The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-09-17
THE JUMPING OFF PLACE.
The Appalling Record Of San Fran
cisco for Mysterious Dis
appearances.
About Ono Man q Day Is Wiped
Out, According to Police
Records.
vyi,s,opt n Cine or Reason y Person Van
ishes ms IT Swallowed Up-Thc MA
jority Never Seen Again. .

San Francisco is a city of mysterious dis
appearances. an average OF one case a "a
being reported to the police. says the Ell
sminer, The names are entered upon !,
little book, and that il generally the las
Official act concerning them.
Some way it seems easy for an individual,
TO reach this place and simply drop out O
sight. Ordinarily when a mar or woma,
v.nishes. leaving no trace, there Is httl
stir outside the immediate circle deprive'
of a member. Sometimes there 10 no circle
and vet other times there IL no sense OF de-
privation. Anyhow, the world soon forgsts
and a little later those who had been init
mats forget too. Still it must be that some
where a heart aches.
What becomes of those who disappear
Well, il that question could be answered
the mystery would be one the detective
be without fee and romano reduced to
commonplace. There are many avenues to
oblivion. There is the distant land and an
easy change OF name. There is rest In the
depth of the sea and the promise OF peace
in q grave.
There is murder, suicide, accident, in
sanity. There are motives without numbe
and methods only limited by human inRe-
nuity.
It was only so recently as the 10th Of the
present month that j. w. Cammack, an
elderly and m~ethodical man. left the Grand
totsl under the strangest circumstances
He had not slept from under its roof a
single night since 1886. He was amply pro-
vidsd with money and had a snug fortune
in propsrty, When he went he neglected
to take his gold watch. In his room was
found q 80 gold piece and his wardrobe.
No possible reason ia known for his peculiar
course, nor can any clsw to his whereabouts
be discovered. Mr.. Cammack Just Dropped
out of human circumstance. whether ne
soughs death or death sought him, or an
enemy lured him to assassination, or his
reason fed, may never be known. 1t Is not
unnatural to suppose that he will never be
seen again. 1t ia possible, On the other
hand, that he may return safe and we'll, a
little ANNOYED at the commotion he created.
I've years ago an honest laborer named
Burns, VITO had known better days, was
toiling on the docks when a piece of freight
was dropped upon him. Sadly bruised he
was taken to the receiving hospital, thence
to the city and county hospital, and next,
40 his friends were assured, rigor mortis
apparent in every joint. was carried to the
disssetinR room, whore ambitious student to
probably played polo with his tibis.
Ihithsr went his mourning friends, but
neither hide nor hair, nor other appurten-
ances of the lamented Burns could they
discover, although the tables were inspected
and the contents of the picking vat gently
churned. Then they went away %sorrowful,
b~emoaning the hard fate of Burns. A few
weeks after that the presumably dead and
dissected mortal called upon the m%ourners
and babe them be of good cheer. 1t is said
that they refused to accept him until he
had displayed some mark akin to the old
strawberry.
Occasionally there are able bodied men
shanghaied. This operation is one of which
everybody on the coast knows somethingin
a general way. A man may remember
walking along the water front. The next
that he is conscious of 10 that he Is at sea
and looked upon by a muscular mate as
duly part of the crew. Last March a young
man from the interior, named Jones, came
seen salt water. His friends have since
heard of him in a hospital in Rio Janeiro.
1t ia very certain that If he lives to come
back he will haunt the water front only in
day time and armed with a club. Had he
died in South America no word concerning
him would have been received. Who can
tell how many under similar surroundings
have died with no frisndly ear bending over
them to catch a last message?
The causes Of mysterious disappearanoes
ere as numerous as the numbers of crimes
of which men can be guilty. They can be
ascribed to murder, suicide or fear of the
law. Men get into debt and run away from
it. They steal, and conscience pricks them
into the next kingdom. They marry two
women, whereas the statutes limit this rela-
tionship to one. They hasten to escape tho
wrath of the broken statute and this moro
narrowing displeasurs of the women. Ac-
cident may eliminate a man and do it so
nriAtly tn k no ouN ia tina wisor Let him
choose \ dark, windy night for a walk along
the sea wall. Let him be 80 badly intoxi-
Gated RS this course would indicate. There
are countless chances for his being snufed
out. He can fall over the edge. or tumble
into some of the traps that seem to have
been set for the drowning of the unwary.
OF the disappesrances reported to the po-
lice most arc from the humber walks, part
of them only signify that tho person alleged
to have faded from sight has been on a
spree. and the count of noses in the city
Jail may set the distracted heart to beating
naturally again. But others are founded
on fact. and behind tho fact may be tragedy
and sorrow.
TWAS last June that the police were asked
TO look up John Thornberg, of 303 Jessie
street. They may perhaps be looking yet,
but nothing has been seen. Neither to
mixing Of the mans fate. He was 80 years
old, = laborer. His wife, the same age, did
housework at Port Townsend. The has
band and wife were greatly attached to
each other, and years of hardship
had not weakened their mutual
affection. June 8 Thornberg said
eoodby to his landlady. remarking that he
would be absent over night. He nave I
came back. He absolutely WAS swallowed
up. Whether some ship bore him away, or
the bay tempted him out of a dreary life,
or the ambulance carried him to a hospital
from some scene of catastrophe to die, con
s~titutes the mystery. But the faithful wife
says through her tears that she knows that
John will come again. Something he can
not help ia keeping him. She smooths hel
band. does this old-fashioned wife. Every
month she sends the landlady money TO pay
for tho room, 20 that John will have &
place to rest when he comes back. There
is the plain bed and the cheap but com
Portable chair in which he used to spent
his leisure hours, and his old slippers, too
all ready for him.
Early last February August Rothenbere
left his accustomed place of residence, !,
hotel at 9lS Valencia street. He did no
take even his small portable belongings
His circumstance did not afford any CLAW
either to his course or the reason impellint
him. All that is known is that he never ha,
been seen since, and his friends have giver
up expecting his temperance.
Fred Bier wigs by profession n cook. Tht
intiicnclcs of the kitcken were plain AZ
print to him, and his dabbline in flour and
other staples wss attended by artistic nnc
diRestibls results. Fred dropped his rolling
pin and joined the army of the missing iusr
year ago. Apparently he was not a short,
ky~1- --~-.l