Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-01
DISAPPEARS ON
HOMEWARD TRIP
COUSIN OF PRESIDENT TAFT
is MISSING
Twelve-Year-oId Girl Boards Train
at Pomona and Fails to Reach
Her Mother at
Depot
DESCRIPTION OF MISSING GIRL
TWELVE YEARS OF AGE.
HEIGHT, . FEET INCHES.
BLUE EYES.
LIGHT HAIR.
LONG GRAY COAT.
GRAY VEIL

Pretty little 12-year-old Dorothy
Taft, daughter of S. H. Taft of Saw
telle and cousin of President William
Taft, disappeared from a Southern Pa
cific train yesterday between here and
Pomona and despite the strenuous ef-
forts of father, mother, friends ana
police no trace of her has been dis1
covered.
one week ago today Dorothy went
to Pomona to visit the family of IL. =.
Bowen, an old friend of the 'Tafts,
Nothing occurred to mar the little
ones pleasure, and 1t was with reluc-
tance that she terminated her stay.
The Bowens themselves put her aboard
the noon train bound for Los Angeles,
and from that time to the present no
trace of the little one has been DIS
covered.
Mrs. Taft had been notified that her
daughter was coming in from Pomona
and was on hand to greet her when
the train pulled into the Arcade sta
tion. She stood at the gate, scanning
each childish face, but the welcome on
her lips was stayed when no Dorothy
appeared.
Thinking that perhaps the Bowens
had changed their minds and kept her
for another day, Mrs. Taft refused TO
become alarmed, and not until she had
communicated with Pomona by tele-
phone did the mother become anxious
as to the fate of her child.
AS soon as the Bowens had an
nounced that Dorothy had returned to
Los Angeles on the noon train, Mrs.
Taft sent out the alarm. The police
and sheriff's office were notified and
the vast machinery of the law put in
motion to find the missing child.
The train on which Dorothy started
on her Journey from Pomona to Los
Angeles makes but one stop en- route.
This is at Dolgeville, and 1t was to this
point that the officials directed their
first queries. Every one who could
possibly have been in the vicinity of
the depot when the train made a brief
halt in it's cityward rush was inter-
viewed, but to no avail.
Conductor j. B. Harrison was in
charge of the train, but he could shed
no light on the mystery. There were
MANY children aboard, he said, and at
the Dolgeville stop he paid no attention
to those leaving the train. Nor could
the station agent remember having
seen the little one, alone or in COM
nany. about the depot platform.
Mrs. Taft, mother of the girl, lies
prostrate at her home in Sawtelle, eag-
erlv awaiting each tinkle of the tele-
phone and door bells, hoping each time
for some tidings of her little one. ''She
was always a perfect child in be-
havior," the mother sobbed. Dorothy
was not imaginative or melancholy
and 1 know something has happened
to her over which she had no control.
oh, why don't they bring her back to
me?"
The local police and the sheriff's Of
fees are bending every effort to locate
the child. No theories have been adj
vanced regarding the disappearance,
but it is thought that the child mis-
took her station and got off at Dodge
vile, becoming frightened when she
realized her mistake and fleeing into
the hills. The sheriffs deputies are
searching the country in the vicinity
of Dolgeville and Alhambra and also
between there and Los Angeles and
have hopes of locating Dorothy before
many hours have gone by.