The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-10-23
London Telegraph.

Scotland Yard which sets it's ordinary machinery in motion. That machinery consists chiefly in circulating photographs and descriptions of the missing person throughout the country and calmly await ing the results. Occasionally 1t Is the practice for the police to render more active assistance, where there Is ground for supposing that their energy is re- quired. II Is also not uncommon for rel atives. after having set the police at work in the ordinary way. to call in the services of private detective agencies The proportion of successful searches is prob ably a good deal larger than the police returns suggest and for the most part there is not so much mystery involved as people think.
 "Cherchez la femme" is the eXplana- ton of great many male disappear ances; but a similar principle operates in the case of the fair sex. In nearly every instance so 1t was asserted by an expert recently, the lady is found to have a lover. There is the ordinary case of the young woman who is not allowed to make her own choice, and who re- solves to take matters into her own hands and to leave home. The parents may have a suspicion of their daughters s prejudices, but they must have some re- gard for appearances, and therefore they at once put the case into the hands of the police. This is just the step which their friends would expect them to take, and it convnces them that the whole affair is absolutely inexplicable.
 A Suggestive Case.
 Yet the case Is rather suggestive of the Jewels, which were really not lost. but were only comfortably slowed away. It Is an instance in which publicity Is really compulsory The case may be mentioned of a young lady, some twenty-four years of age who suddenly left her home. De- tectives were called in, and on their ad- vice advertisements were inserted In the newspapers for several days, inviting the absent one to call at a particular place for a letter. It looked scarcely a prom ising scheme, but it succeeded in round about sort of way, The missing person did not herself call for the letter, but one day a woman whose demeanor eX- cited suspicion was observed to enter the shop. She was quickly followed by a lady detective who overheard that she was asking for the letter in question. and outside the door another female de- tective took up the running. The woman with the letter made her way to a we'll known hotel in the West End, which has the advantage or disadvantage of two exits. The lady walked in at one door and out of the other, and the clue was lost. But the mysterious messenger was unexpectedly encountered a day or two later, and was shadowed when she took the train to a place about twenty-five miles from London Here the missing lady was found in her retreat, which had been geographically chosen to suit the con- venience of her lover. The friends were communicated with and after a stormy interview such as might be expected un- der the circumstances. the young lady went home with her relatives.
 Such Is perhaps only an ordinary story of feminine disappearance. The more in teresting cases are those in which an en- deavor is made to conceal identity, all ways a comparatively easy thing with a woman Sometimes it Is mans attire that Is assumed, and a good many women are found to carry it off well. Then, again, they may dye their hair, and wear if in a fashion which largely alters the appearance. nd there Is always black veil to fall back upon. Sometimes women are stage-struck, and are missing on this account. They leave home, perhaps in the country, without so much as depos- ting a farewell message on the dressing table and having a few pounds in teir pocket come up to London, certain that they will at once get an engagement on the boards at at least guineas a week to begin with. Very often this sort of disappearance is short-lived, because
 
 stage. even of a humble kind is difficult to obtain Sometimes, however, pride is too strong, and it takes the most per sistent inquiry on the part of detectives to find the wanderer. One young lady from the country, the daughter of an of- ficer. bitten with the stage mania, was not so long ago "recaptured' in tea shop. The ever-active lady detective rec ognized her features, shadowed her. com | x.,fth har friends meanwhile and eventually had the satisfaction of seeing her go back home. But these lit tie wanderings are occasionally repeated in the case of the same individual, which, of course, tends to augment the statistics of missing persons.
 Disappearance of Men.
 One who has had some experience in these matters puts fraud as primary cause for the disappearance of men. and also assigns to women and drink very prominent places. Such men make too much money. and find the charm of the home circle less pronounced than 1t was before they could afford to spend so free ly Others go off their head by reason of overwork There Is the case of the man who suddenly goes away to the seaside or the continent with large sum of money. and who finds his chief amuse- ment in throwing sovereigns to the chill
  located by reason of his eccentricity. He has even been known to be taken pos session of by disreputable people, and to be held to all intents and purposes for ransom. But that Is not a case in which the disappearance is mysterious. in the ordinary sense of the word, just as there is little that is incomprehensi- ble in the flight of the business man whose affairs are in a hopeless muddle. and who leaves the country In a hurry with the assent of his partner. There Is no mystery, either, when men receive a shock which sends them off their bal ance. and leads them to do that which their friends never suspected would be possible in their case. Unquestionably a considerably number of perfectly inno- cent men disappear every year from causes of this kind. The more simple and kindly the man, the greater the shock as rule. doctor was attending lady patient, her husband at the same time being in the room, when suddenly the invalid threw her arms round the medi- cal mans neck and declared that she was passionately attached to him. The doctor. startled and indignant, assured her husband that no action on his part had in any way justified his wife's be- havior You need not tell me that" was the reply. for she has been telling me the last three days that she intended to do this, and I thought I had better be present for your sake.' In this way a hystercal woman may easily create a situation which to a sensitive nature might suggest either flight or suicide.