-
A Retrieved Reformation
by O.
Henry
A guard came to the prison shoe-
shop, where Jimmy Valentine was assiduously
stitching
uppers,
and
escorted
him
to
the
front
office.
There
the
warden
handed
Jimmy
his
pardon,
which
had
been
signed
that
morning
by
the
governor.
Jimmy
took
it
in
a
tired
kind
of
way.
He
had
served
nearly
ten
months
of
a
four
year
sentence. He had expected to stay only
about three months, at the longest. When a
man with as many friends on the outside
as Jimmy Valentine had is received in the
< br>
Valentine,
said
the
warden,
go
out
in
the
morning.
Brace
up,
and
make a man of yourself. You're not a bad fellow at
heart. Stop cracking safes,
and live
straight.
happened
to get sent up on that Springfield job? Was it
because you wouldn't prove
an alibi for
fear of compromising somebody in
extremely high-toned society? Or
was it simply a case of a mean old jury
that had it in for you? It's always one or the
other with you innocent
victims.
said
Jimmy,
still
blankly
virtuous.
warden,
I
never
was
in
Springfield in my
life!
him
back,
Cronin!
said
the
warden,
fix
him
up
with
outgoing
clothes.
Unlock
him
at
seven
in
the
morning,
and
let
him
come
to
the
bull-pen.
Better think over my advice,
Valentine.
At a quarter past seven on
the next morning Jimmy stood in the warden's outer
office. He had on a suit of the
villainously fitting, ready-made clothes and a
pair of
the stiff, squeaky shoes that
the state furnishes to its discharged compulsory
guests.
The clerk handed him a railroad
ticket and the five-dollar bill with which the
law expected him to rehabilitate
himself into good citizenship and prosperity. The
warden gave him a cigar, and shook
hands. Valentine, 9762, was chronicled on the
books,
by
Governor,
and
Mr.
James
Valentine
walked
out
into
the
sunshine.
Disregarding the song of the birds, the
waving green trees, and the smell of the
flowers, Jimmy headed straight for a
restaurant. There he tasted the first sweet joys
of liberty in the shape of a broiled
chicken and a bottle of white wine--followed by
a
cigar
a
grade
better
than
the
one
the
warden
had
given
him.
From
there
he
proceeded leisurely to
the depot.
He tossed a
quarter into the hat
of a blind
man
sitting by the door, and
boarded his train. Three hours set him down in a
little town
1
near the state line. He went to the
cafe of one Mike Dolan and shook hands with
Mike, who was alone behind the bar.
that
protest
from
Springfield
to
buck
against,
and
the
governor
nearly
balked.
Feeling all
right?
He
got
his
key
and
went
upstairs,
unlocking
the
door
of
a
room
at
the
rear.
Everything
was
just
as
he
had
left
it.
There
on
the
floor
was
still
Ben
Price's
collar-button that had been torn from
that eminent detective's shirt-band when they
had overpowered Jimmy to arrest him.
Pulling out from the wall a folding-
bed, Jimmy slid back a panel in the wall
and dragged out a dust-covered suit-
case. He opened this and gazed fondly at the
finest
set
of
burglar's
tools
in
the
East.
It
was
a
complete
set,
made
of
specially
tempered
steel,
the
latest
designs
in
drills,
punches,
braces
and
bits,
jimmies,
clamps,
and
augers,
with
two
or
three
novelties,
invented
by
Jimmy
himself,
in
which he took pride. Over
nine hundred dollars they had cost him to have
made at
----, a place where they make
such things for the profession.
In
half
an
hour
Jimmy
went
down
stairs
and
through
the
cafe.
He
was
now
dressed
in
tasteful
and
well-fitting
clothes,
and
carried
his
dusted
and
cleaned
suit-case in his
hand.
New
York
Amalgamated
Short
Snap
Biscuit
Cracker
and
Frazzled
Wheat
Company.
