The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1915-01-21
lhe Mystery Of
the Bou1e Cabinet
- RION B.. N
S TE VE " S O ~
Copyright, 1918, by Burton &. Stevenson.

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, h one which the po-
lice particularly wished for was not
among them. MOI a single trace of the
fugitive was discovered; he had van
ished absolutely, and, after a day or
two, Grady asserted confidently hat
he a left New York.
For Grady had come into the case
again, goaded by the papers, particu-
larry by the Record, to efforts which
he must have considered superhuman.
The remarkable nature of the nys-
terry, its picturesque and unique fea-
lures. the fact that three men a been
killed within a few days in precisely
the same manner, and the absence of
any reasonable hypothesis to explain
public attention. Every amateur de-
tective in the country had a theory to
exploit-and far fetched enough most
of them werel
Grady did a lot of talking in those
days, explaining in detail the remark
u measures he was taking to capture
the criminal; out 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 was still at large,
and seemed likely to remain so; and,
naturally enough, the papers, having
exhausted every other phase of the
case. were soon echoing public sent1-
ment that something was wrong some
where, and that the detective bureau
needed an overhauling, beginning at
the top.
The Boule cabinet remained locked
UP in a cell at the Twenty-third street
station; and Simmonds 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
OF the first two tragedies at all, and
only incidentally in the reports Of the
latest one. AS far as 1t was concerned,
n 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 lettering on his throne; he
realized, perhaps, that his own head
was not safe; and he had made up his
mind to pin his faith to Godfrey as the
only 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 it was kept.
AS for Grady. I do 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 to
focus the attention Of the public, and
while most of the reporters PROMPTLY
forgot all about it, T was amused at the
pains which Godfrey took to inform the
fugitive as to its whereabouts and as
to how 1T was guarded. Over and oyer
again. while the other papers wondered
at his fmbecility. he told how it had
been placed in the strongest cell at the
Twenty-third street station; a cell
whose bars were made Of chrome-niclel
steel which no saw could bite into; a
cell was worked not only by a kew 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 one 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, and which no man
could possibly enter unobserved.
OF the Boule cabinet itself Godfrey
said little, saying his story for the de-
nouncement which he seemed SO sure
would come; but the details which l
have give above were dwelt upon in
the Record. until. happening to meet
Godfrey on the street one day, I pro-
tested that he would only succeed In
frightening the fugitive away altogeth-
err, even II he still had any designs on
the cabinet, which I very much doubted
But Godfrey only laughed.
There's not the slightest danger of
frightening him away" he said. '"This
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 lob. the
more he Is drawn to 1t. That's the
reason I am making this one Just as
hard as I can"
tempt to get to that cabinet" I protest
ed. TITS simply impossible"
1T looks impossible, I'm free to ad-
nit" he agreed. but, just the same l
wake every morning cold with fear, and
run to the phone to make sure the cab
inet's safe. If I could think of n
further safeguards, I would certainly
employ them"
I looked at Godfrey s~earchingly. for 1t
seemed to me that he must be testing.
He smiled as he caught my glance.
II was never more in earnest in my
life, Lester" he said. You don't ap-
preciate this fellow as I do. He's a
genius; nothing Is impossible to him.
He disdains cas- Jobs; when he thinks
q job is too easy, he makes it harder,
just as a sporting chance. He has
been known to warn people that they
kent their jewels too carelessly, and
then, after they had put them in a
safer place, he would go and take
them"
That seems rather foolish, doesn't
it?" I queried.
Not from his point OF view. He
doesn't steel because he needs money,
but because he needs excitement"
You know who he Is, then?'I de-
manded.
Il think I dol hope 1 do; but I
am not going to tell ever you till I'm
sure. I'll say this-if he is who I think
he is, 1t would be a delight to match
ones brains with his. We haven't got
any one like him over here-which is
a pity"
I vas inclined to doubt this, for /
have no romantic admiration for GEN
tlemen burglars, even in fiction. How
ever picturesque n chivalric, a thief
Is. after all. a thief. Perhaps it ia my
training as a lawyer, or perhaps I am
simply narrow. but crime, however bril-
liantly carried out, seems to me a