The Gray Seal
Jimmie Dale, aka the Gray Seal, was created by author Frank L. Packard in 1914. This predated comic books, and we were still a couple of decades away from Superman and Batman. However, Jimmie Dale used many elements that would later be used as the building blocks for the comic book superheroes.
Jimmie was a rich playboy who was well educated, and had both a butler and a chauffeur. His father was a safe maker, and to pass the time Jimmie would break into safes, not taking anything but leaving behind a gray paper seal shaped like a diamond to show that he was there. He was just proving to the world that no safe was uncrackable. However, he ran into a hiccup when a woman known to him only as Tocsin begins to send him letters to let him know that she is aware of his identity and exploits. She blackmails him into fighting crime.

The Gray Seal would carry a gun, but only used it for intimidation, and had a strict code against killing. His war on crime was mostly focused on a group of gangsters known as the Crime Club. They were formidable enemies, even discovering the location of the Sanctuary and burning it down. The Gray Seal stories were collected into books, and stories were published until 1935, just before Superman came on the scene and changed heroes forever.

So, the Gray Seal was destined to become more obscure as time went on, joining the likes of Doc Savage and the Scarlet Pimpernel as characters that had a huge influence on modern superheroes, but never quite getting the recognition they deserve.
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