Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-01-31

| ing, the headquarters of those whose
| business it Is to solve mysteries.
| Scotland Yard Is the home OF
thrilling occupations, and has many
tasks undreamed of by those who re-
gard it merely as the directing Office
! of the army of blue-coated London
constables, and among those tasks is
that of probing the mystery of lost
persons-a mystery touched often
| by romance, often by tragedy, and
! occasionally surrounded by black
obscurity into which no human inge-
nuity can pierce. 1t is part of the
work of Scotland Yard to endeavor
to extract from the bewildering hui
| man continent of London those in
| dividuals who have suddenly walked
off the track of human knowledge,
who in ordinary speech with friends
and acquaintances in one hour have
in the next, for no reason and with
out word, disappeared.
Some of these mysteries never
have been solved and never will be
solved, but they are astonishingly
|
land Yard unravels every week. Only
one case here and there is heard of,
| because the work is in the ordinary
| routine of the Yard, and the force
| has no eye for romance, rigidly re-
stricting itself to practical thoughts
and practical work.
Stretched over twenty square miles
of London, with its population of
| nation, are the nervous tentacles of
| Scotland Yard, ever alert for the
work. responding in moment to an
impulse from that centre of intel
ligence-the red brick, businesslike
| building on the Embankment. Fre-
| puently throughout day and night
| the agents of Scotland Yard are
securing London in the search for
missing persons. The great organiza-
| tion spread for miles works like a
machine.
TO give an idea of the work it will
| be best to take an instance OF what
| happens in an individual case.
A prosperous, middle-aged civil
servant living at Clapham is amazed
and alarmed to find that his son, a
bank clerk, aged twenty-four. does
not return home one night after
| business. He is we'll behaved
! young fellow and has never before
| stayed away all night. In the
morning his father hurries to the
| branch of the bank in Kensington
where his son is employed, and finds
that he left at about nalf-past five
on the night before in quite his
usual manner, giving no indication
that he was not going straight home.
From the time he left the bank door
he has not been seen. His accounts
are in perfect order; he was young
man on the way to promotion.
The bewildered father takes a cab
to the nearest police station and re-
! lates his story to the inspector in
charge. "Oh, I daresay he'll be
found in couple Of days." says the
CHEEKY inspector. We'll get on to
it at once. What is his descrip-
tion?"
Thereupon the father gives de-
scription of his son, running, per-
haps, something like this: Height,
five feet eight inches; fair hair;
slight, fair moustache, gray eyes,
slim build; wearing silk hat, morn
ing coat, dark-striped trousers and
| glace kid lace boots. The inspector
enters this in book, together with
some details as to the disappearance.
| He hands the book to policeman
clerk and turns to give another word
of reinsurance to the father.
Within a minute IT, 2 latter hears
| the tick-tick" of telegraph
| instrument in the hands of the po-
| liceman clerk. The description he
has given is being telegraphed to ev-
cry police station in the London area,
and is also being sent to Scotland
| Yard. Thus within few minutes
| the police depots from one end OF
| the metropolis to the other are on
the qui vive for the slim, fair-haired
young man.
But the process has only just be-
| gun. AS soon as the father has left
| the police station the inspector calls
out from another room two special
| inquiry officers" who are expert
searchers for missing persons and
| who have a wonderful knowledge of
| their district, with its doubtful re-
sorts, low-class clubs, boarding
| houses and other places where lost
people drift. They hear the details
| and they go out on their quest, start
| ing first with inquiries at the hos
| pitfalls within their reach in order to
| make sure that no accident has be-
| fallen the young man.
BY the time they are in the street
! headquarters at Scotland Yard have
| the matter in hand. At intervals
| throughout the day the private
| printing presses at the Yard pro-
| duce printed sheet with the latest
| confidential information on police
matters, and this sheet is distributed
| hot from the press to every police
| station in London, and as there are
three or four issues every day OILY
an hour or two elapses between each
edition. AS a result, by midday the
! description Of the young man has
been printed and is being distributed
broadcast to the police. Every eX-
pedient is used to get 1t round
quickly, and in the case of some of
the isolated stations mounted men
convey it from place to place.
AS soon as the Gazette is received
at a station the officer. in charge
sees the description aid takes action.
Every hour or two batcnes of con-
stables are paraded before him pre-