Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-08-06
MYsTERIoUsLY MISSING
Over 5000 Persons Reported to
the Police as Vanished Last
Year-seventy.five Were
Never Heard OF
BY GEORGE NOX Mccain

never feard w
BY GEORGE NOX Mccain
CAPTAIN SOUDER, of the Detec-
- tive Bureau, tells me that more than
5000 persons were reported missing
to the Philadelphia police department
last year.
To be exact there were 3077. or this
number 3002 were discovered, returned
or traced with sufficient detail to indi-
cate that they were still living and had
not met with foul may or accident.
The above does not. Of course. include
considerable number of mysterious
T1isappearances that are never reported
to the police. Family pride, the fear OF
publicity and cases where the individuals
have neither friends nor relatives inter =
ested sufficiently to bother about theiI
whereabouts initiate against the facts
becoming known.
A very important department oI
Philadelphia police work is devoted to
the discovery diminishing people. An IN =
dividual is not always listed as missing
as soon as relatives or. friends report the
matter to headquarters.
The report of an unexplained absence
leads to an examination of arrests ana
hospital accident cases. The city
prisons and public institutions are over E
hauled. II therD is no success gen,
eral alarm is sent out, particularly II It
is of sufficient importance to justify that
action, with a description of the missing
person.
TINE recent discovery of DR.. Harry
- +. Campbell. graduate of Jcffcr-
son Medical College and for years a
physician with large practice in Pitts
burgh, working at the time of his death
as a dishwasher in a New York res
taurant, adds another to the long list OF
men and women, some Of them famous,
who disappeared and have never been
heard of until death years afterward
disclosed the secret.
Some have gone and the world knew
them again no more forever.
William Livsey's was perhaps the
most celebrated of its kind in Pennsyl-
vania. At the time of his disappear
nnce he was state treasurer. lie
walked out of his Office in Harrisburg
one day and no trace of him was discov-
cred for years. Then he was found in
Chicago by the writer. His explanation
was that he was just tired and wanted
to quit"
Another case. this time a Philadel-
phian residing in New York, was that
Of Prof John NJ. Childs. of % West
Twentieth street He was the principal
of small Quaker seminary there.
He was finely educated man,
model in moral department and his do
mestic life was above reprOach.
On October II. 1883, he retired as
usual. sIn the morning his wife went to
his room and found it empty. No trace
of him was ever found.
DUNAWAY boys and girls comprise
the great majority of the so-called'
missing. When loneliness, hunger or
fear of arrest grow too strong they
usually surrender or notify their rela-
tives of their whereabouts.
From time immemorial English boys.
fired with tales of the sea- ran away to
become sailors. The circumscribed area
of England and its insular position left
the ocean as the only avenue open to
adventurous youngsters.
sIn this country. with the vast and
mysterious West continually beckoning
him, the American boy broke open his
penny savings bank. swiped the old
mans revolver and made a dash sunset
ward to fight Indians.
In these later days the exploits of the
rough riding, manhandling, dare devil
kings of the movies are the inspira ton
that fire lads from ten to fourteen years
of age with a desire to emulate these
heroes of the film.
A weeks absence from home is usu-
ally long enough to peel the veneer from
the idol of their romance.
TN PHILADELPHIA last year there
l. were seventy five persons who van
ished from sight like a land mist and
have never been heard of since.
The fact that the police department
was able to account for all the missing
except these few out of total of SOFT
is evidence Of the efficiency of at least
one Of its many bureaus.
Not all disappearance can be traced
to domestic difficulty or the eccentrici :
ties of those addicted to alcohol or
drugs, financial difficulties. betrayal of
trust or fear of arrest for some real or
fancied crime.
The wanderlust. which may be
hereditary. that sudden impulse to break
away from the conventionalities of So
cial life. and perhaps the result OF
atavism, plays a prominent part in such
vanishings.
Another cause, and one well rocog
nized by the medical profession, is
mental collapse, with an accompanying
lass of memory, although other bodily
functions are seemingly normal in their
operation.
Overwork, particularly in the case OF
students, educators and professional
men. generally contributes materially Ia
the long roster of the missing. Profes
sional men are almost exclusively the
victims of such attacks. Weeks and
months Of mental strain snap the deli
cate links that form the chain of mem
ory and the individual becomes an au
tomaton.
A MOST interesting case was that Of
\ Frederick Rev. He was a student
at Cornell. One day he went for a walk
| along the lower end Of Lake Cayuga
and vanished like puff Of smoke.
For two years detectives searched al
oyor thu world for him hut v.;tbou,