Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1912-07-25
Young Woman Disappears.

rOuHx WOnion DfodppCdiSs
Considerable anxiety is felt by the rel
atives and friends of Miss Dorcas Iiams
Snodgrass, daughter OF Mr.. and Mrs.
John T. Snodgass, oi Martinsburg, who
mysteriously disappeared in New York
City on the morning of Wednesday, July
II, and whose Whereabouts have re-
NAMED shrouded in complete mystery
ever since.
A searching investigation into the Cir
cumstances surrounding the disappear
ance of Miss Snodgrass is being made by
the police force of New York and by
private detectives, but up to this time no
clue as to her whereabouts or the motive
former disappearance has!been developed.
Miss Snodgrass for several years past
has been making her home with her Sis
ter, Mrs. John L. Order, lao Wallace
avenue, Mount Vernon. fashionable
suburb OF New York. Mr.. Order is chief
engineer of the recently completed Bos-
ton, West Chester & Mount Vernon Rail-
way, and has high social and business
position in Mount Vernon.
Wednesday morning OF last week Miss
Snodgrass left her home in Mount Yer
non to 60 to New York, only few miles
distant, to do some shopping, prepare
tory to a trip to California with Mr.. and
Mrs. Crider. Within an hour after she
left home she was seen by two persons
who knew her-aud then she disappeared
as completely as if the ground had opened
and swallowed her. That night at late
hour Mrs. Order became alarmed at her
continued absence, and thinking that her
sister might possibly have taken a sud
den determination to come to her home
in Martinsburg, wired to that place, that
Miss Snodgrass had disappeared. Since
that time relatives there have been in
constant communication with New York,
and are awaiting with the greatest anxiety
some definite information.
Several theories are advanced to &C
count for Miss Snodgrass' absence from
home, but the most reasonable seems to
be the idea that she suffered collapse as
the result OF the excessive heat, and that.
she is now delirious in some obscure
hospital or private residence and there
fore unable TO communicate with her rel
atives. Another theory advanced is that
she has been kidnapped and is being for
chilly detained by those who would. Sc
cure financial gain through her release.
In support of the theory of illness from
the heat, it may be stated that Miss Snod-
grass only short time ago completed a
course and was graduated as a trained
nurse, and that her close application to
her duties and studies had the effect OF
partially breaking down her health, thus
making her more susceptible to a collapse
from the heat than would ordinarily be
the case.
There is another theory that Miss Snod-
grass may have gone back to her first
love, DR.. Smith, a house physician at
the hospital where she was employed,
and that they may have eloped to Europe.
1t is reported that Miss Snodgrass was
engaged to DR.. Smith some time ago, but
that the engagement was broken off.
Later she became engaged to young
Schmidt, the mining engineer.
Her disappearance at this particular
time is all the more inexplicable by rea-
son of the fact that she was planning
six-months' trip to California with Mr..
and Mrs. Crider, and that she expected
TO return to the east as the bride of Adolph
Schmidt, an electrical engineering con-
tractor whom Miss Snodgrass met a year
ago and to whom she became engaged
last spring. 1t had been planned that in
a few months Mr.. Schmidt should go to
California to claim his bride. The match
between the two young people was
case of love on both sides. Mr.. Schmidt
holds responsible and lucrative posi-
ton. He and his fiance were entirely
devoted to each other, and he is on the
ground making every effort to locate the
missing girl.