because a personal friend of his who is the paymaster for the company puts it there late
this very afternoon.
It seems that the paymaster enters into a dicker with Harry the Horse and Little Isadore
and Spanish John for them to slug him while he is carrying the pay roll from the bank to
the office in the afternoon, but something happens that they miss connections on the
exact spot, so the paymaster has to carry the sugar on to the office without being slugged,
and there it is now in two fat bundles.
Personally it seems to me as I listen to Harry's story that the paymaster must be a very
dishonest character to be making deals to hold still while he is being slugged and the
company's sugar taken away from him, but of course it is none of my business, so I take
no part in the conversation.
Well, it seems that Harry the Horse and Little Isadore and Spanish John wish to get the
money out of the safe, but none of them knows anything about opening safes, and while
they are standing around over in Brooklyn talking over what is to be done in this
emergency Harry suddenly remembers that Big Butch is once in the business of opening
safes for a living.
In fact, I hear afterwards that Big Butch is considered the best safe-opener east of the
Mississippi River in his day, but the law finally takes to sending him to Sing Sing for
opening these safes, and after he is in and out of Sing Sing three different times for
opening safes Butch gets sick and tired of the place especially as they pass what is called
the Baumes Law in New York, which is a law that says if a guy is sent to Sing Sing four
times hand running, he must stay there the rest of his life, without any argument about it.
So Big Butch gives up opening safes for a living, and goes into business in a small way,
such as running beer, and handling a little Scotch now and then, and becomes an honest
citizen. Furthermore, he marries one of the neighbours' children over on the West Side by
the name of Mary Murphy, and I judge the baby on this stoop comes of this marriage
between Big Butch and Mary because I can see that it is a very homely baby, indeed.
Still, I never see many babies that I consider rose geraniums for looks, anyway.
Well, it finally comes out that the idea of Harry the Horse and Little Isadore and Spanish
John is to get Big Butch to open the coal company's safe and take the pay-roll money out,
and they are willing to give him fifty per cent. of the money for his bother, taking fifty
per cent. for themselves for finding the plant, and paying all the overhead, such as the
paymaster, out of their bit, which strikes me as a pretty fair sort of deal for Big Butch.
But Butch only shakes his head.
'It is old-fashioned stuff,' Butch says. 'Nobody opens pete boxes for a living any more.
They make the boxes too good, and they are all wired up with alarms and are a lot of
trouble generally. I am in a legitimate business now and going along. You boys know I
cannot stand another fall, what with being away three times already, and in addition to
this I must mind the baby. My old lady goes to Mrs. Clancy's wake to-night up in the