Short Fiction · Chapter
The Man Higher Up explained
Jeff Peters recounts his encounter with Bill Bassett, a burglar, and Alfred E.
What happens
Jeff Peters recounts his encounter with Bill Bassett, a burglar, and Alfred E. Ricks, a failed financier, after a bank robbery. Peters contrasts his own 'commercial' swindling with Bassett's laborious burglary and Ricks's failed capital schemes. After Ricks leaves, Peters and Bassett travel to Los Perros, where Peters marks all the playing cards in town and wins Bassett's money in a poker game. Peters later invests the winnings in a mining stock, which turns out to be signed by the same Alfred E. Ricks, now calling himself A. L. Fredericks.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
Jeff Peters's marked cards and the mining stock scam highlight the theme of deception, where appearances of legitimacy mask fraud.
Crime and Consequence
The chapter contrasts different forms of crime—burglary, swindling, and financial fraud—and their varying consequences.
Ambition and Failure
Alfred E. Ricks's failed schemes and Bill Bassett's inability to succeed in business illustrate the theme of ambition leading to failure.
Characters to notice
- Jeff Peters
Narrator and protagonist; a confidence man who prides himself on trade and commerce over labor.
- Bill Bassett
A burglar who robs a bank and later loses his money to Peters in a rigged poker game.
- Alfred E. Ricks
A failed financier who is rescued by Bassett and later reappears as A. L. Fredericks, president of a mining company.
- Montague Silver
Jeff's old instructor, now retired, who lends Jeff $200 in Los Perros.
Key passages
“She pays fifty cents, and gets both Rockefeller and Mrs. Eddy on the job.”
For fifty cents, she enlists the help of both big business and Christian Science.
Jeff Peters mocks the idea of combining capitalism and religion for personal gain.
“I never had the respect for burglary that some people have. I always gave something for the money I took, even if it was only some little trifle for a souvenir to remind ’em not to get caught again.”
I don't admire burglary like some do; I always leave something in exchange for what I take, even if it's just a token to teach a lesson.
Jeff distinguishes his con artistry from burglary, claiming a moral high ground.
“When a No. 1 burglar tries to make a James out of his jimmy he perpetrates an improfundity.”
When a top burglar tries to become a businessman, he commits a profound mistake.
Bill Bassett admits that his attempt at business was a failure, reinforcing the theme of labor versus trade.