The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-02-08
SECRET DRAWERS.
Eaw One Of Them Was Opened Only
After Using the x-Ray.

Eaw One Of Them Was Opened Only
After Using the X-Ray.
"What do you think Of this for
curiosity in the line Of doctors billsr
asked Royal street dealer in an
iiques yesterday Of a New Orleans
Times Democrat man, producing a slip
Of paper from his pocket book. It
bore the heading of a prominent New
Orleans surgeon and read as follows:
To ~ ~, DR..
To professional services rendered
TO one mahogany cabinet (diag
nosis) .......s .......--.. ..... $40
Reed p'm't J. SMITH, Collector
Here is the cabinet he refers to-"
continued the dealer pointing out a
highly ornate piece Of furniture IN the
rocco style. you viii observe. If you
look closely that the slab which
forms the bottom Of the upper com
partments is inordinately thick; IL
fact, it IS fully three inches through.
The front side. as you see, is COW
cred with intricate relief carving. and
that disguises Its heayiness to some
extent, but there Is absolutely no ap
parent reason why such a massive
piece Of wood should be employed
merely as a partition between two
sections. and came to the conclusion
Immediately that II contained a secret
drawer. The lady from whom / bought
it assured me positively that she had
no knowledge Of anything Of the kind,
but felt certain was correct and set
TO work to locate the controlling mech
anism That was about six months
ago. and / soon saw that had no
easy job on my hands. / knew that
what I wanted must be hidden some
where In the bas-reliefs on the front
panel. but the carving is 50 compli-
Gated that 1t was like looking for a
needle In a haystack. Time and again
/ searched for pinholes. slides, springs
and all the other contrivanees usually
employed IN such work. and at last
gave q mp ia despair
"A week or SO ago. however, It sud
denly occurred to me that the lock
might be located by the X-ray. There
was certainly some metal about it that
would betral Its presence, / argued,
and lost no time consulting the gen.
tleman whose bin you have just seen.
lie was greatly interested, and last
/ Sunday he brought down his appara-
tus and made the experiment He
fastened a Photographic plate directly
under the panel, laid the electric bulb
on the bottom Of the compartment
above and gave II a twenty minute ex-
p0sure The picture that came out
was very curious. OF course the rays
went through the mahogany like
glass. and all we could see Of the
panel was n faint shadow, but about
two and a half inches from the left
hand side there were a lot Of small
black marks like a character IN Chi
nese writing They were made. as X
turned ont. by the wards Of the lock.
and as they showed me exactly where
70 look for the secret / found Il in less
than zen minutes See here" The
dealer stepped over 70 the cabinet.
and. laying hold Of a small ornamental
projection, unscrewed IL like a nut on
bolt revealing a minute hole In the
wood He thrust IN an ordinary pin.
there was a sharp click and out sprung
q narrow draw. the front cleverly
masked by the carving
"This discovery increases the value
Of the cabinet at least S25,' be re-
marked so / consider the doctors
bill money well invested