The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-06-28
MANY VANISH IN LONDON
DISAPPEARANCE
ARE BECOMING VERY NUMER-
GUS IN THE BIG CITY.
ported to the Police Each Year
as Missing.
as Missing.

| LONDON, June 2S-Three mystic
lrious disappearance which have just
!been made known to metropolitan
magistrates call attention to the start
Hing fact that $4,000 people are report
ed to the police as missing every year.
In the present instance all the miss
ling people are men, one being tall
or living in Great Portland street, an
other a grOundsman in cricket field
at NOrbury, and the third a veteran
of the Franco Prussan war, who had
| with him two medals won for service
rendered in that campaign.
| There may or may not be some con-
nection between their disappearance
and the fact that nine bodies were ia
ken from the Thames in one week re-
Gently, of which but three We're iden
| titled. 1t is only certain that they
| have vanished completely from the
sight and knowledge of their friends.
Thousands Lost Yearly.
| The remarkable manner in which
thousands are lost to their friends in
| London every year is one of the UNI
| Explained mysteries of the metropolis.
| But that such is the case the follow
| ing figures for the last five years from
the annual police returns bear elo-
quent testimony:
Number of persons reported missing
1898. 1899. 1900. 1901. 1902.
3s,oO5 1864 1924 35,O33 35,413
Number persons restored to friends
1898. 1899. 1900. 1901. 1902.
1856 1S,34S 1929 17,45S 1856
Totally lost, 1898, 1879; 1899, 1926;
1900 1875; 1901, 1873; 1902, 1S,0S7.
In five years, therefore, no fewer
than SS.S62 persons have been totally
lost. which means that they must have
vanished at an average of fifty every
day.
If massed together they would be
numerically equal to two complete
army corps or almost sufficient to
populate three cities as large as Peter
borough.
1t is certain that very large proper
ton of these missing people are pa
rents who desert their families. Some
are persons who find it advisable to
change their name and their sur
rOundings; others no doubt commit
covered. But when every contingency
is taken into account, there are several
thousands who vanish as completely as
if they were swallowed up by the earth
and are never heard of again.
Salvation Army Aids in Work.
In addition to what is done by Scot
land Yard and private detective agen-
cies, the finding of lost persons is
made a special branch of the Salvation
lArmys work Their Lost Persons de-
partment in the Whitechapel Road has
been in existence some years, during
which time over 1900 missing people
! have been restored to friends.
The name of the person sought is
! first reported to the nearest Salvation
Army offices, together with any details
| that can be supplied, and then inquir-
lies are instituted through the nearest
army depot where further tidings are
most likely to be obtained.
Photographs and descriptions of the
missing are also published in the War
| Cry, which, as it circulates to the ex-
tent of nearly 10000 copies weekly,
| is a powerful agency for detection
among the lower classes.
! Lapse of memory often accounts for
what might otherwise seem mysterious
IdisappearanceS, and cases have even
| been known where persons have moved
from place to place without being in
| any real sense conscious.
| Some Remarkable Cases.
| Among such instances was the case
recorded by Charcot of a man who had
lreported losses of consciousness lasting
several hours at a time. ON a par
ticular day he was busy on his ordi-
mary employment in Paris, but the