James "Old Jimmy" Hope (c. 1836 – June 2, 1905) was a 19th-century American burglar, bank robber and underworld figure in Philadelphia and later New York City.

While in custody in San Francisco years later, Hope claimed that a member of the Kensington gang was so upset over the split that he vowed to kill Howard.

[2] Four months later, he and Ned Lyons, with two other men, rented a basement underneath the Ocean Bank, located at Fulton and Greenwich Streets, in New York City.

[3][4] Hope, by then a well-known underworld figure in the city, was a main suspect along with Lyons and two other men but none were brought to trial due to lack of evidence.

[1][2] After three years in prison, Hope escaped from Auburn with "Big" Jim Brady, Dan Noble and Charles McCann on January 23, 1873.

In the fall of that year, he and several burglars, Jim Brady, Frank McCoy, Tom McCormack and George Bliss, rented a house next to the First National Bank of Wilmington.

[8] In 1875, he was recruited by George Leonidas Leslie and spent the next three years preparing for arguably his biggest heist, the Manhattan Savings Institution robbery.

[10] On October 27, 1878, Hope and several masked men stormed the Manhattan Savings Institution and held janitor Louis Werckle and his family, who lived in the building, captive.

Holding his wife and mother-in-law at gunpoint, the men forced Werckle to open the outer door of the bank vault then bound and gagged him with the women.

Hope and Samuel "Worcester Sam" Perris then worked on the inner vault door and eventually able to gain access using their safe-cracking tools.

[9] A subsequent investigation headed by NYPD detective Thomas F. Byrnes revealed that Patrick Shevlin, a bank watchman, had given them access to the building.

The ten members of the gang, including Hope and his son John, were arrested in different parts of the country and brought back to New York to stand trial.

On the night of June 2, 1905,[2] Hope suffered a fatal heart attack while leaving the Lincoln Hotel on Broadway and Fifty-Second Street.

He had just visited noted sportsman Pat Sheedy, with whom he had enjoyed a long friendship, who believed that Hope was attempting to tell him "an important secret" before his death.

[3] The funeral was privately held at the family home, however, there were so many mourners that neighbors opened their doors when there was no more room in the small apartment and adjoining hall.