Mysteries of the missingSmith, Edward H. (Edward Henry)
History
Mysteries of the missing
Smith, Edward H. (Edward Henry)
Biography; Kidnapping; Missing persons
“MRS CLARK: Do not look for your nurse and baby. They are safe in our
possession, where they will remain for the present. If the matter is
kept out of the hands of the police and newspapers, you will get your
baby back, safe and sound.
“If, instead, you make a big time about it and publish it all over, we
will see to it that you never see her alive again. We are driven to
this by the fact that we cannot get work, and one of us has a child
dying through want of proper treatment and nourishment.
“Your baby is safe and in good hands. The nurse girl is still with
her. If everything is quiet, you will hear from us Monday or Tuesday.
“THREE.”
The letter was correctly done, properly paragraphed, punctuated,
and printed with a fine pen in a somewhat laborious simulation of
writing-machine type. It also bore several markings characteristic of
the journalist or publisher’s copy reader, especially three parallel
lines drawn under the signature, “Three,” evidently to indicate
capitals. The envelope was the common plain white kind, but the sheet
of paper on which the note had been penned was of the white unglazed
and uncalendared kind known as newsprint and used in all newspaper
offices as copy paper. Accordingly it was at once suspected that the
kidnapper must have been a newspaper man, printer, reader, or some one
connected with a publishing house.
The Clarkes recalled that the nurse had been alone the preceding Friday
evening and had been writing. Evidently she had prepared the note at
that time and had been planning the abduction with foresight and care.
People at once reached the conclusion that she was one of the agents of
a great band of professional kidnappers. Accordingly every child and
every mother in the city stood in peril.
To indicate the nature of the official search, we may as well reproduce
Chief of Police Devery’s proclamation:
“Arrest for abduction--Carrie Jones, twenty-one years of age, five
feet two inches tall, dark hair and eyes, pale face, high check bones,
teeth prominent in lower jaw, American by birth; wore a white straw
sailor hat with black band, military pin on side, blue-check shirt
waist, black brilliantine skirt, black lace bicycle boots, white
collar and black tie.
“Abducted on Sunday May 21, 1899, Marion Clarke, daughter of Arthur
W. Clarke, of this city, and described as follows: twenty months
old, light complexion, blue eyes, light hair, had twelve teeth,
four in upper jaw, four in lower jaw, and four in back. There is
a space between two upper front teeth, and red birthmark on back.
Wore rose-colored dress, white silk cap, black stockings, and black
buttoned shoes.
“Make careful inquiry and distribute these circulars in all
institutions, foundling asylums, and places where children of the
above age are received.”
A photograph of the missing child accompanied the description.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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