The Star. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1898. MEN WHO DISAPPEAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6273, 2 September 1898, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1898. MEN WHO DISAPPEAR.

MYSTERIES THAT BAFFLE THE DETECTIVES. SOME EXTRAORDINARY CASES. Many ;i queer title, move weird and interesting than any penned by -writers of fiction, is hidden away m the records of mysterious disopnearanees kept by the Chicago Police Department. Between three hundred and four Hunched men «md women (says the " Chicago Tribune") drop out of sight every year in this city— disappear as completely as if the earth hud opened and swallowed them. What becomes of these people is a mystery few detectives care to attempt to explain. 'Foul play is the explanation advanced by their relatives in nine cases out of ten, murder by footpads being the customaiy plea, but in few instances are the facts such as to justify this conclusion Wholesale killings for plunder could not go on year after year -without detection. Sooner or later the bodies of some ot the alleged victims would turn up, or stolen valuables would be found in that market for all thieves, the pawnshop. It is because of lack of developments of this kind- that officers experienced in criminal matters- scout the idea of foul play. But people keep on disappearing at an alarming rate, and the natural question is, WH.vr* BECOMES OP THE3I? They are not embezzlers or others who have known cause for hiding themselves. If the reports received at police head-quarters are accurate, nearly all of these missinc people are individuals free from financial or domestic troubles, and, to all outward appearances, happily situated' in life. "Men do queer things at times," said former Captain Elliott, in discussing tliis subject, " and of all their freaks that of mysteriously disappearing is the oddest. Sometimes they really become insane and actually lose their identity, but as a rule those who disappear are not afflicted mentally. In nearly every instance where a man of sound mind disappears, and no murder lias been committed, close investigation will disclose the fact that- he has some real or fancied cause for getting out of the way. Wives arc- always positive their husbands love them, but I have known instances in which men who tr> all outward appearances were devoted husbands wero really \VE\IIY OK I.Tl'i: WITH TOEIII CONJUG\t. MA'IKS. and quietly 'disappeared' in order to get rid of them. Ihey would not face the scandal of the Divorce Court, and, indeed, had no cause t» base an action on. Men sometimes become annoyed because their business affairs are net in good shape, and seek relief in voluntary retirement. Others, again are imbued with love of adventure, and after spending years m quiet, domestic surroundings, suddenly become imbued with an unconquerable desire to sea other phases of life It is possible, end even probable, that some of the people reported as missing fall victims to footpads, but the number is small. Crimes of this kind are easily detected, and while the perpetrators may not be caught in every instance, the identity of the victim and the fact of killing are pretty sure to he quickly estab-

lished. Sudden insanity accounts for many . mysterious disappearances, but as a general thing you may charge them up to -women. MANY MEN LIVE DOUBLE LIVES, and when the situation gets distasteful it is only natural they should try to better their condition by dropping out of sight so far as one of their female partners is concerned. (One of the queerest cases of mysterious ' disappearance with which the Chicago Police Department has had to deal is that of John W. Matthews, who quietly dropped out of sight in this city last November, and has never been heard from. An unusually vigorous search was made for Matthews, because he was an intimate friend of Captain Campbell, Secretary of the Department, and the latter interested himself in seeing that the hunt was a thorough one. Matthews lived in Monmouth, 111. , and was a man of considerable wealth. He came to .Chicago about the middle of November, 'wearing a new suit of clothes and with 700 dollars in cash. Here he met and tallied ! with several friends, all of whom afterwards ! remarked that he was in fine health and spirits. Two diays later Matthews was missing, and no trace of him was to be found. The pelice were baffled, when A MIND-B.EADER gave them a clue, which led to strange disclosures. This person said that Matthews | had been suddenly taken insane in Chicago and hpd gone to an hotel in Madison Street, near Clark Street, where he registered under his proper name, but in an undecipherable tunning hand, and had been assigned to a room on the fourth floor. Before bedtime, however, he had taken a car ( and gone to the lake near : Jackson Park, where lie drowned himself. Shortly after this, the mind-reader said the body was washed ashore in the Calumet region, where it was found by a fisherman, who appropriated the money and valuables, and then to save himself trouble buried the remains in the sands. The hotel, the spot where the suicide, occurred, the appearance of the . fisherman, and the locality in which Matthews's body was washed ashore were all described with much minuteness by the mind-reader. His story caused A GKEAT DEAL OF MEBKIMENT in police circles until Captain Campbell insisted that it should be looked into, and all the essential facts were found to be correct. Actual suicide and robbery of the body were never established, and many of Matthews's friends think he is still alive, but in other things there was an exactitude of description that was al/inning. Matthews's signature was found on the hotel register, and he had been. assigned to a fourth floor room,, which he had riot occupied. Search along the southern lake front revealed a spot identical with that given by the mind-reader as the place where Matthews had jumped into the water, and in the Calumet country the officers found the fisherman they were after. There, also, it was easy to make out the mind-reader's picture of the copse-marked beach where the body had been cast up. As the fisherman stoutly denied having found such a body, however, and no evidence could be had against him, the matter was dropped."