Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-01-20
The Mystery of
the Bou1e Cabinet
BURTON E.. STEVENSON
Copyright. 1913. BY Burton 3. Stevenson.

the attorney who had walked blindiy
into a trap which, now tina it was
sprung. seemed so apparent.
The Bertillon measurements of the
victim had been cabled to Paris. and
he had been instantly identified as q
police as a daring and desperate Grim
a In fact. NJ. Lepine considered the
matter so important that he cabled mex.
Jay that he was sending Inspector
Pigot to New FORK to investigate the
affair further, and to confer with our
bureau as to the best methods to be
to %apprehend the murderer. In
spector Plgot, 1T was added. would sail
at once for Havre on La Savoie.
Meanwhile. Grady's e With SIM
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 n which the po-
lice particularly wished for was not
among them. Not a single trace of the
fugitive was discovered; he had van
ished absolutely. and, after a day or
TWO. Grady asserted confidently that
he had left New York.
For Grady had come into the cas-
again. goaded by the papers,, particu-
iafIy py the Record. to efforts which
ne must have considered superhunan.
The remarkable nature of the mys-
terry, its picturesque and unique fea-
lures. the fact that three men had been
Killed within a few days in precisely
the same manner, and the absence of
any reasonable hypothesis to explain
these deaths-all this served to riyet
pubic attention. Every amateur de-
tective In the country had a theory to
eXploit-and far fetched enough most
OF them were!
Grady did a lot of talking in those
days. explaining in detail the remark
able measures he was taking to capture
the criminal: but the fact remained
that three men had been killed, and
mat 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
every other phase of the
case. were soon echoing public sentl-
ment that something was wrong
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: n Simmonds kept the kew in
MS pocket. 1 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
AiOI lleuICu III IlC accounts
OF the first w tragedies at all. and
only incidentally In the reports of the
latest one. AS far as it was concerned,
the affa1r 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 tina,
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 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; 80 under lock and key 1T was kept.
AS for Grady. / do not believe that.
even at the last. he realized the import
ant part the cabinet had played in tine
drama.
But while the Boule cabinet failed 20
focus he attention of the public. and
while most OF the reporters promptly
forgot all about it. L 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 over
again. while the other papers wondered
at his imbecility. 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-nickel
steel which no saw could bite into: q
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
In full view Of the officer on
so that no one could approach it.
day or night. without being instantly
discoveries: a cell whose door was con
nected with an automatic alarm over
The sergeant's desk in the front ROOM; a
In short. from which no man could
escape. n which no man
could possibly enter unobserved.
OF the Boule cabinet itself Godfrey
little. saying his story for the de-
which he seemed SO sure
would come; but the details which I
give above were dwelt upon in
the Record. until. happening to meet
on the street one day, I pro-
tested that he would only succeed in
frightening the fugitive away altogeth-
er. even II he still had any designs on
h cabinet. which I very much doubted.
But Godfrey only laughed.
There's not the slightest danger of
frightening him away" he said. ..Thfs
fellow isn't that kind. II l am right in
In sizing him up. he's the sort Of dare
whom an insuperable difficulty
only attracts. The harder the lob. the
more he 10 drawn to 1t. That's the
iShoOA I dIu IldkluB tni6 II lust as
hard as I can"
But a man would be a fool to at
tempt to get to that cabinet" I protest.
ed. ITS simply impossible"
1T looks impossible. I'm free to adj
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. II I could think OF any
safeguards. I would certainly
employ Them"
I looked at Godfrey searchingly, for it
to me that he must be testing.
He smiled as he caught my glance.
Il was never more in earnest in my
life. Lester" he said. "You don't APP
gnM0nfnkn- AhAAM oll~-. YY-a-'-