When Detective Nicholas Dykstra arrived at the Imperial Hotel in Manhattan on the early morning of November 1, 1888, all the drama was over. The jewels, belonging to a member of the Hapsburg family, were missing while the thief lay dead at the bottom of the stairs of one of the lower levels of the hotel. Given the profusion of blood at the criminal's side, it was clear that he was not going to be talking to the detective. According to the hotel security guard who shot the culprit, the fiend said but one word, "Halloween" and then gave up the ghost.
Dykstra surveyed the situation and then asked to nobody in particular, "Who was the thief? Why did he commit this crime?"
Officer Stanley Ewing responded to Dykstra, "His identification showed that he was a civilian employee at the 13th Precinct station."
""One of ours? That's disappointing," Dykstra said dejectedly.
"What's worse is that he was considered the top clerical worker in the precinct, despite his unusual politics," replied Ewing.
"What kind of politics?"
"He was sympathetic to European radicals like those anarchists," he advocated the elimination of all monarchies.."
"Such as the Hapsburgs?"
"Especially the Hapsburgs."
"Well, that takes care of the motive," replied Dykstra adding, "He probably wanted to seize the jewels to finance some sort of terrorist campaign."
"I can see how the public could become alarmed over these developments," Officer Ewing relied, "the idea of anarchists running around America would be enough to scare anybody."
"We need to place an embargo on news relating to this case until we can get things sorted out," replied Dykstra.
At this ;point, Scott Patton, the director of the hotel's security staff joined the conversation."If your hoodlum had not gotten to this hotel, we would not be in this mess. You coppers messed up big time," barked Patton.
"That reminds me," replied an unruffled Detective Dykstra, "What happened to the jewels? Are they safe and secure or are they still missing?"
Officer Ewing frowned. "No, we don't. There were too many people between this hotel and the hotel where the burglary took place. Then when he got here, he evaded us all day and it was not until a hotel security guard...."
"You mean one of my men had to do it because you fuzz were too lazy to do it yourselves," Patton rudely interrupted.
"As I was saying," Officer Ewing looked at Patton defensively, "was that after he was shot, he fell down a flight of steps and his head hit the floor and that combined with the blood loss caused him to give up the ghost."
Scott Patton, the director of the Imperial Hotel security staff started to say something but Dykstra cut him off. "You conceited hotel security people have some nerve criticizing us humble public servants. You make a point of stealing our best officers with those obscene salaries and fancy uniforms and then you complain about we aren't up to your high standards and call us names like copper and fuzz," said an angry Dykstra to a chagrined Patton.
"What happened was the at the culprit had several hours to run around the hotel and hide the jewels here. We know that he hid it here since we could clearly see him carrying the jewelry box while we were pursuing him here," Ewing said.
"Do we have any idea where he hid it?" asked Dykstra "We can't take all day searching every room for them since that would make it impossible to cover things up and prevent the public from feeling terror from the fact that there are anarchists here in our fair city," he added.
"The only clue we have is what the swine said just before he died," said Ewing.
Dykstra queried him, "What was that?"
"Halloween," replied Sander.
"Halloween?" asked Dykstra.
Ewing nodded in the affirmative. "Just before he passed away, we were ableto ask him where the jewels were hidden and all he said was Halloween. Just that one word."
Detective Nicholas Dykstra asked Officer Stanley Ewing, "Do you suppose that he was trying to tell you where the jewels were hidden before he passed on, that there is some hidden significance to the word Halloween?"
Dykstra glanced at his watch. It was 4:03 AM.
Dykstra then said out loud to nobody in particular, "Halloween must have been a word of special significance to him. Yesterday was when he carried out his spectacular jewelry robbery in order to finance an anarchist terror campaign. Hmmmm.....I've got an idea. Patton, you scurvy knave of a house dick you, do you have some sort of master key for all the hotel rooms?"
The director of the Imperial Hotel security staff, Scott Patton, was surprised by Dykstra's question, "Well of course I do, why do you ask?"
"Come with me. I've got an idea," replied Dykstra
Less than half an hour later, both Dykstra and Patton returned with the missing jewelry box. The owners would confirm that all of the jewels were safely returned.
Officer Stanley Ewing asked, "How did you find the jewelry box so soon?"
"Judging from the anarchist's last word, it appeared that he had Halloween on his mind. My guess is that when he saw a certain hotel room and being cleaned, he took it as some sort of omen," Dykstra said.
"And pray tell just what hotel room you're talking about?"
"Room 1031. October 31st, Halloween."
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