The Washington times., 1920-04-18


After Having Disappeared for Four
Months and Being Searched for
Throughout the World. the Body of
Miss Jeanne De Kay Was Found in
the Cold Waters of Lake Michigan.
-oUR months ago Jeanne De Kay, the
r. young daughter of John w. De Kay,
1 the multi-millionaire packing king.
vanished from the worlds sight and knowl-
edge as completely as If the Chicago street
on which she was last seen had suddenly
opened beneath her feet and swallowed
her.
After worldwide search. her body has
just been found floating in Lake Michigan.
But the finding of the girls body has not
dispelled the mystery. Indeed, disap-
pearance that seemed to be as strange as
that Of Dorothy Arnold, the New York
society girl who dropped out Of sight sew
eral years ago, turns out to be far stranger.
For the possible explanations Of Miss
Arnold's disappearance are comparatively
few and all quite simple. But for the
tragedy of Jeanne De Kay there are many
possible explanations-some Of them more
surprising than any novelist or playwright
has told, yet all possessing elements of
plausibility that are most convincing.
Was she a victim Of morbid vanity?
Her face was SCARED by smallpox. Over
this is is known that Miss De Kay brooded.
It is even said that. those scars had caused
her to be disappointed in love- Driven
mad by morbid regret for lost beauty, did
she throw herself into the lake? Many OF
her friends believe this may be true.
Or was poor little Jeanne De Kay the
victim of the international political in
tr,eues in which her father has long played
a prominent part? There are many who
think 40. They believe either that she was
murdered in revenge for some real or
fancied grievance against her father, or
that terror Of these agents. who she
Thought were pursuing her, drove her to
suicide.
Still a third theory hold that Jeanne De
Kay's disappearance was caused by sud
dan disgust for the life Of ease and luxury
she had hitherto led, and a feeling that
she could find true happiness by earning
her living, as so many other less fortunate
girls had to do. Acting on this impulse she
NAV have renounced her claims to wealth,
have changed her name, and then have
lost herself among the working women OF
Chicago-either as a nurse, a shopgirl or
a humble domestic servant.
But, these friends argue, this sudden
transformation may have proved too diff
fcult. In the sphere Of life so strange to
her she may have failed to find the happi-
ness that she sought Too proud to go
back to her old ways and confess herself
defeated, might she not have sought death
as the easiest way out of her perplexities?
II seems very unlikely that Jeanne De
Kay could have had her mind fixed on sui
eide when she walked out Of Hull House
on the night OF December 80. II so, why
was she at such pains to take along her
toothbrush? The thought Of suicide-if
such II was-must have come later, after
who knows what strange adventures and
hardships.
Whatever the answer, It may now never
be known. muTQeT VI suiCiuo thc oCNiO'
Is locked up In the dead brain Of the blue
eyed, unhappy girl whose body the crew
OF a police boat saw floating upon the icy
waters of the lake not far from Chicago
as though 1t were striving to make its
way back.
AMI here enters another factor OF the
mystery. How long the body may have
been in the water cannot be definitely told
within a period 'of month. Outside of
that all must be guesswork. The tempera-
ture Of the waters has been so low that no
real difference could be discovered be-
tween corpse submerged within them
four months ago and one within month
ago.
Identification of the body was made by
Miss Gertrude Howe Britton, OF Hull
House, in which Miss De Kay was worker
when she vanished. Miss Brittop has been
one OF the most unremitting searchers for
the girl.
There are, as has been said, a great
number Of possible explanations Of the
strange fate Of Jeanne De Kay. Which OF
them would you select as the answer to