The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1917-08-24
An, Amateur
Detective
A Young Woman's Efforts
to Find a Missing Girl.
BY RUTH GRAHAM

Another schoolgirl disappeared,
said Grace Barlow, laying down the
morning paper. "Helen Bowers left
home to go to the high school one
morning nearly three weeks ago and
has never been heard from since. Why
Is It that we have so many detective
stories unraveling imaginary mysteries
and yet no one ever solves real onesv'
"Why don't you try your hand ct
this case, Grace?' asked her sister,
Amelia flake it up Independently
of the police and investigate it your
self You complain of having nothing
to interest you. By endeavoring to
find out what has become Of this miss
ing girl you will be relieved of ennui
and may do a great deal Of good"
Miss Barlow, young woman twen-
ty-three years old, possessing an in
come sufficient for her support, well
educated, intensely practical, was set
TO thinking by her sisters words. She
was not a person who would enter
upon work to abandon 1t at the first
encouragement. Consequently she
conned over in her mind the rebuffs
she would be obliged to encounter.
One of the principal of these would
come from the police, who are not dis
posed to brook any amateur trespas$
Ing on their legitimate domain. On
the other hand, the family Of the
missing girl might be thankful for her
effort. 1t required two whole days
FOR Miss Barlow to weigh these con-
siderations, at the end of which she
decided to begin work on the case of
the missing girl and never cease her
efforts so long as there was a clew to
follow.
Her first visit was to police head
quarters. She found Inspector Blake
man, a middle aged man, sitting be
hind rosewood desk which was GOV.
cred with papers.
II have called" she said, "to ask IL
can be of any assistance to the police
In their efforts to discover the where
abouts of Helen Bowers, who disap-
peared recently and has never been
seen or heard Of since. have decided
to interest myself in the case. / shall.
work independently Of the police; but
before beginning l desire to know II
you will give me such information as
you may possess concerning the mys-
terry"
THAT we cannot do. We work upon
our clews in our own way. They are
known only to ourselves. Any giving
away of them would be likely to de-
feat our success. A secret once part
ed with Is henceforth no secret"
you are perfectly right about IT,"
said Miss Barlow. 81 did not expect
that you would trust me with what
information you may possess. But l
prefer that you should know that I
am working on the presume
you have no objection
THE law allows any one to work on
the case, and you are perfectly free to
do so. l can only say that the more
amateur detective work that is inject
ed into hunting for crime the less
chance there Is for us experienced In
vestigatOrs to succeed"
Having thus delivered himself, the
inspector signified that the interview
was ended and turned again to his pa
pers. Miss Barlow withdrew.
She had kept the address of the fam
lily of the missing girl as given in the
newspapers, and her next visit was
there. She found the girls mother
bowed down with grief.
Mrs. Bowers" said Grace, 81 have
determined to try to solve the mys-
terry Of your daughters disappearance.
do so simply for the sake Of doing
good. Tell me about your daughter"
The woman gave a description OF the
missing girl. She was fifteen years
old, considered pretty and was of ex-
cellent character. She had no lover
so far as the mother knew.
slave you any suspicious as to what
has become Of herr" asked Grace
II know what has become Of her up
to certain point. One Of her school
mates saw woman speak to her on
the street the morning she disappeared"
Have you stated this TO the policew
II have not only stated 1t to them,
but have begged them to investigate
this woman, who Is known to US, since
my daughter was seen to go with her
into a candy shop she keeps"
what have the police done about it7"
"They tell me that they have gone
through the house containing the candy
shop and Intercepted the woman, who
admits she took girl answering Helen's
description to her shop on the morning
Helen disappeared to sell her some can
dy, She makes a peculiar kind which
girls are very fond of and. sells 1t very
cheap. She sometimes solicits custom
OF, children and accosted Helen, who
went with her to her shop and bought
some candy. A young man followed
them into the shop, bought some more
candy, which he gave to Helen and
they left the shop together"
eWhat do the police say about this"
"They say that the woman in ques-
tion bears an excellent reputation; that
hundreds Of young girls every year go
on with young men willingly or under
deception and are never heard Of again.
Their theory is that Helen went away
with the young man who Joined her In
the store"
Grace Barlow pondered awhile on this