Joyfully Retired

I really do know it’s Tuesday. I was hosting a stop on a book tour yesterday but I read this great short story and I just had to share it. It’s an O. Henry story. Almost everywhere I go to read about short stories they refer to the stories of O. Henry. I had to see for myself. This one was listed as one of the best.*

A Retrieved Reformation

Criminal: Jimmy Valentine

by O. Henry, 1903

Jimmy Valentine is an accomplished safe cracker. He has a distinct way in which he opens a safe that the detective hunting for him knows he did it without checking for fingerprints.

As the story opens, Jimmy has just been released from prison after only ten months of a four-year sentence. Jimmy had friends in high places. He returned to his old apartment and quietly settled into his old life. Within weeks several safes had been emptied of their contents.

The amount of cash stolen was high enough that the detective Ben Price was brought in. Ben had worked on solving some of Jimmy’s previous robberies so he knew his “autograph” when he saw it on a burgled safe. He was determined to find Jimmy Valentine.

One day Jimmy showed up in the small town of Elmore, Arkansas. Here’s what happened:

A young lady crossed the street, passed him at the corner, and entered a door over which was the sign “The Elmore Bank.” Jimmy Valentine looked into her eyes, forgot what he was, and became another man.

Jimmy changed his name, opened a shoe shop, and eventually became engaged to that young lady, the daughter of the president of the bank. Jimmy Valentine no longer existed. He was now Ralph Spenser. No one in town knew of his real name or his former occupation. No one, except Ben Price who had traced him to Elmore.

About a year after Jimmy arrived in town, he was going to visit an old friend and was taking his suitcase of special burglary tools to give away. That morning, before he left for the railroad station, his fiance and her sister urged him to come with him to say goodbye to her father. They also wanted to have a look at the bank’s new first-class safe. Two little girls, daughters of her sister, were also along. Everyone was excited about the new safe.

While the family members were gathered around the new safe Ben Price slipped into the bank and quietly waited in the lobby. Suddenly, the door of the safe slammed shut. One of the girls had locked her little sister inside. Everyone was frantic. They knew she couldn’t live long in that confined space. The only solution was to remove the door but the nearest person able to do that was hours away in Little Rock.

Jimmy knew he could do it but it would mean the end of Ralph Spenser and his future in Elmore. It could also cost him his freedom. What will Jimmy do? And what will Ben Price do?

You can read the complete story (or just the ending) here at the Literature Collection. Tell me what you think of this story or other stories you’ve read by O. Henry. Is there another one that is your favorite?

*This story was listed as one of the Best American Mystery Stories of the (Twentieth) Century.

Short Story Monday is sponsored by John Mutford of Book Mind Set. Be sure to visit him for more short stories.