New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-02
LOST IN LONDON.

What becomes Of the forty thousand people who
officially reported lost in London year by
year? Why are they? Why they missing?
What are their ultimate destination and destiny2
II viii surprise most people when state that
less than per cent of this legion of the lost
wander beyond the confines OF the metropolis itself
population NAV be found a safe sanctuary for the
person whose ambition it is TO be unrecognized and
my residence, select habtation east west, and
DEFY anxious friends TO trace me to my hiding
place. That this is possible is due IN the main
to the ounfrendliness'' of Londoners. The average
be6W o9e or hf tie Gentit 81 his o. neRtoor
neghbor- Tenants come and go strange faces are
q be replaced by Others, but it is no concern Of
ours and the procession OF changes passes on I'M
j can recall a case in which retired tradesman
IlSeo IN a south i.onoon sIDu[n, o9 1S
been eagerly searching for half year. TIE facts
remark Of milk carrier who had noted the SIM
The great majority Of London's Official lost is
composed Of deserving husbards-men after whom
sistence and pertinacity. The number Of these do
nestle outlaws runs into tens of thousands. Some
ccaI coal mine assume the black and -defac
ing diamond" dust Of honest labor But here again
the larger part rely for concealnent upon me pos
sibilities of London Working casually at the docks
much-coveted bacheIordom uHuI a nllsdeIneanoF
daring than the rest dTags them under tho
are previous offenders whose damning records lie
conveniently IN the 4a2tnal fFmna regisry de-
from the dock to prison. and thence to liberty with
their real identity unreveaied.
The romances OF the missing would fiji volumes
have worked out few hundreds in the course
of my forty years of detective work Only last
wear ! was engaged by a Glasgow merchant to
trace his son, who, after plundering his fathers
safe. eloped with a housemald: For six months
sought him, advertising in the newspapers and
leaving means to find him that / could devise
untried. One evening, as was leaving my Office
was accosted by a shabby, unshaven youngster
who, after making many cautious inquiries, in
formed me he was the person whom ] sought He
had long known that was looking for him, but
he Il Of mis- he'll hac1 n
only utter restitution that drove him TO declare
I cannot estimate the number of evil-doers who
afe conceaIng themselves in the byways OF the
metropolis nor can l give any idea OF the extent
TO which social sins drive men and women out
from their homes and family circles There are
appearance in police records Quite by accident
I stumbled, only TWO three weeks ago, upon a
man OF academic distinction and high birth. A
brilliant career at oxford University had followed
schools He intended for the Church. but be-
fore he took holy orders certain discreditable
Tumors began TO circulate. He did not stay to
face them. He disappeared,
His friends sought him far and wide, but in vain.
ana II was thought that he had left England All
the while ne living. or existing, in a South
out few sllillings weekly q private schoolmas-
ter. l pited him. and told him that I should com
find him he had disappeared again. This is a typ
teal case Any inquiry agent could relate scores OF
them.
TIE percentage of the missing who seek abiding
membered that the river does give up all its
dead; nor. sorry to say. all the murders
Of London dragged into the light OF day. I assert
emphaticaliy that each year adds the roll of
London's undiscovered crimes. All tho victims Of
foul play not Identified are the criminals
always brought TO fnstice.-tLondon Express