The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1911-02-05


Perhaps she might have committed
suicide, perhaps she might have
thrown herself from a pier into the
ocean. But-there is always that
| word but in the Arnold case-Mlss
Arnold was not of gloomy disposition,
she was healthy and normal and hap
py. She had had no quarrels, she
had everything she desired; there was
nothing TO cause her to desire to end
her life
In Central Park Lake?
Perhaps she might have been killed
for robbery. But she only had 500
when she left home, and no trace Of
her body has been found.
There is one person in the Arnold
case who believes the girl is dead.
That person is the girls father, and
he insists that his daughter is at the
bottom of the lake of Central park.
Again the system of elimination. The
lake was frozen over the day the girl
disappeared. No one heard cries from
the lake, no one has discovered any
indication to lead to the conclusion
that death came from drowning.
Neighbors, detectives, the police and
even the family itself has searched
every clump of bushes, every gully,
every foot of Central Park. And no
clew resulted.
There is always the Black Hand.
Although no such thing as an organ
zied band of Black Hand men ever
existed, often two or three men, com.
mon, ordinary crooks, get together,
kidnap someone, write letters in blood
and demand a ransom. When a girls
father is wealthy it is a good thing to
investigate. Therefore, was it not
reasonable that Mr.. Arnold should
become frightened one day recently
when ne received letter, portending
to be from the Black Hand, and asking
a ransom of $1,000 for the body of
Dorothy Arnold? 1t was a good clew,
mighty good clew, until a few hours
later, when another letter came from
another part of the country, also de-
manding ransom, and also saying that
Dorothy Arnold was a captive of the
Black Hand. Certainly Dorothy could
not be in two places at the same
time. Certainly two Black Hand socl.
cites could not have divided the girl
and were holding her in different
parts of the country!
Every Clew is Gone.
Now and then, in the history of a
big city, there have been cases where
wealthy girls have left their homes
to become interested in settlement
work. 1t might have been a good
thing for the detectives to follow.
We're it not for the fact that Dorothy
Arnold never cared for settlement
work, she never had been on a slum.
ming expedition in her life and she
never had spoken of desire to go.
White slavers! The name carried
more than fear to the heart of Mr..
Arnold when he thought of it. But,
after an investigation by police of
many a city into every possible place
where white slavery might be carried
on the result has been failure.
Could the girl have been injured?
Could she have been taken to a hos
pital somewhere? The clew was fol.
lowed. The family and detectives went
TO every hospital in the city of New
York, they looked into the faces of
every patient they examined the rec.
ord books of every institution. Dor.
othy Arnold was not there.
Could This Be It?
And so, again the blank wall There
is only one hope left in the Dorothy
Arnold case-that the girls mind
might have taken one of those queer
''iuI ooAutlllltS come TO DPr-
sons, and that she might have lost her
identity This has happened more
than once. and it is possible that it
has happened in the case of Miss Ar.
mold. Perhaps six months from now.
perhaps ten years. some shopgirl. hid.
den in two by four room somewhere.
may awaken TO the knowledge that
she is not doomed to life of pov-
erty, that she is Dorothy Arnold.
daughter of Francis Arnold, importer
OF New York. That may happen
and it may not. For the case of Dor
othy Arnold was not created by a fic-
tlonist who can put in the weak link
where he desires it, but by fate, which
handles the links of mystery without
a consultation with mortals-Kansas
City Times.
Remember tho Honay nao uvo,r