Evening star., 1908-01-25
FRIENDS RECEIVE NO CLUE
NO NIwe or WHEREABOUTS or
XIes1Na ALrxANDR1ANs.
Belief Expressed That Couple Flop
Cd, Were Married and Are on
Their Honeymoon Trip.
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Star.
ALEXANDRIA, Va, January %. 1908.
Mystery still surrounds the disappear
ance Of Miss Della Elizabeth watkins OF
sos North Columbus street, stenograph-
| er, and her employer. Alexander Powell
Brookes. a flour and grain broker, with
offices in the Central National Bank
| building, Washington. They have been
gone from their homes since Monday,
and no message has been received to
indicate their whereabouts. Theories or
all sorts have been advanced by friends
of the young couple to account for their
action, but the most frequently accepted
story is that the simultaneous d1sap-
pearance will ultimately resolve itself into
an elopement and honeymoon, with Mr..
and Mrs. Alexander Powell Brookes re-
| appearing to receive congratulations.
There is nothing in the way of fact to
support this hypothesis except that MI
Brookes and Miss Watkins dropped out
OF sight, SO far as their friends and fami-
lies are concerned. at the same time,
though 1t has been stated they were
seen together leaving the Raleigh Hotel
in Washington late Monday evening. w. r.
Brookes jr., has been looking after his
brothers business interests this week. and
he declared this morning that he is de-
termined to take nothing but an optimistic
view of the situation. and to have abso-
lutte confidence that the young couple will
soon return.
At Her Desk at 4 p. M.
Mr.. w. A Brookes, jr. last saw
Miss Watkins at her desk in his brothers S
office about o'clock Monday afternoon,
and while he was there she received a
message over the telephone from A. P.
Brookes. Following this incident she told
Mr.. Brookes she would not go home un-
til later in the evening, and he left think
ing his brother would escort Miss Watkins
to her home after he had dictated answers
to a number of letters which had accu-
mulated on his desk.
Both the BroO1les and Watkins families
reside in Alexandria, and while Mr..
BrookeS and Miss Watkins have naturally
been acquainted for some time, and she
has long been in his employ as stem
ographer, there was no hint of a matri-
monial alliance between them Frequently
they would walk together to and from the
Washington, Alexandria and Mount Ver-
non electric cars in this city and Wash
1ngton, but as far as surface indications
pointed this was their only association
outside the office Miss Watkins is about
nineteen years of age and Brookes is
twenty-eight.
Relatives Of the young lady are very
apprehensive regarding her safety. They
declare that, had she eloped and had not
met with an accident, she would have
written to her mother, of whom she was
very fond. In view of the fact that no
tidings have been received many of her
friends look upon the dark side Of the
situation.
The mysterious disappearance of Miss
" atkins is the principal topic of CONVEX
sation on the streets. and hundreds Of in
qulries are made daily throughout the
city to know whether not she has been
located.
Police of all the large cities have been
notified to watch for the missing couple.
Mrs. Laura H. Watkins, mother of the
young lady. is greatly alarmed over her
daughters absence.