"Brady says he really wasn't hiding from police." the Globe reported. "He was just waiting for someone to tell the true story behind the garage scandal." Evidently, Brady was the only one who knew exactly what the story was and upon his apprehension in Atlantic City, he expressed relief that he could return to Boston and "get things over with."

So Massachusetts prepared the papers necessary to waive rendition, a process that would only have delayed canonization. But Brady refused to sign them, claiming that since he had been legally declared incompetent by the state, his signature would be invalid. There was a week's wait, and then, Brady, styling himself as the innocent being led to the slaughter, came back to the scene of his alleged caper.

THERE WERE no ticker-tape parades for George Brady. There were no speeches by his friends at the State House. Canonization does not work that way in Boston. It is a narrative process, achieved by legendary stories handed down through the generations. I first learned about Curley at my grandmother's knee. Brady may have to take the same route.

But he has began his career properly, with the necessary modesty.

"Brady insists that he never shared in kickbacks from a construction company awarded the garage contract," the Globe explained, "but he says that he knows who received the money, and says he'll name every name. Beautiful, It is quite similar to Julius Caeser, where the Great Man thrice refused the kingly crow. "each time putting it by gentler."

"Brady has described the garage scandal, in which four men served jail terms as symbolic of the Massachusetts political situation," the Globe reported later. "He has maintained that the real thieves have not been apprehended."

It is almost certain. however, that even if Brady absorbs full blame for the theft, his punishment will be scant. He is almost too old to begin a jail term, and, one understands. it is unromantic to punish Robin Hood. Brad, quite obviously, does not have the money, and even if he knows its whereabouts, has a slim chance of getting to it. So at the very least, he deserves political canonization as compensation. And if Boston is to remain true to its tradition, it will recognize its duty, and provide it.