The Biggest Thief in Town

About this book

In a small town, the undertaker and the doctor plan to steal the body of the town's wealthiest citizen. That gentleman, a crook, has just passed out of the picture and the undertaker, who has led a quiet and honest life to date, sees no reason why he should not get a well paying job. So the undertaker and doctor enter the home of the deceased and proceed to take his body back to the shop. The undertaker and his friend picture a rosy future until the corpse comes to life and regains consciousness. The old gentleman is left on the sofa in the undertaker's office, where he proceeds to reveal the fact that he will die penniless, leaving his affairs in such condition as to make legal trouble for his successors. The undertaker, who has bought an option on the only bronze casket west of New York, sees himself stuck for a goodly sum, and is not unwilling to allow the job of attending to the deceased financier (he has since actually died) to go to a rival. When he is on the point of unloading the casket on his rival, he gets a temporary case of conscience and agrees to sell the casket for what he paid for it. His rival evidently thinks he is deceiving him when he reports that the millionaire has died penniless. So he hangs up the phone with the parting shot: "It's your funeral!" A pleasant romantic interest is sustained by the undertaker's daughter and a young dancer, who have become engaged and plan to carve out a career for themselves as professionals."