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.

Subsequently Jimmy falls in love with Annabel Adams and decides to reform. But he has these three bank jobs hanging over his head. His past will catch up with him.

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:

“That's Dandy Jim Valentine's autograph. He's resumed business....Yes, I guess I want Mr. Valentine. He'll do his bit next time without any short-time or clemency foolishness.” 

Jimmy's suitcase full of custom-made steel tools enable him to be the best safe-cracker in the business. But they can also serve as evidence against him. Ben Price knows that the bank jobs in Richmond, Logansport and Jefferson City were all done by Jimmy Valentine because of the expert ways in which the safes had been ripped open.

"Look at that combination knob—jerked out as easy as pulling up a radish in wet weather. He's 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."

Ben Price is Jimmy's nemesis. He is an equal match in knowledge and intelligence. Ben is relentless, and he is determined to have Jimmy sent to prison for a long stretch. If Jimmy got a four-year sentence for one bank job in Springfield, then it would be reasonable for him to get twelve years for the three jobs he committed after he got pardoned. And Ben believes that Jimmy will have to serve his full sentence the next time he is convicted, because he is obviously a repeat offender.

Ben apparently has no trouble tracking Jimmy to Elmore, Arkansas. He is right inside the bank when Jimmy feels compelled to forfeit everything he has gained by going straight, including his beautiful fiancee, in order to save the little girl who was accidentally locked inside the burglar-proof bank vault. Ben Price will be able to get Jimmy convicted easily, because he can use Jimmy's tools as incontrovertible evidence that he cracked the safes in Richmond, Logansport and Jefferson City.

But in one of O. Henry's surprise endings, Jimmy's reformation is "retrieved" when Ben Price rewards him for his noble deed by telling him:

“Don't believe I recognize you. Your buggy's waiting for you, ain't it?”