"RED" LEARY LENDS AID
THE PRISON BELL SOUNDS ALARM
NED LYONS IN DISGUISE
AN EASY BANK ROBBERY
HOW BULLARD GOT OUT
"SHEENEY MIKE'S" ESCAPE
HORRORS WORSE THAN DEATH
CHAPTER IV
WE PLAN TO START A BANK
I ENTER "HIGH FINANCE"
HOW WE FOOLED THE PUBLIC
OUR BANKING BUBBLE BURSTS
HOW I ESCAPED ARREST
MRS. GARDNER'S CLEVER SCHEME
SWINDLING ONE DOCTOR A DAY
OUR EXPERIENCE IN LONDON
CHAPTER V
HOW WE ROBBED A STORE
MY HUSBAND IS SHOT
WHAT CAME OF OUR CRIMES
A BANKER HIRES US TO ROB
BORING INTO THE BANK VAULT
MY COMRADE'S NARROW ESCAPE
WE GET THE BANK'S MONEY
FACING A LYNCHING MOB
HOW I SAVED TOM'S LIFE
CHAPTER VI
STALKING THE WATCHMAN
NUGENT, THE POLICEMAN-BURGLAR
OPENING THE GREAT VAULT
A TIP TO THE POLICE
THE NIGHT BEFORE
CONSULTATION IN THE DARK
FOOLING THE PATROLMAN
THE JANITOR'S ESCAPE
THE WEAK SPOT
THE WATCHMAN'S CONFESSION
HUNTING DOWN THE GANG
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
QUEEN OF THE THIEVES
ENCOURAGING PICKPOCKETS
ROBBING TIFFANY
DRY GOODS STORE THIEVES
THE SECRET OF THE CHIMNEY
"MOTHER'S" GLASS HOUSE
GRADY THE DARING
STEAM-DRILL BURGLARY
GRADY'S ROMANTIC DEATH
CREED OF THE "FENCES"
SHINBURN AND THE "FENCE"
HE TURNS BURGLAR AGAIN
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
AN INTERVIEW WITH SOPHIE LYONS
SOPHIE LYONS AIDS EVICTED FAMILY
SOPHIE LYONS RETURNS
