The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-04
TRACING THE LOST.
Old PROFESSION OF Az ENGLISH
MAN IN BROokLYN.
He Has Found Four Hundred Miss
ing People-His Career and Meth
ods-Curious TanGIes Which He
HAS UnraveIed-PeopIe Who Don't
Want to BE Found.


HAS UnraveIed-PeopIe Who DONE
Want to BE Found.
In Con. Cregan.'' one of the late
Charles Levers breezy novels, an un-
usual profession is referred as having
been in existence in Paris. 1t was a
quatorzieIae or fourteenth. This was
a person who was hired out to make a
fourteentheat table when any host who
was giving a dinner party found that
thirteen we're present. In Brooklyn
there is a person engaged in an occu-
patton unique as a quatorzieme. 1t is
that of a discoverer or rather tracer of
missing friends.
]. Colonna Drenon is his name, and
he has been singularly successful in his
odd profession. IT'S are in his pos
session that Woo prove a veritable
mine of wealth to the novelist or ro-
nance writer. Mr. Drenon is an Eng
3ishman of Irish descent, and has been
but a short time in this country. Dur
1ng this period he has gladdened the
hearts of many and relieved the minds
of others who have sought tidings as
TO the fate Of long missing relatives
or friends. Wives have wished to
know what had become of husbands,
fathers and mothers of sons and daugh-
ters, brothers of sisters and sisters of
brothers. In the United States alone
Mr.. Drenon has successfully traced up
ward of 400 missing persons, all hail
ing from Great Britain. Two popular
weekly London newspapers, Reynolds
Newspaper and ''Lloyd's Weekly, -
publish columns relating to missing
relatives, and Nh. Drenon'ss name fig
! ures in them regularly. He receives
correspondence on the subject from all
parts of the world, chiefly in England
land British possessions, and his daily
mail is a heavy one. Some of the in
quiTieS made are by relatives of per-
sons who left their homes in. Great
Britain or ireland sixty and even
eighty years ago. and others seek in
formation of those who have diSap-
peared within the last two or three
years.
HIS CAREER AND METHODS.
Mr.. Drenon, who lives in comforta-
bic apartments in a. central part of
Brooklyn, spoke in very entertain
ing way of his career and methods.
He does not look more than thirty
years old, and has a shrewd, earnest
face. with most kindly expression.
He has had many and varied exper-
fences with distinguished people, among
whom may be mentioned the late
Charles stewart Parnell ard William
% Hrien nemper If parlia Mt 1T. From
- ~ Nou.h h. had laste OF rather
natural aptitude fer what may be
sermed localized deIeccve work. III
a riddle tournament in z childJ ems pa
per, he wrote to the editor for the
names and addresses of those who. like
himself. took part in it, in order that
he might communicate with them. The
rTDf ion hE1N
by taking the towns mentioned and
the names and such slight clews as in
dtials. and by writing to newsdealers
and others he learned all he desired to
know and got into correspondence with
most OF the contributors much to the
surprise, but subsequent satisfaction of
the proprietor ST the paper.
What induced me-" said Mr.. Dren-
on, to turn my attention to the
search for missing friends was a mere
accident. l was doing work on the
London Star" in the year 1888 and
there was much excitement on account
of the sudden disappearance of Mabel
Love from the Gaiety theatre She was
supposed to have gone away with a
nobleman. Her mother was always
with her. and ruled her with "A rod of
iron but the girl after collecting her
salary one morning, had given her the
slip and had gone TO no one knew
where.
How was she to be traced in the
great world of London? For amuse-
ment 1 thought ] would try. I knew a
guard on the Irish mail train that left
Euston station for Holyhead to con-
meet with the Dublin boat and l asked
him casually if he remembered such
a passenger as Mabel Love. He said
that there was a young woman that
answered the description and she had
no baggage Thinking that it might
he no criI I tr-ai IN N
boat for Dublin. l searched all the
hotel registers in that city without sue
cess. But it n ever occurred to me TO
look at the register of the hotel at
which | myself was staying. This was
the Clarence hotel Wellington Quay.
Sure enough when 1 opened the book
her name was there. / satisfied myself
it was she. telegraphed to her mother,
who came by the next train and took
her home. 1t was what you call in this
country "a beat for the Star" which
paper gave the first intimation to the
public that the girl had been found,
She was a good, innocent creature, and
had gone away alone, her mind haV-
ing become unhinged by the constant
Surveillance of her suspicious mother.
PARNELL'S SECRET.
The next matter in which / was in
tertsted was not in finding a missing
person, but in keeping the secret Of a
very prominent IfldI, the late O6dTleS
Stewart ParneH. He was my friend. /
also knew Mrs. O'Shea, whom he after
wards married. 1t will be remembered
\ that there was always a great mystery
a bout the movements of Mr.. Parnell.
No one knew where he was to be
found after leaving the house of COM
mons. / was the only man in Eng
land who really did know. He used
10 go TO Brighton TO visit Mrs O'Shea.
and would enter by the front door, and
leave the house by climbing down the
fire escape
William OBrien, also a member of
parliament, was a man fer whom ]
had a great admiration. l was the
bearer of a great number of messages
from his friends in London to Dublin,
and / forwarded TO him certain per-
ssonal property of his while he was i'm
prisoned in T8lllamore jail.
Now continued Mr.. Drenon, taking
from bureau drawer numerous pack
cts of letters, and all neatly
done up and endorsed, Il will
show you the correspondence in some
sol nay more important cases. My rea-
son for coming to the United States
was that l found that most of the
cases of missing friends placed in my
hands were concerning persons who
had left Great Britain or Ireland for
the United States, and I thought /
could work with greater facility here.
Reynolds Newspaper" and "Lloyd's
Weekly insert advertisements for miss
ing relatives or friends free The fol-
t.