Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1915-01-21
The Mystery of
the Bou1e Cabinet
BURTON E.. STEVENSON
Copyright, 1918. by Burton e. Stevenson.

IT
monds at their head. strained every
nerve to discover the whereabouts of
the fugitive: a net was thrown over the
entire city, but, while a number of fish
We're captured. the one which the po-
lice particularly wished for was not
among them. Not a single trace of the
fugitive was discoveries; he had van
lsAed absolutely. and, after a day or
two, Grady asserted confidently that
he had left New York.
For Grady had come into the case
again, goaded by the papers particu-
larly by the Record. to efforts which
he must have considered s~uperhuman.
The remarkable nature of the mys-
terry, its picturesque and unique fea-
lures. the fact that three men a been
killed within a few days in precisely
h same manner. and the absence OF
any reasonable hypothesis to explain
these deaths-all this served to rivet
public attention. Every amateur de-
tective in the country had a theory to
e~xploit-and far fetched enough most
Of them We're,
Grady did a lot of talking in those
days. explaining in detail the remark-
aple measures he was taking to capture
the criminal; but the fact remained
that three men had been killed, and
that no one had been punished; that
a series of crimes had been committed,
and that the criminal vas still at large,
and seemed likely to remain so: and,
naturally enough, tho papers, having
exhausted every other phase of the
case. We're soon echoing public senr1-
ment that something was wrong some
where. and that the detective bureau
needed an o~verhauling. beginning at
the top.
The Bou1e cabinet remained locked
up in q cell at the Twenty-third street
station; and Simlnonds kept the key in
his pocket. I know that he was as
much in the dark concerning the cab
met was, and the general public was
very much in the dark indeed. for the
cabinet had not figured in the accounts
or the first two tragedies at all. and
only incidentally in the reports of the
latest one. AS far as it was concerned,
the affair seemed clear enough to most
of the reporters, as an attempt to
Smuggle into the country an art object
of great value. Such cases were too
common to attract especial attention.
But Simmonds had come to see that
Grady was tottering on his throne: he
realized, perhaps. hat his own head
was not safe; and he a made up his
mind to pin his faith to Godfrey as the
only one at all likely to lead him out
of the maze. And Godfrey laid the
greatest stress upon the necessity of
keeping the cabinet under lock and
key; so under lock and key 1t was kept.
AS for Grady, I dc not believe that.
even at the last. he realized the import
ant part the cabinet had played in the
drama.
But while the Boule cabinet failed 20
focus the attention of the public. and
while most of the reporters promptly
forgot all about it. I was amused at the
pains which Godfrey took to inform the
fugitive as to its whereabouts and as
to how it was guarded. Over and over
again. while the other papers wondered
been placed in the strongest cell at the
Tw%entv-third street station; a cell
whose bars were made of chrome-nickel
steel which no saw could bite into: a
cell was worked not only by a key but
by a combination. known to one man
only: a cell isolated from the others,
standing alone in the middle of the third
corridor, in full view of the officer on
guard, so that no n could approach it,
day or night, without being instantly
discovered: a cell whose door was con-
nected with an automatic alarm over
the sergeant's desk in the front room: a
cell, in short, from which no man could
possibly escape, n which no man
could possibly enter unobserved.
OF the Boule cabinet itself Godfrey
said little. saving his story for tha do,
nouncement which he seemed So sure
would ONE but the details which T
have give above were dwelt upon IN
the Record. until. happening f. meet
| Godfrey on the street one dav nroS
| tested that he would only succeedd IN
frightening the fugitive awav altopeth.
er, even if he still had anv desiprs IN
the cabinet. which 7 very much deuhted
Sut SodfreH onfv fa,phaS
There's not the slightest daneer ~
frightening hin, away" he said "rhi.
fellow isn't that kind. If 1 am right in
in sizing him up, he's the sort OF dare
| devil whom an insuperable difficulty
only attracts. The harder the Job. the
more he is drawn to it, That's the
reason I am making this n lust as
hard as I can"
But a man would be a fool to at
tempt to get to that cabinet" protest
| ed. ITS imply impossible"
ut looks impossible I'm FREQ +o ,d-
NIT" he aeraed .Te,t t, We I ~ ~ ao7 !,
wake every morning cold NTH ~ fe saii.e : = !
RIM to the ,nhone To ms le s,ra th h ,ah
inet,s safe IF 7 could +hinL . : o.,
further Safeguards T wonld f,iy
cmn1oy them" Gill
T hooked at Godfrey DIV eor -
seemed ia me that he m,,s+ he i,s ~ :.
He smiled as he caught nv glance