midnight
On the police returns they figured as `` speculators , '' a term that sounded better than thief , and meant , as they understood it , much the same ; viz. a man who made a living out of other people 's labor . It was conceded in the slums , everywhere , that the Scrabble Alley gang was a little the boldest that had for a long time defied the police . It had the call on the other gangs in all the blocks around , for it had the biggest fighters as well as the cleverest thieves of them all . Then one holiday morning , when in a hundred churches the pæan went up , `` On earth peace , good-will toward men , '' all New York rang with the story of a midnight murder committed by Skippy 's gang . The saloon-keeper whose place they were sacking to get the `` stuff '' for keeping Christmas in their way had come upon them , and Skippy had shot him down while the others ran . A universal shout for vengeance went up from outraged Society . It sounded the death-knell of the gang .