In the opening part of the story, Jimmy Valentine receives a pardon from the governor and is released from state prison. He has now paid for the "Springfield job" which got him a four-sentence, and he is in the clear. But it is of great importance to the story that O. Henry describes how Jimmy immediately goes back to work with his suitcase full of custom-designed safecracking tools.
A week after 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. 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. 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. Yes, I guess I want Mr. Valentine. He'll do his bit next time without any short-time or clemency foolishness.”
Nothing further is said about these crimes, but this elaborate description is intended to explain, and perhaps foreshadow, how Ben Price happens to be in the bank in Elmore, Arkansas when Jimmy, who now calls himself Ralph Spencer, opens the supposedly burglar-proof vault and saves the life of the little girl trapped inside. The three bank jobs Jimmy pulled after his release from prison are going to come back to haunt him. He has fallen in love and become a respected citizen and prosperous honest businessman. He is planning to get married within a very short time. Then retribution in the form of Ben Price appears on the scene to destroy all of Jimmy's hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. The message of this story is that it is extremely hard to reform after a person has traveled too far down the wrong road. Jimmy is ready to accept this truth when he approaches Price expecting to be arrested and convicted for three safecracking jobs.
Three reasons that explain why Jimmy is on the brink of getting arrested might be just the three safecracking jobs he pulled after his release from prison. But yet another reason is that Jimmy has gotten too famous as the smartest and most talented safecracker in the business. Ben Price identifies the culprit in all three bank jobs just by their professionalism. Only Dandy Jimmy Valentine could have perpetrated them. Another reason is that Jimmy is building up a prison record. It is easier for him to get arrested and harder for him to get released. O. Henry specifies early in the story that Jimmy has been serving ten months in prison when he expected to get released after serving only four. One of his underworld connections tells him:
“Sorry we couldn't make it sooner, Jimmy, me boy,” said Mike. “But we had that protest from Springfield to buck against, and the governor nearly balked."
Jimmy moves to Elmore, Arkansas because he is getting too notorious in his old area of operations, which is around the state of Indiana and general vicinity. Moving to that little town changes his whole life, because he falls in love at first sight with Annabel Adams and becomes "a new man." But it isn't the new man but the old man who is in danger of getting sent to prison for a long stretch. It is hard to change. Just changing your name doesn't change your identity, and it doesn't erase your past.
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