The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1913-12-30
LOST IN A BIC CITY
In New York Thousands of Per-
sons Vanish Every Year.
MYSTERY OF THE MISSING.

Morgue Is an UnsolvabIe Enigma.
More than $500 persons are reported
to the New York police every year as
missing. OF these about $500 are res
idents of the city, while the remainder
are visitors.
The New Yorliers who vanish from
their homes are reported to the police
stations in the local precincts, and
those cases are handled by the pre-
cinct authorities. But the reports of
missing visitors, regardless of where
made originally, ultimately go to the
| bureau of missing persons at police
headquarters.
Information from official sources
shows that minors constitute approxi-
| residents stated to be missing annu-
ally. The remaining one-third is com.
! posed chiefly of men.
1t Is estimated that more than one
half of the $500 are located by the po-
| lice, dead or alive, or return to their
homes soon after disappearance, noti-
| fication of the return being sent to the
officials OF the remainder 1t is esti-
mated that at least one-half ultimately
arrive back home In safety, but no no
| tlfication of the fact Is sent to the po-
| lice
This leaves about $50 persons per
! year who utterly vanish. What be-
comes of them is one of the mysteries
of the metropolis. They disappear as
though they were so many bubbles.
Some of them doubtless kill themselves
or are killed their bodies never being
discovered. Some of them, it may be
set down for certain, run away from
their matrimonial mates. But what the
fate is of the great mass of them no
man can say.
OF the large number of minors who
figure each year as missing, police
officials state that the big majority
are youths and girls between the ages
OF fifteen and twenty. They are often
wage earners, dlsgruntled with con-
ditlons at home, either because they
have to give what they consider too
large proportion of their wages to
the family exchequer or because they
think their parents too strict with
them In the r,atter of pleasure seek
ing.
or the 1000 residents of other places
for whom the police are annually ask
ed to look, n considerable percentage
are men who have come to New York
to find relaxation from the workaday
grind in the gayeties of Broadway
They get into the whirl of things
rather more than they intended and
are lost to their friends view for a
few days. Ultimately most of these
| wanderers In the fields OF frlvollty
turn up all right, with a bit of head
! ache, perhaps, and determination
not to seek relaxation quite so per-
| slstently on the next New York visit
Other strangers TO the city get sepa-
rated from their friends in the sub.
way or on the elevated or get lost in
the streets, and then the police are
asked TO find the missing ones lmmi,
grants In transit from European coun-
tries to inland points in the United
States frequently wander off from the
parties to which they are attached
and have to be found through the me-
dlum of the police,
In the course of year the police
receive scores Of letters from foreign
countries inquring about friends or
relatives OF the writer's who were last
heard from IN New York. From Fan
Zlbar and from India, from Australia
nnd from Egypt, from Europe, from
South America, come letters of inquiry.
The proportion OF these nonresidents
OF New York never to be heard Of
again as estimated by the police IL
about the same rs in the case of New
York citizens. That is something more
! than one-half OF the 1000 are located
| by the police or return to their friends,
the police being so notified. About one
half Of the remainder finally reach
their friends MI right It Is estimated,
] the police not being notified This
leaves approximately $50 visitors to
New York who vanish yearly without
anything whatever being known of
their fate. with the $50 New Workers
who absolutely disappear, there is thus
a total In round figures Of l,l00 per
sons who every twelve months are lost
TO sight rs utterly MS though they had
stepped behind Il magic curtain.
The bureau of unidentified dead has
made q collection of The marks put on
clothing by all laundries In New York.
When a body is found which has no
means of Identification except through
laundry marks the marks are com
pared with those on file In the bureau
If the Victims clothes prove to have
heen Numbered in New York the laun-
dry Is visited. and from examination OF
Its books II Is usually possible to trace
the Identity OF the dead person
Names of tallors and Of clothing
manufacturers also lead to many iden.
tlncations. Tattoo marks have In sew.
eral Instances meant Identification a
na1orty OF the unidentified dead are
found IN the water Most OF them are
doubtless suicides Others OF the uni
Identified eases are due to street ear nc
cidents, suicide 10y gas and sudden
death Ia the street from natural causes
Photographs are taken of all bodies