The Problem of Cell 13

“Lock me in a cell, in any prison anywhere at any time, wearing only normal clothes and I’ll escape in a week.” For Professor Van Dusen, otherwise known as “The Thinking Machine” nothing is impossible. Logic is his passion. He makes a bet with his friends and one hour later finds himself locked up in Chisholm Prison. Now he has to use all his mental resources to find the solution to the problem.

Jacques Futrelle was born in Georgia in 1875 and died in 1912 at the age of 37, one of the unfortunate victims of the sinking of the Titanic. Futrelle was working as a journalist on the editorial staff of the Boston American – now the Boston Herald – when the publication of The Problem of Cell 13 in 1905 brought him fame. Cell 13 was the first of a series of stories to feature the scientific detective, Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen, more commonly known as The Thinking Machine, a character who combines elements of Edgar AllanPoe’s Auguste Dupin (note the similarity between the two first names) and Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Like Dupin and Holmes, Van Dusen was an example of the gentlemen amateur detective, men of independent means for whom solving crimes was more a hobby than a profession.

The Problem of Cell 13, like the other Thinking Machine stories, was first published in the newspaper where Futrelle worked, challenging the reader to find the solution.

When Futrelle went down with the Titanic, the world lost a fine journalist and a great master of the short story.

Some Information about Jacques Futrelle’s Life

The Story: The Problem of Cell 13

Chapter One - The Bet

Chapter Two - Chisholm Prison

Chapter Three - A Message from Cell 13

Chapter Four - A Strange Voice

Chapter Five - Countdown to Freedom

Chapter Six - How Did He Do It?