The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-08-06
SEARCH OF NO AVAIL
Whereabouts of Gertrude
Rainey Is a Deep Mystery.
OFFICERS HAVE No CLUE
Working Propositions of Run
away, Abduction, Foul Play.

/
12-year-old daughter of Mrs. II. A
Rainey, has come to be a profound mys'
terry which the officers Of southern Kan
sas have as yet been unable to solve
Whether her strange and sudden disap-
pearance has been the result OF an alb
duction, willful runaway or foul pay
is now a question which is almost as un-
certain as, the mystery of her where.
abouts. Whatever it may be,sit is never
theless appalling to think it possible for a
little girl SO pert in her manner and Sc
naturally attractive as she. could be in a
manner swallowed up from almost the
very hour she left her mothers home in
Great Bend.
1t is two weeks ago today since Cert
rude Rainey disappeared. She had been
at Sunday school, her voice had mingled
in the childish melody Of the hour and
she had learned the lessons Of the Sun
day school, had ben given her weekly
paper, and left the church with a little
friend in the full glow and supreme con-
tentment of happy youth. On the way
home she met pious appearing man
with a Bible under his arm and wearing
a pair of spectacles. Whoever this man
was, the girl ran home and told her
mother that she had met Erred Booth"
a Wichita acquaintance. No more atten-
ton was paid to the subject and the
mother thought no more Of the man of
whom Gertrude had spoken. The dinner
dishes were cleared away. after which
| Gertrude wanted to visit her little friend
with whom she had walked from Sunday
school and her mother allowed her to 60
She fixed up in her Sunday clothes and
that was the last look the mother got
of her child. That evening she disappear
| ed. Whatever may have become lof her,
1t seems that her disappearance has most
! likely been the result of a well-layed
plan, conceived by an older Inlnd and
shrewdly executed with an immoral pur-
pose in view. So far as anyone has been
| able to trace her and her caDtor 1t Is
ascertained that he must have been very
careful to conceal their identity. It is
said that after he had taken her to an
other small station and had her don long
dresses she was so awkward in them that
/ he had to abandon the idea of represent
ing her as any other person than his
daughter. This he did at Newton. Since
the morning they drove from there no
trace whatever has been found Of any
thing resembling either Of them or the
rig they had while at Newton, and the
officers seem to have lost every clue. The
girl was as completely in the power of
this pious looking individual as Trilby
was in the power of the miserable-look-
ing Svengali, and who knows but what
he may use her as Svengali used Trilby,
until a time when Providence strikes him
for his crime? There are a multitude OF
ways in which this pious-looktng man
could use Gertrude Rainey for profit.
She is pretty, vMacious and Is naturally
attractive, being a decided brunette with
large. lustrous eyes and rather large for
her age. She was endowed with freedom
and grace. enhanced by childish limo
cence.
This pious-looking man VINO took a
Bible under his arm to get a short and
unsuspicious interview with the girl
while on her way from Sunday school
evidently wanted her for a criminal pur-
pose.
The search is still going on but SEEM
ingly there is no clue worthy OF the
name. Marshal Ainsworth of Newton is
working on the case and Is sending out
cards broadcast. Mrs. Rainey is keeping
UP continued correspondence with the Of
ficers. An officer in this city claims to
have seen the little wagon described at
Newton as that used by the couple when
they, were there, and says he had seen
1t through the country a great deal until
the disappearance of the girl was an
nounced. All reports have been proven
mere sophistries with no foundation in
fact. Mrs. Rainey says II her daughter |
had her own way she would not remain
absent from her more than three weeks |
without writing as she would certainly |
get homesick.
From all accounts Gertrude has been |
a child who has lived more or less among |
men-a Trilby in her jovial simplicity and I
unfeigned friendship for those whom she |
met anywhere. She was bold because no |
one could have the heart or inclination |
to snub her. She once said that when |
she was a little child living with her |
mother in Atchison she became known to |
the town on account Of her persistency In |
running away from home. After long |
weary search her mother would find her |
down in the city playing newsboy, sell |
ing boquets or dispensing kisses to re-
fined and admiring gentlemen about the
hotels at a nickel apiece.
Mrs. Rainey then moved here and lived |
on a farm for awhile. doing garden and /
trucking business when she moved to /
the city Gertrude was put in school. She /
was as bright in the school room as at |
her childish pranks and advanced rap
idly Soon she became large enough to
earn little money for light services OF
various kinds and was compelled to do 30
from necessity. She worked awhile at
Holmes restaurant on North Main street
put cut as chore girl in different families
and rousted about a great deal. She |
worked at the Plaza hotel awhile last
winter and attended Lewis Academy.
Her rise was rapid in all classes of learn
ing. She thought everyone who took I'd
with her childish whims was her friend
and was probably the most noticeable
girl about the streets when she was here. |
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