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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1904)
V V if O'Keefc, Akoond of Swat: A Tale of Modern Methods and Luck of a Lucky Man By Wm . H. Osborne CJIA1TKU xr. The Chief f I'ollio, the Two IloKnen. unit I rn i ! inn n freim Nw York. ' . y 1 1 11: l was nn udded vigilance no I I lice-thle 111 the attitude of (ho " I til-iln -tjttmu ffne fit Tittif-i J!llllntoii O'Kccfti's failure had redoubled tin; suspirlur.s of t ho authorities In New York. Smith, who, not withstanding his financial complication, was about town iih usual, rould not help nolle lnt? t hut there win nn atmosphere of Vague unrest ulx.ut. It disturbed him, hut it made him u!l the morn determined to tay where he was. To attempt to leavo he was qnlt wirn would precipitate u crisis. Il was not looking for (risen. One thing worried him especially. That was the dinger of nrrent In civil actions) for fraud. It vn: threatened In more than one raao. It seemed that the original Ilil llngton O'Keefe had made false representu tlonH h h to Ms tliiiinrl.il ability, upon tins faith of which large credit h:id lieen ex tended to him. This had an ugly look, and Bmith did not like it. A cri.sln was iipproaching. The town. Which at iiiui time nivnre by I'lllingtnrt O'Keefe, now began to swear at him. In the midst of It, little Mrs. Ilallnwcll, tht widow, railed on Constitutional HmltlL "Mr. O'Keefe," she begun, "you have a T,U liond of mine." Smith nodded. but groaned Inwardly. There whs no loud, and never had been any. lie was In for II now. "Well," he Inquired, lonklt.g her In the fare. She leaned rllghtly in Ids direction, atftlu laying that plump urm upon the table. "Have you pen und Ink?" she Hfked. Bndth, puzzbd. produced them. The widow t'Kik the pen und prodm -lug a small pieco of paper, scrlbhh d sway for half a minute. Finally she threw the rannll piece of paper toward hiin. It was another check to his order for $!.fn,o. The widow, with n smilo rot unmixed with an expression of sym pathy and trouble, came clos- r Jet. "Mr. () Kcrfe," fhe s.Ud, "that nnd my bond are yours the widow's mile. I am . eo worry. o very i.orry" for your trouble, nud I hope this will help to slnilghten you out." Contltutlonul Smith was not a bonr. There bad 1 e ,n times when he would have swindled the widow out of three times thU amount with eonipiinetlon. l'erhaps if he bad be n in p-. Ition to take the cash anJ light out Willi it, free as the nlr, he Would have done ro now. Hut as the coun terfeit of O'Keefe he was living nn honest life, and the probability was that this money would go to his creditors, und th.it be would net no benefit from It. Ueyond all that, 1m hud considerable admiration for thin little widow who bud ko much regard for him. "Ma. lam." he said gravely, handimr bark tho check, "you are olio woman In a thou sand." The wid.w Rave a 1 tt!o Rasp of aurprlvu and ploosure. "Let me keep tho bond; take hack this check, mid wheu 1 when U" ",r ,uui cleared I Khali be able, it may be, to restore even tlim honit to you. In a wlldi rnoa of false friends It Is refreshing to tlud mi' at least who Is true." Ho said this with u sort of old-fashioned aruce, wl'eh ho thought bi-filled the occa Eloti, und with the name air ho took her band, bent low und kl-sed it. It won ona of the happiest moments In tho litUo Widow's life, I believe." Fho remarked to hirsclf later, "that bo is really beginning to like me- end bo uted to bo so cold und formal." She t-ighed. That wi man," enmnu nted Smith to h'm plf later, "t the real kind. She's the woman for HillinKton O'Kiefe. She'll stick to hlni through thick and thin. She's even bettor than tho Klrl. ihounh tho girl U well enouuh; but the widow li ttio thins- l'e Hkles, bho'a plump." Smith acnvUhed his bead. "1 never enred much for women my self, but, by Ucoruu, when 1 do like 'eta 1 lik 'em fut." Homo tlmo before this a plain-clothe man ttt Monroa sit down and Indited a letter, of which tho following- Is a substantial copy: "Chief of Follee, Headquarters, Itorough Manhattan: Sir-In addition to the pre vious Information I have furnished I have to report that I have Investigated the career hero of HillinKton CKeefe for a period of a few years past. I find that at times be has been away from town for a coaniderabl time, ostensibly on matters connected with tho purehno of mine, cat 11 eta, and that at other tlmea when It waa supposed he was In town and confined to bis house he actually was away. The resemblance of this tna.n O'Keefe to Smith is no great, and O'Keefe's bulnes3 rpera tions here have turned to be so nefarious, that I am more than ever convinced that O'Keefe may be Smith, although Smith's almot-.t (onstant piei-ence In the eaat seems to contradict thL. There is ul.-o a rumor hero that O'Keefe Is not the real O'Keefe at all, but It Kerns to rest so far upon no foundation. 