The record-union., 1898-01-10
MEN WHO DISAPPEAR.
mysteries That Battle Shrewd City
Detectives.


Many a queer tale, more weird ana
interesting than any penned by writers
VI nctlon, is hidden away in the rec
oros OF mysterious disappearance kept
ny the Chicago Police Department Be
tween three hundred and four hundred
men and women drop out OF sight every
year in this city-disappear as COM
pietely as if the earth had opened ana
swallowed them. What becomes Oh
these people is mystery few detectives
care to attempt to explain. foui pay
is the explanation advanced by their
relatives in nine cases out OF teh' III
der by footpads being the customary
pi.a, but in few instances are the FACTS
such as to justify this conclusion.
Wholesale killings for plumber couio
not go on year after year without de-
lection. Sooner or later the bodies OF
some of the alleged victims would turn
up, or stolen valuables would be found
in that market for all thieves, the
pawn-shop. 1t is because of lack of
developments Of this kind that officers
experienced in criminal matters scout
the idea Of foul play. But people keep
on disappearing at an alarming rate,
and the natural question is, What be-
comes of them?
They are not embezzlers or others
who have known cause for hiding them
selves. If the reports received at police
headquarters are accurate, nearly all
of these missing people are individuals
free from financial or domestic trou-
bles and to all outward appearances,
happily situated in life.
Men do queer things at times" said
former Captain Elliott, in discussing
this subject, and of all their freaks
that of mysterfously disappearing is
the oldest. Sometimes they really be-
come insane and actually lose their
identity, but as a rule those who dis
appear are not afflicted mentally. In
nearly every instance where a man of
sound mind disappears, and no murder
has been committed, close investigation
will disclose the fact that he has some
real or fancied cause for getting out Of
the way. Wives are always positive
their husbands love them, but I have
known instances in which men who to
all outward appearances were devoted
husbands. were really weary of life with
their conjugal mates, and quietly dis
appeared in order to get rid of them.
They would not face the scandal Of
the divorce court, and, indeed, had no
cause to base an action on. Men some
times become annoyed because their
business affairs are not in good shape
and seek relief in voluntary retirement
Others, again, are imbued with love of
adventure, and after spending years in
quiet domestic surroundings suddenly
become imbued with an lzr.conquerable
desire to see other phases of life. 1t is
possible and even probable that some
of the people reported as missing fall
victims to footpads, but the number is
small. Grimes of this kind are easily
detected, and while the perpetrators
may not be caught in every instance
the identity of the victim and the fact
OF killing are pretty sure to be quickly
established.
Sudden insanity accounts for many
mysterious disappearance, but as
general thing you may charge them I'D
to women. Many men live uble lives
and when the situation gets distasteful
1t is only natural they should try to
better their condition by dropping out
of sight SO far as one Of their female
partners is concerned.
one of the queerest cases of mystic
Tious disappearance with which the Chi
cago Police Department has had to deal
Is that Of John w. Matthews, who quiz
city dropped out of sight in this city
last November and has never been
heard from. An Unusually vigorous
search was made for Matthews because
he was an intimate friend of Captain
Campbell, Secretary of the department,
and the latter interested himself in see
ing that the hunt was thorough one
Matthews lived in Monmouth, ILL.,, and
was man of considerable wealth He
came to Chicago about the middle of
November, wearing a new suit of clothes
and with 500 in cash. Here he met
and talked with several friends, all Of
whom afterward remarked that he was
in fine health and spirits. Two days
later Matthews was missing and no
trace of him was to be found.
The police were baffied, when a mind
reader gave them a clew which led to
strange disclosures. This person said
Matthews had been suddenly taken in
sane in Chicago and had gone to a hotel
in Madison street near Clark, where he
registered under his proper name,
but in an undecipherable running hand.
and had been assigned to a room on the
fourth floor. Before bedtime. however.
he had taken car and gone to the lake
near Jackson Park, where he drowned
himself. Shortly after this, the mind
reader said, the body was washed
ashore in the Calumet region, where II
was found by a fisherman, who appro-
priated the money and valuables, and
then to save himself trouble buried the
remains in the sands
THE hotel, the spot where the sui
eide occurred, the appearance of the
fisherman and the locality in which
Matthews body was washed ashore
ness by the mind-reader. His story
caused a great deal Of merriment in
police circles until Captain Campbell in
sisted that it should be looked into, and
all the essential facts were found TO be
correct. Actual suicide and robbery OF
the body were never established, and
many of Matthews friends think he IS
still alive. but in other things there was
an exactitude Of description that was
alarming.
Matthews Signature was found or
the hotel register. and he had been as
signed to a fourthfioor room, which ne
had not occupied. Search along the
southern lake front revealed Spot
Identical with that given by the mind
reader as the place where Matthews nae
itlYnped in the water, and In the Calume'
country the officers found the fishermaf
they were after There, also, IL was
easy TO make out the mind-reader's pic
ture Of the corpse-marked beach where
the body had been cast up. AS the hsn-
erunan stoutly denied having found sucf
= hodv however and no evidence coulc