CONTENTS
| Chapter | Page | |
| I. | How I Began My Career of Crime | [11] |
| II. | The Secret of the Stolen Gainsborough—And theLesson of the Career of Raymond, the "Prince ofSafe Blowers," Who Built a Millionaire's Residencein a Fashionable London Suburb and Kept a Yachtwith a Crew of 20 Men in the Mediterranean | [37] |
| III. | How I Escaped from Sing Sing, and Other Daring Escapes from Prison That Profited Us Nothing | [62] |
| IV. | Women Criminals of Extraordinary Ability with Whom I Was in Partnership | [89] |
| V. | How I Faced Death, How My Husband Was Shot, and Some Narrow Escapes of My Companions | [118] |
| VI. | Behind the Scenes at a $3,000,000 Burglary—the Robbery of the Manhattan Bank of New York | [146] |
| VII. | Bank Burglars Who Disguised Themselves as Policemenand Other Ingenious Schemes Used by Thieves in Bold Attempts to Get Out Their Plunder | [173] |
| VIII. | Promoters of Crime—People Who Plan Robberies andAct as "Backers" for Professional Criminals—The Extraordinary "Mother" Mandelbaum, "Queen ofthe Thieves," and Grady, Who Had Half a Dozen Gangs of Cracksmen Working for Him | [186] |
| IX. | Surprising Methods of the Thieves Who Work OnlyDuring Business Hours and Walk Away with Thousandsof Dollars Under the Very Eyes of the Bank Officials | [212] |
| X. | Startling Surprises That Confront Criminals—HowUnexpected Happenings Suddenly Develop and UpsetCarefully Laid Plans and Cause the Burglars Arrestor Prevent His Getting Expected Plunder | [225] |
| XI. | Thrilling Events Which Crowded One Short Week ofMy Life—How I Profited Nothing from All the Risks I Faced | [238] |
| XII. | Good Deeds Which Criminals Do and Which Show That Even the Worst Thief Is Never Wholly Bad | [250] |
INTRODUCTION
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."