1 will not move until you order me. In the meantime I would sug test that you enter upon an lnvo-t:ga loo which would furnish us with absolute proof of the identity of Smith. Will ad vise you further. Very truly, M. 8. D." It needed not this letter to stimulate the New York force. The New York force was on Its mettle. The newspapers there were howling for the! production of Smith On the occasion of their first call, Smith took them into his little den. Once they were there, he smiled and shook a warning finger at them. "Now, look-a-bcre, you fellows," he ex claimed, "I know you, and I know your record. I took pains to find a good deal out about you before I ever put you on that Job. I know a good deal more now. I'm Constitutional Smith. If you don't know what that means, you go to 'Frisco and ask a few fellows there If they ever heard of Constitutional Smith." He knew by their looks that they hnd asked. "Now, you done your work nnd you been pold paid well. It's more money," ho added contemptuously, "than you small fry ever turned In your measly little lives." He paused an Instant, then tepped suddenly forward and grabbed enins letters to Smith. Smith raid no at tention to them. He knew well enough that these two men would not peach on him, for If they did they would put their necks In the same nooso In which they placed Ids. Hut he reckoned just a bit beyond his host. For the two young toughs, finding themselves down to their bottom dollar, were constrained immediately to adopt illegal methods to obtain more. They were found one evening, consider ably after dark, upon the second floor of a house which did not belong to them. When found they were carefully examining the contents of a bureau drawer. The drawer contained jewels. Burglary Is a serious offense. Its legal definition is Just this: "Breaking and entering a dwelling house In the night time, with Intent to commit a felony therein." When they illll TAT5W-: and howling nt the police force because they were unable to produce him. Tida western clue at tirst had seemed ridiculous, but the man detailed to Monroe a man who wus familiar with Smith's nppearanee had been so sure of the Identity that headquarter determined to run thla clue to eartlu The unfortunate part of It was that while Smith perhaps bad been In Jail a number of times, he had not always been recog nised as Smith, nnd except for his general appearance nnd height, etc., there wa nothing to Identify him posftlvely. Hut tho New York force classical geniuses as they were, are nnd ever will be, delved at once Into ancient history. They traced Smith Mck to his extreme youth, and then followed the trail, slowly but surely, up to bis manhood. ThU took snmo time, but finally It was more or less satisfactory. They did obtain some valu able information. What It was will ap pear later. There Is nn old saying that chickens In variably come home to roost. Constitu tional Smith, except upon rare occasions, had kept out of the poultry business. Hut his recent purchase of two birds had given him much trouble. Contrary to his custom, he had employed tho two young toughs, Nos. 31'9 and 4V), to aid him In his disposition of nilllngton O'Keefe. Ho had paid them I'i.'Vo npleee, a liberal distribution of his wealth. This, It seemed, was not enough. They soon spent the money In riotous living In ttt city of B.in Franetaeo. Then they camo back for more. They Intlmsted gently that If Constitu tional Smith did not, In the then customary parlance, "cough up." they stood ready to stnnd In with the police department and hand him over to justice. T1IK MAN THE each of them by the scruff of the neck. He knocked their hmids gently together. "You fellows have been paid and you don't get a cent more, see? Understand? I want you to know that I'm Constitutional Smith, and If you fellows cut up any monkey shines nround me, I'll play one of Constitutional Smith's tricks on you. That's all. The lost men that did me dirt Is serving a ten yi-nrs" sentence In the east for one of my Jobs. He deserved it. As for you, you're a couplo of damn shysters, and you know it. Clear out. Oo on. Come back hero and you'll get something you won't like." They cleared out Hut they did not cease In their efforts. Tliey dJd not return In person, but from time to time, when they wero especially hard up, they wrote threat- NKVKIt MOVED. came to place the offense of the two toughs over against the definition ail the details were correct. It was all rfght. There was no doubt about it. Th"y had- been caught with the "goods on." They knew it. Now, thero is In tho annals of the law uch a thing as compounding a felony. It usually consists of compromise betweca tho felon and the victim, whereby the vic tim, for a consideration, withdraws his complaint or ceases prosecution. This also is a serious o flense. Many felonies are compounded, but the parties do not boast cf It. Hut the police department con stantly compound felonies small ones. They do It for the good of the community. They grant immunity to small criminals la exchange for information leading to the srrest and conviction of greater crlmUjaJe. L