Jimmy Hope, the leader, had considered with minute care every possible avenue of danger, and he placed his men on guard with the precision of a general. Three living human beings were in the building in the rooms over the bank—the janitor, his wife and aged mother-in-law. These were quickly taken by surprise, bound and gagged.
John Nugent (1), with drawn pistol, stood over Werkle, the janitor; Johnny Hope (2), the very promising burglar son of the leader, was left in charge of Mrs. Werkle with cocked revolver, while in the next room Eddy Goodey (3) answered for the silence of the trembling old mother.
Outside the bank was a more important work to be done. On the Broadway front of the building the venerable Abe Coakley (4) was assigned to duty. On the Bleecker street side George Mason (5) was on post. Just inside the side door, to protect the line of retreat, stood Billy Keely (6), with pistol in hand.
There still remained a delicate matter. In the early hours of the morning it was customary for the old bewhiskered janitor, Werkle, to be seen busy sweeping up and dusting off the desks of the bank clerks. The policeman on post always nodded to Werkle, and if he was not on the job as usual that morning it might arouse suspicion.
In Hope's gang was "Banjo" Pete Emerson, who had been an actor of no mean ability. To him was assigned the job of playing the part of the janitor. With a wig and whiskers made to imitate Werkle, and in shirt sleeves, Emerson (7) busily dusted and re-dusted the desks, keeping close to the street windows, where he could be seen by anybody passing and where he could see and repeat any signals from Coakley and Mason, who were on watch on the sidewalk. "Banjo" Pete played his part so well that the policeman in going his rounds glanced up, saw what he was sure was his friend Werkle dusting the desks, nodded "good morning" and strolled on up Broadway.
Jimmy Hope reserved for himself, Ned Lyons, and Johnny Dobbs the delicate work of blowing the steel safes and taking care of the $3,000,000 of plunder.
When all was agreed upon, Tracy decided to get an outfit of burglar's tools and practice up for the job. By this time "Big Jim" was out of money, and he ran up to Troy to pull off a job and put himself in funds. He selected an out of town city because he didn't want any trouble in the neighborhood of the scene of the projected bank robbery.
It was in July that Tracy, with a fellow thief, "Mush" Reilly, followed a man named John Buckley out of a bank in Troy, where he had drawn a considerable sum of money. Mr. Buckley got on a street car and Tracy and Reilly crowded in and began work. They were not able to get the man's money without disturbing him, and the result was that Buckley put up a fight. "Big Jim" and "Mush" fought back, but were surrounded by other passengers in the car and arrested. They were tried, convicted, and sent to Clinton Prison for five years.
This misfortune to "Big Jim" Tracy put an end to his designs upon the great Manhattan Bank. But the missionary work which Tracy had already done with Shevelin, the watchman, was destined to bear fruit for others. While "Big Jim" was serving his long sentence in Clinton Prison for the Troy robbery, it became known somehow to Jimmy Hope that Tracy and the watchman of the bank had arrived at an understanding. This was very important news, and Hope at once started in to pick up the thread which had been so suddenly broken by Tracy's mishap in Troy.
But this was not so easy to accomplish. Shevelin had confidence in his old schoolmate Tracy, but he was afraid of strangers. Jimmy Hope was the Napoleon of bank burglars, and he had in his gang the foremost bank experts of the whole world. Hope found a way to make the acquaintance of Shevelin and he tried every device to win the watchman's confidence. But the shock of "Big Jim" Tracy's long prison sentence had thoroughly frightened the watchman.