The evening times., 1896-08-19
HUNTING FOR The MISSING
Many Strange Disappearance Re-
ported to the Police.
AbsenS Ones Are Generally Found,
However. Without the Aid Of
the Officers.

The number of people in Washington who
are reported TO the police as missing in the
course OF n year will aggregate between
fifty and sixty. OF these II happens possibly
once in three years that the missing one
fails to turn up at all.
This refers to adults alone. II is a daily
occurrence Tor the police to be asked
look out for some child who has separated
from its parents. They are invariably found
and that generally within few hours after
their disappearance.
Strangely enough there is no recoId kept
by the police OF missing people, Ion ger than
it takes TO find them. When they have been
discovered, dead or alive. or when they
have returned to their homes, their names
are cast Off the book Of missing" and the
case is forgotten.
The number OF missing people found by the
poi ice is comparatively small. 1t is more
common for the absent ones to turn up of
their own accord. Probably 10 per cent
OF the absentees do this, o are brought back
by their friends.
No reflection Is cast on the ability Of the
police, however. The ma jority of reports
OF missing people are useless. A man who
has been little accustomed to he away from
home happens TO meet party OF congeniai
and convivial spirits some evening, and as
result he could not get home If he had the
desire to do so. His friends take charge of
him, and he is lodged in comfortable
room somewhere, the location of which
probably he and his friends know nothing
OF. After liberal treatment of cracked ice
and ammonia he awakeDs and goes home.
TO find tn at he has been absent for possibly
two or three days.
Meanwhile his family has become alarm
de and the police are notified. A search
is begun and other cities are communicated
with. The police often continue on the
lookout for the missing man long after he
is found. They may not have scouts actively
al work in the field, but every clew is watch
ed ;or days, and then il nothing is heart!
from man or familyit is concluded that he
h as returned to the latter, and the matter is
dropped.
The most effective w0rk done by the po
lice and detectives, however, is in those
cases where some unfortunate person has
wandered away to distant city. through
the excellent detective systems that are
now common IN almost all great muncipaii-
ties, the discovery and return of tue wan
derer is almost a certainty.
Still, with all the vigilance of the po-
lice, and the fact that most missing ones
coming to their notice are fond orreturn OF
their own accord. it is more than probable
that there are a number of people who
annually drop out Of Washington, and
| whose whereabouts are forever unknown.
Their disappearance is not called to tho
attention of the police for one reason or
| another In most Of such cases there is
no one sufficiently interested to notify
| the officials. Sometimes the bodies OF miss
ing people have been found days or weeks
after the person was last seen In life.
With the growth OF the city the possibili-
| ties of these disappearances increase, and
| it is by no means mere Imagination to
| surmise that many have been missed who
| will never be accounted for. They are
| among those classes where friends are a
thing unknown, and where their coming
and going is given little more heed than
| the passing OF the clouds overhead.