Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1913-01-28
LAID Of LOST MEN
Scores Mysteriously Disappear
From Far Southwest.
In Country OF Swift Changes Customs
Are Opposed TO Asking Strangers
Personal Cuestlons-No Trace
Is Left Behind.

Fl Paso, Tex---Is there a port OF
missing men?" That is q question 70
be answered as your fancy dictates.
says writer. But that there is a
country from which men are con-
stantly missing" allows Of no con-
tFadiction. "A section OF this great
United States OF America there Is
which literally swallows up human be-
ings and leaves no inkling Of their
fates or their whereabouts. Such a
section and such places are found
throughout the great southwest from
western Texas to the Pacific coast
Not one man or one woman. but
scores Of men and women, come are
seen and vanish in this section OF the
states each year To disappear from
OF the face Of the earth as completely
as il one had never existed is not
feat easy of accomplishment even in
the great centers OF population IN the
eastern states And IN this country OF
missing men It happens so frequently
that only a case of extraordinary in
terest commands the attention OF the
natives A grunt or a shrug OF the
shoulders dismisses the matter as
soon as It is mentioned One must be
rich or one must be influential If one
would have the arm OF the law
stretched forth in succor The pen
atty OF obscurity here. as elsewhere,
Is indifference. "Who cares ?''-who,
indeed?
But indifference alone is not re.
spousible for the lack Of interest in
so small a matter as the mere disap-
pearance Of a man No. there is that
IN the attitude of the average native
Of the southwest which makes him
hesitate to show any interest or con-
cern in the affairs of another man.
In the east such questions as Where
are you from" or Are you IN bust
ness here?' are common enough And
such questions are asked with no pur-
pose or intent of prying into another's
affairs. It is part Of the social Gus
toms Of the polite" east to show
some interest in another's well-being
But such personal. intimate questions
never fall from the lips Of the man
born or reared in the great southwest.
Only a few days ago the proprie-
tress OF one of the largest and finest
boarding houses In El Paso furnished
mute but convincing evidence of the
fact that men disappear all too often
N these parts Taking the CORE.
spondent up to a spacious garret. she
pointed to a pile of trunks and other
effects and said:
You see all these trunks here?
Well, they belong TO men and women
who have come to my place. taken
rooms and suddenly departed. DO I
never hear from them? Not in a sim
gle instance have | received one line
from one of them or from any one
knowing them All know about
them. as a rule, is their last names
don't ask them anything about them
selves. I know what you are think
ing" she added. You are thinking
these are the effects of board jump
ers. But you are wrong. l make
them all pay from the day they get
their rooms-a week in advance I'm
too used to keeping boarding house
to be taken in by men with empty
trunks or trunks loaded with bricks
and the like IF you will look you win
see that some Of these trunks are not
even locked They are full of clothes
more or less good. Sometimes one
finds the relatives Of a person who
has disappeared by letters and some
times by cards and other things left
in the trunks
"This trunk here" she said, point
ing cut a rather new trunk, belongs
to Young man who left here only
about three weeks ago. The Lord
only knows where he is. I've not had
a line from anybody about him. I'm
holding the trunk. but, OF course.
some one is in the room he had /
used to bother about such things. but
it happens so often that I have about
got used TO il"
Some time later group OF men
were chatting together on this topic
1t seemed to be a common enough oc-
currence all throughout the southwest
Many reasons were given for the mys-
terious disappearances. but none
seemed quite good enough to answer
satisfactorily the big query. What be-
comes of the scores OF human beings
who disappear each year in the great
southwest?"