This
statement
delighted
Mike
to
such
an
extent
that
Jimmy
had
to
take
a
seltzer-
and-milk on the spot. He never touched
A
week
after
the
release
of
Valentine,
9762,
there
was
a
neat
job
of
safe-burglary done in Richmond,
Indiana, with no clue to the author. A scant eight
hundred
dollars
was
all
that
was
secured.
Two
weeks
after
that
a
patented,
improved, burglar-proof safe in
Logansport was opened like a cheese to the tune of
fifteen
hundred
dollars,
currency;
securities
and
silver
untouched.
That
began
to
interest
the
rogue-
catchers.
Then
an
old-
fashioned
bank-safe
in
Jefferson
City
became active and threw out of its
crater an eruption of bank-notes amounting to
five thousand dollars. The losses were
now high enough to bring the matter up into
Ben
Price's
class
of
work.
By
comparing
notes,
a
remarkable
similarity
in
the
methods
of
the
burglaries
was
noticed.
Ben
Price
investigated
the
scenes
of
the
robberies, and was heard
to remark:
combination knob
--jerked out as easy as pulling up a radish in wet
weather. He's
2
got
the
only
clamps
that
can
do
it.
And
look
how
clean
those
tumblers
were
punched
out!
Jimmy
never
has
to
drill
but
one
hole.
Yes,
I
guess
I
want
Mr.
Valentine.
He'll
do
his
bit
next
time
without
any
short-time
or
clemency
foolishness.
Ben
Price
knew
Jimmy's
habits.
He
had
learned
them
while
working
on
the
Springfield
case.
Long
jumps,
quick
get-aways,
no
confederates,
and
a
taste
for
good society--these ways had helped Mr.
Valentine to become noted as a successful
dodger of retribution. It was given out
that Ben Price had taken up the trail of the
elusive cracksman, and other people
with burglar-proof safes felt more at ease.
One afternoon Jimmy Valentine and his
suit-case climbed out of the mail-hack
in Elmore, a little town five miles off
the railroad down in the black-jack country of
Arkansas.
Jimmy,
looking
like
an
athletic
young
senior
just
home
from
college,
went down the board side-walk toward
the hotel.
A young lady crossed the
street, passed him at the corner and entered a
door
over
which
was
the
sign,
Elmore
Bank.
Jimmy
Valentine
looked
into
her
eyes,
forgot
what
he
was,
and
became
another
man.
She
lowered
her
eyes
and
coloured slightly. Young
men of Jimmy's style and looks were scarce in
Elmore.
Jimmy collared a boy that was
loafing on the steps of the bank as if he were
one of the stockholders, and began to
ask him questions about
the
town, feeding
him
dimes
at
intervals.
By
and
by
the
young
lady
came
out,
looking
royally
unconscious of the
young man with the suit- case, and went her way.
come to Elmore
for? Is that a gold watch-chain? I'm going to get
a bulldog. Got any
more
dimes?
Jimmy
went
to
the
Planters'
Hotel,
registered
as
Ralph
D.
Spencer,
and
engaged a room. He leaned on the desk
and declared his platform to the clerk. He
said he had come to Elmore to look for
a location to go into business. How was the
shoe business, now, in the town? He had
thought of the shoe business. Was there an
opening?
The
clerk
was
impressed
by
the
clothes
and
manner
of
Jimmy.
He,
himself,
was
something of a pattern of fashion to the thinly
gilded youth of Elmore, but he
now
perceived
his
shortcomings.
While
trying
to
figure
out
Jimmy's
manner
of
tying
his four-in-hand he cordially gave information.
Yes,
there
ought
to
be
a
good
opening
in
the
shoe
line.
There
wasn't
an
exclusive shoe-store in the place. The
dry-goods and general stores handled them.
Business in all lines was fairly good.
Hoped Mr. Spencer would decide to locate in
Elmore. He would find it a pleasant
town to live in, and the people very sociable.
Mr. Spencer thought he would stop over
in the town a few days and look over
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