Los Angeles herald., 1891-05-25
The Missing Man is at Last
Located.
Detective Fred Smith Knows
Just Where He Is.
.
He is Well Both in Body and
f. Mind.
Apparently Afraid of Judge wade-Mr.
Smiths Experience with Mrs. Royal
and Her Attorney.

] The mystery of the disappearance OF
A. W. Royal, contractor, took most
remarkable turn yesterday. After
week Of search and columns of hypothe-
ses published in the papers as to the
probable fate of the missing citizen,
Royals whereabouts were discovered
and made known to the supposed-to-be-
distracted wife. Mrs. Royal thereupon
expressed as much anxiety to cover up
her husbands tracks as she had appar-
emily had before to discover where he
was, and in a tone of extreme solicitude
she begged that her informant would
not make public what he knew.
Detective Fred Smith has the dstinc-
tion of being the first to nnravel the
mystery. For the past ten days Smith
has been travelling about great deal in
Ventura and the northern part of Los
! Angeles county, and on Saturday, the 10Th
inst, he happened to be in the north
bound Southern Pacific train ON the way
to Newhall. On passing through the
cars he saw familiar face and bowed
to a man whom at the time he could not
exactly place in his memory. Return
ing to the city few days later he heard
great deal of Royals disappearance
but did not connect the name with the
incident on the train until yesterday,
when on looking at photograph he
discovered that the missing contractor
and his casual acquaintance were one
and the same.
Smith supposed that his knowledge of
Royals whereabouts would be very wei
come news to the wife, and as soon as
possible he called at the contractors
residence on Bellevue avenue. Mrs.
Royal came to the door and the detec-
tive in few words told what he knew.
For Gods sake" said Mrs. Royal,
"don't tell anyone about it. You are
priv ate detective and it will be to your
interest not to say anything about it.
Go and see my attorney T. w. Knox be-
fore you tell anyone, please do"
Another lady in the house added her
entreaties to those OF Mrs. Royal, and
Smith, much mystifed, started for the
lawyers.
Knox was found at home, and on be-
ing told that Royal had been seen, did
not seem to be much surprised. 1eFer
the first two or three days." he said, 81
supposed Royal had committed suicide.
But afterward came to the conclusion
that he had gone away. The knowl-
edge you have obtained, of course, is
public property, and | cannot advise
you to keep. still. There are reasons,
however, which might induce you to
say nothing about it. Royal got into
some trouble in the courts, and there is
just bare chance that he might get
into very serious difficulties because of
his testimony in the case Of Royal VS..
Denhison. Mrs. Royal is very much
alarmed about him, and she would
rather see him away or dead than in
such trouble. Then there has been
some family trouble in the Royal house
hold tor the9past year, which may ac-
count for the husbands absence"
Smith made no promise to keep his
knowledge to himself, but left the house
and was soon after seen by HERALD re-
porter. The detective is confident that
he can lay his hands on Royal any time
he wants to, and if any OF his friends are
anxious to find the contractor, he will
tell them Just where he can be found.
EFT. Wright, friend and neighbor
of the Royal family, tells story which
gives the mystery" somewhat differ
ent complexion. He says he is positive
Mrs. Royal did not know that her hus-
band had voluntarily absented himself
from the city, and that he knows OF his
own knowledge that the lady has been
in such state of nervous excitement
for the past week that she has had to
take opiates to obtain any sleep what
ever. He now believes that Royal is
safe at the place indicated by Smith. but
saws that the contractor was SO much
worried over his lawsuit that his mind
became weak and he was very easily pre-
vailed upon by bad advisers to leave the
city.
Detective Smith would not tell the re-
porter exactly where Royal is, but says
that he is located in the vicinity OF
Ravenna. Superintendent of Streets
Hutchinson was yesterday out looking
for the contractor with volunteer force
Of 200 searchers, and the fact that Mrs.
Roval and Attorney Knox knew OF the
efforts that were being made to find the
missing man makes their behavior all
the more remarkable.
Donahue's Grocery House
will remove to 2I6 and 21o s. Spring, on May