The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-03-22
To Kansas City to See the
Sights and
HAVE NOT RETURNED.
Parents Making Every Effort
to Find Them.
Were Accompanied by a BlOn.
dined Young Woman.

and Pearl Kent, who ran away from
home Monday afternoon for Kansas
City.
With never a word as to their inten-
lions, and without bidding their parents
goodbye, they stole quietly from their
homes, met at an appointed place and
went together to the Santa Fee depot,
| where they took the o'clock train for
Kansas City.
Pearl Kent, aged 49, is the youngest
daughter of D. w. Kent, secretary of
! the grand lodge Of the /. o. O. F., with
an office at the corner of Fifth and
| Quincy streets, and who lives at 1875
| Western avenue. Pearl Kent is tall and
| handsome with black hair and eyes.
Bertha Bowen, aged Is, is the daugh-
| ter of Engineer Bowen, who pulls the
| flyer" on the Rock Island, and who
| lives at 1923 Polk street. Bertha Bowen
| is not as tall as her companion, but with
| her black hair and eyes is considered
quite pretty.
The father of Bertha Bowen was out
on his run Monday and when he re-
| turned yesterday was the first to dis
cover that the two girls had run away.
| He, well as the girls mother, were
| greatly grieved, and he started at once
| to search for his runaway daughter.
| 1t was Tuesday afternoon before the
| parents of Pearl Kent felt uneasy about
their daughter, for they thought she
| was visiting at the home of Bertha
Bowen. She had not been home since
MONDAY afternoon, ana T. Kent went
down to the Bowen home. Pearl had
| not been there and Bertha had not been
| there since the day before. Mr.. Bowen
| told of his suspicious and the two start
| ed to hunt the children.
They consulted with Chief Strauss
| and after many inquiries it was found
| that the two girls, in company with a
| woman by the name of Maud Belts,
| left at 4 o'clock Monday afternoon on
| the Santa Fe, bound for Kansas City.
Mrs. Belts, who accompanied them,
| left for Kansas City she blondined her
hair for the reason, it is supposed, to
| avoid identification.
The parents of Bertha Bowen discov-
| cred that they had been deceived by
| their daughter all winter. They had
| supposed she had been attending school
! every day, but found that she had not
! been to school at all, but had been
| playing truant.
Many times the two girls were away
| from home in the evening and some
! times all night, the parents supposing
| that their daughter was visiting at the
| home of the other, but instead both
| were absent from their homes at the
same time.
| was already suspicious of his daugh-
| ter's actions. He was determined to
consult with the father of her compan-
| ion and see if her stories about visiting
! at the Kent home were true He put
| off visiting Mr.. Kent until he returned
| from his next run and his daughter,
| bertha, knew InaI ne suspected h6r.
She was afraid her duplicity would be
| discovered and told several of her
| friends that she was going away. They
| hardly knew whether she was in earn
| est or not and paid little attention to
| her statements.
| Monday at noon Pearl Kent's father.
! who has employed her all winter to do
| clerical work, gave her some letters to
write and asked her when they were
| finished to bring them to his office.
| Pearl was to attend a lodge meeting
| that night and in the afternoon to be
| fitted for a uniform When she did not
! come to the office at o'clock her faith
! err thought she had gone to the lodge to
| have her uniform tried on and she
| was to attend the meeting there that
night he thought she had gone to the
/ house of some friend for supper and
would soon return. When she did not
! come home that night he still thought
| she was staying with some friend. She
| had written only one letter and a part
| of another but this did not excite the
suspicion of her parents.
After writing the letter she put on her
! hat and jacket, told her mother she was
! going up town and left the house. Ber-
/ tina Bowen left her home as usual after
! dinner as if to go to school. When she
! did not return for supper and did not
| come home at night her mother thought
she was visiting at the Kent home, as
| she was in the habit of doing.
| Pearl Kent went to the home of Ber-
| tina Bowen in company with a woman,
/ the same one it is supposed who ac-
I COInpanloQ ln0Ul 10 NdHSdS SlIy. one
| introduced her to Bertha using the
! name of a well known society young
! lady who was not at the house at all.
1t is supposed that the woman induced
! Pearl to run away and then went with
| her to induce her companion to go with
| her.
Mr. Bowen was determined to bring
| his daughter home and after he and Mr..
! Kent had consulted with Chief Strauss
| it was decided that they should go at
| once to Kansas City in search of the
! runaway in hopes that they had gone
| no further but would be found there.
! Mr.. Kent was determined to catch the
| woman who induced the girls to run
| away and desiring assistance he in
/ duced Charles WEIGH, friend of the
! family who lives in Kansas City, to ac-
company the party there and return
| his daughter to him. Today he sits in
| his office hardly able to attend to bust
| ness and every minute in hopes that he
| will receive a telegram from Kansas
! City with the good news that his daugh-
| ter has been found. The mother of Pearl
| Kent is almost crazed with grief but
ready to receive her daughter back into
| the home she left.
| Mr.. Bowen says if he finds his daugh-
| ter he will send her to the refOrmatory
| at Beloit and Mr.. Kent would do the
| same were it not for the fact that his
| daughter is too old to be taken there.
Mr.. Kent attributes the cause of his
daughter running away to the fact that
| she has been attending dances all win
| ter against his will. and has met young
| men there who met her round town and
/ took her riding and walking.
| The parents of Bertha Bowen are
| heart broken and Mrs. Bowen is nearly
| Frustrated with grief. The father shows
| his grief and can hardly control himself.
| Both he and Mr.. Kent cling to the hope
| that their daughters have run away to
| go on the stage and will be found in
| Kansas City. They will stay together
| and for that reason it is thought the
party from Topeka aided by the Kansas