The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-01-02
never SO MANY
MISSING GIRLS,
ASSERT POLICE
Bridgeport in Common With
Rest Of Connecticut Suf-
fers From Cadets.
MOST LOST GIRLS
UNDER 20 YEARS
Detective Bureau Plans to
Break Up Infamous sys-
tenn Flourishing Here.


underground lines of white slavery
quarters in New York city has today
disclosed the fact that during the
past three months the toll of girl vic
TINS here has been extremely heavy
and that throughout the state about
IS girls under the age Of 20 have
been reported as mysteriously> missing
from their homes.
Though the names of three supposed
victims from Bridgeport have been
made public by the police today it Is
freely admitted that they had previ-
ously been suppressed from publica
tion for police purposes and that the
list is but fraction Of that now re-
ported and under investigation by the
authorities.
The missing girls are:
Frances Higgins. aged Is, recently
released from st. Francis Orphan asy-
lum, New Haven. Formerly lived on
Clarence street, Bridgeport.
Margaret Cummings, aged 1S, of 234
Brooks street.
Mary Roche, aged Is, clerk in local
Brooks street.
cadets, PROGRESSES had been working
in Bridgeport and that a woman s
hand was conclusiveIy shewn in the
disappearance of the three Bridgeport
girls was the statement made BY
Lieut.. edward o. Cronan, chief of the
detective department, this morning.
Never in the history of the police
are so many young girls reported miss
ing throughout the East as at the
present time,' said Lieut.. Cronan. st
have before me nearly 300 cases, about
Is of which are from Connecticut
alone" "
There is little question that agents
for the vice trust in New York have
been operating boldly in Bridgeport.
Not only have they placed their vic
Tins on the streets of Bridgeport as
will be shown in the case being pre-
pared against Alfred Fucei recently
shot by pretty Lena Reck, who had
been forced into a life Of shame, but
in Gases where the victims are too
young and innocent to be allowed
their liberty here, they have been
shipped to New York and probably to
other cities.
''The police of this city, are now
com bined closely with those of New
Haven, Hartford, New London and
Waterbury in an effort to form a
drag-net that will put stop to what
appears to be wholesale seduction car
ried on by means of widely distribut-
ed agents Of a national vice trust.
while we have been closely fol-
lowing all clues that have presented
themselves in this city during the last
five weeks since these three girls have
disappeared, and are still running
down evidence of similar disappear
ances, the trail has become so in
volved that special means will have to
be taken to rid Bridgeport from the
cause rather than to follow the ef-
fect''
Acting with the New Haven police
diligent search is today being made
throughout Bridgeport for Elvira Ca
pecilatro, 15-year-old girl missing
from her home in New Haven since
Nov. 8, 1916. 1t is believed by the
police that she was brought to this
city and possibly kept in what Is
known to the white slavers as a
transfer station This means that
she was taken from New Haven
where the search would be too hot to
keep an unsophisticated girl on the
streets, that she was broken into a
life Of crime here and then either re-
tanned for the base purposes of her
keeprs or shifted to another scene Of
activity where trace of her where
abouts would be even more difficult
to obtain.
Search for the three local girls has
disclosed to the police that they were
undoubtedly taken from this city as
a trio rather than individuality.
Margaret Cummings formerly lived
in Bridgeport. She had become
slightly wayward and once ran away
from her home to which she later re-
turned. 1t has been learned through
official sources that she became ac-
York underworld who came to this
city about three months ago.
The Cummings girl became a close
companion and was directed almost
exclusively by the New York woman.
The Roche girl was soon established
with the other two. She was visited
at her work in the five and ten cent
store by the same woman, who is
known TO nave accompanied the CuI1l-
mings girl. The, Roche girl was in
to men of questionable char
acter and both were seen in the COM
pany of the older woman.
Preying upon the fact that the Hig-
gins girl was practically ali orphan,
having spent some time in the asylum
at New Haven she was easily induced
to wear the good clothing that was
provided for her by her serucers and
she likewise was soon introduced into
the company of the others. About
five weeks ago all trace of the trio
were lost and the closest inquiry in
fails to reveal their where
abouts. The New York woman is also
known to be absent from the city,
though the closest surveillance is now
being kept in the quarters where She
was known to frequent.
There is little possibility of these
girls having gone away by them
said Lieut.. Cronan today "All
of them have been traced by us to
direct acquaintance with men whose
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