Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1903-07-11
CHAPTER XIX

THE MAN IN THE RED FOX.
At the hour designated by Ellison,
Inspector Barnes, the chief Of police.
had posted his men In the streets
leading TO the Red Fox, waiting for
the signal which would call his men
to the center of the scene Of action.
It was very seldom hat the head
OF the police department took a hand
In an affair OF the kind, but he was
moved by curiosity, and, at the same
time, by the desire to figure promi-
nently in the capture OF a rogue who
had defied the department for many
months. 1t would not look we'll in
the papers, when the accounts came
10 be eventually written up, II the
chief did not occupy Il prominent
place In the proceedings. Barnes,
moreover, felt a certain hatred for
the man who had put his department
In such disrepute, and he was anxious
to have first view Of the man who
had been able to withstand all the
machinery Of the law 30 long.
Ten o'clock had been the hour when
he expected to lear the pistol shot
that was to summon him and his
men to the scene, but as time passed,
and IT was nearing the half hour
after the time, he began to grow
impatient.
w nat ~ 1Ou AIllllN Va lIllS, III
spector Thorne2" he asked Of a tall
man, who had secreted himself In a
hallway opposite the queer hotel.
Barnes was not tho only important
official who had desired to have
thing to do with the capture Of the
celebrated criminal.
"Oh, I'm not worried" replied
Thorne. Never know what delays
might happen In an affair like THIS.
l only hope your man wasn't guying
US with his story"
larly, and would have liked to see
him ousted to give place to q real
genius-himself, for example. If
the principals were excited, the men
detailed on this occasion were also
in somewhat Of a furry. They did
not share the opinion held by Barnes
that the man who had defed the
machinery Of the department so long
vould be easy to capture, and looked
forward to a lively time of 1t.
Barnes and Inspector Thorne were
still occupying the hallway of a de-
serted warehouse, watching the
building that doomed up darkly be-
fore them, listening for the sound Of
the pistol shot that was to be the
signal.
The hotel with the foreign name
was really two buildings. The bar
room facing on n street, through
which the sleeping rooms could be
reached In the rear by a narrow
passage.
For a long time the police had
known that Monsieur Poujac oon-
Quoted q house that was the resort
of all the ragtag and bobtail and
human sewerage Of the city. But he
was useful, and his suppression would
have made ii only more difficult to
find a man when he vas wanted. So
1t was that the Frenchman was al
lowed to continue running his shady
tavern as a friend of the law and a
secret foe to the lawless elements.
AS the time passed, and yet the
signal was not heard, Inspector
Barnes began to get impatient, and
in the shadows moved up and down
the street, meeting here and there
some Of his men. with whom he ex-
changed q word or two. and then
passed on his beat.
During his walk he arrived pres
emily before the real front OF he
building, where the barroom was sit
uated, and here he saw a man put
ting out the lights IL making other
preparations to close up. AS 1t was
his intention to wink at the doings
OF Monsieur IouJdc, VIM hau hau d
hand in the apprehension of q mum
Der Of criminals, he made no at
tempt to approach the man who vas
clearing up.
AS soon as the front OF the estab-
lishment was dark he returned to
his post, which commanded the alley
and where Inspector Thorne was
now standing.
Anything new?" he asked, as he
snuggled into the hallway beside his
subordinate.
mot q sound from our corner" 70.
amended tina AthA~>