The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-08-18
"A LITERARY
MYSTERY
Box to Be Unopened
For a Century.
IN LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Mysterious Manuscript Deposited With
the Government Librarian
Theories Il Has Caused.

WASHINGTON. July IA box was de-
posted in the safe OF the library OF Con
gress when John Russell Young was Lii
brarian, under the pledge that its con-
tents should no; De revealed until the be-
ginning OF the twenty-rrst century. Mr..
Young, so far as can be learned, was the
only one in the library who knew what
the box contains. The name of the de-
positor Is not known TO any one now con-
nccted with the library. II Is a small box
weighing a few pounds and is supposed
to contain manuscript. Mr.. Young was
at first averse to receiving such a charge,
but after considerable correspondence he
agreed to pledge the faith OF his success
sors to prevent the box from being OPEN
ed until the beginning of the twenty-frst
century. Its contents may be OF great
Interest or none, but presumably Mr..
Young would not have undertaken to have
Il guarde.. for 100 years and more unless
there was something of great interest In
81. IL Is supposed the papers contained
arc regarded as of value to the people
o. the United States In the twenty-first
century. Under the conditions OF the
trust the box Is TO be opened by the LII
brarian Of Congress any time after mid
night OF December u, A. ID. COCO.
! While the contents OF the box can only
tc guessed at, sufficient information has
been obtained regarding them to give an
oJtline OF their character and to furnish
, assurance that there will be some Inter-
esting reading presented when the box Is
oTened. A visitor in the Congressional
Library was once informed Of the exist
cree OF the box. He was by profession n
literary man and by instinct detective.
The thought that he must solve this mys-
, Itery to obtain mental relief took. posses
I sion OF his brain. For three days he al
2 loves himself to be absorbed In this idea
l that he must possess himself OF this
: knowledge. At the end OF that time he
2 had reached certain conclusions and went
3 To- see n friend. The second man was an
amateur scientist and philosopher. Pos
: sessed of an ample fortune, he devoted
] himself to the requirement of knowledge
j Dc rived from books and experiments. Sc
c the imaginative literary man and the
c ccld-blooded man of science undertook &c
= sclve the problem. They started search
s that lasted over a year.
: The literary partner In the combine re
J, Gently told this story to a Sun reporter
4 I'VE agreed on many points before W,
set about the actual work of tracing the
z box and ascertaining its contents First
- IL must contain something Of great i'm
: pGrtance, or Mr.. Young would never have
q acc opted the trust. Second. IL must have
been confded to Mr.. Young by some ont
in whom Mr.. Young had the greatest con
inGence, and for whose reasons for wish
ing TO keep its contents unknown for
= hundred years, Mr.. Young must have ha'
the greatest respect. Third, II must con
ltaln manuscript: for IL must be something
" OF interest to the library or the dono
'e would have been invited to go elsewhere
r as, for instance. II II had been money o
Dr jewels, IL would have been placed in tn
r treasury under similar conditions. III
y. had been a relic or relics there woul
le have been no necessity for keeping 1t 50
=, cret IL weighed only few pounds. Ey
~ erything went to show that II was MAI
W. uscript.
q 1T was suggested that IL might hav
L been Mark Twain's impressions of Euro
Z" pean nonarchs which he has threatene
n to leave for the people Of the twenty-fr.
u sBtury. But this was easily rejected o
the ground that the box had been, recei'
ne eG before the time he made the suggei
w tion. The United States Secret ServiC
Is as appealed Il for Information as to Il
W box. and as to the possibility that
ne might contain the history of some unr
on vcaIed crime. The archives of the sta
r. u, partment were consulted; the librai
US searched for any account of a manuscri
IN, answering our ideas, winch might ha'
nd been known but never published: brib
ey were offered to employees iof the librai
ne for scraps Of information relating to q
'rt box. legislators. statesmen and warrio
as were interviewed but all in vain. v
'es came back always to the fact that '
must search for a manuscript whose In
10 portancs justified It's being taken i'm tru
zee by Librarian Young. containing matter
les interest 20 our great-grandchiidren, I
m important, probably too dangerous to
revealed at present; and donated to {
ng Library OF Congress by someone who
pm standing must have been unimpeachab
"A ION this foundation we built. 1t to-
ng. a year of work during which 1 acted
~ the legs and my friend as the brains
Try the combination. 1 visited and search,
err while he remained at home. examined {
'ile results, and thought. How We found
md we are not prepared to tell at present.
ant l,ecially as IL was largely the result of
nd a. cident, but here Is the story.
or AT dinner table in Washington o
eir evening about seven years ago there W,
az seated a number Of gentlemen. The no
tth whom we must designate as Mr.. y, h
lue been i'm public life for many years.