NY NY - Dorothy Arnold, 25, New York, 1910

[dotr]

Just popped on thread to post about this uid female in Canada, it may have been posted here already.
What caught my eye was that the uid had jewelery that may have come from Montreal, and Dorothy's mother was from Montreal. fwiw.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/498ufsk.html

Jewelry: An 18-karat gold necklace from European origin or an area of European influence, such as Montreal. The necklace was missing its pendant.

 

[MickyWrangle]

I think Dorothy met a man who her family would not have approved of for some reason: social status lower than the Arnold family, different religion, different background, not as educated as Dorothy, whatever. She chose to go with him and the two of them went to a part of the U.S. where her New York social circle would have little interest in visiting/living. Her father referred to her writings as "drivel". IIRC, a New York businessman who had known Dorothy since childhood and knew her family very well, had travelled to Mobile, AL about 6 months to a year after her disappearance. While in Mobile, he saw Dorothy in a store, accompanied by a young man. According to the New York businessman, Dorothy seemed very happy. Dorothy spoke several languages fluently, including French. How easy it would have been for Dorothy to pass herself off as " Camille Boudreaux, newly arrived from France/Quebec/ New Orleans" and to settle along the Gulf Coast as a married woman using her husband's last name. Mobile between 1900 and 1920 was undergoing a boom, as the city had been awarded millions of dollars of federal government money to improve its harbor and deepen/dredge the shipping channels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Mobile,_Alabama

I truly hope this was the case. Bumping this thread back up because it is so fascinating.

 

[dotr]

Not sure if this list has been posted before, hoping the link is fine to post as it contains an intriguing list of ' missing, missing persons ' going back in time as early as 1918 or so.
https://whereaboutsstillunknown.wordpress.com/2014/12/26/the-missing-missing-part-i/

 

[Alleykins]

I sent in a possible match to NamUs for Dorothy sometime last year, even though her case is not being actively pursued because the missing remains are an active Jane Doe case. The case worker said she would pass it along to investigators to see if they wanted to follow up.
My theory is she met someone and took off to start a new life, and when the person found out she wasn't going to inherit (the remains are from about the same time one of her parents passed), they killed her and her children.
https://www.identifyus.org/en/cases/13505

 

[dokmccoy]

Hello all.

I've been researching Dorothy's disappearance and was finally able to obtain her birth certificate. I also found where a George S. Griscom, Jr. was married in 1902 to a Caroline Hays. Is this the same George Griscom, Jr involved with Dorothy?

Leslie

 

[dotr]

Hello all.

I've been researching Dorothy's disappearance and was finally able to obtain her birth certificate. I also found where a George S. Griscom, Jr. was married in 1902 to a Caroline Hays. Is this the same George Griscom, Jr involved with Dorothy?


Leslie

Welcome to Ws dokmccoy, thanks for finding and bringing that information here!

:welcome:

 

[Vegas Bride]

A fascinating mystery.
I would hope one day everything could be solved and hope she ended up living a long and happy life.

I find it suspicious that her mother traveled to europe Europe along with the brother, also that she stayed behind for a week. If the trip was just to confront the boyfriend, it seems the brother could have done that on his own, but if it was thought Dorothy was over there, it makes more sense for her mother to also go along.

I do not think she was involved with an abortion. She was seen walking a very long distance on the day she disappeared. If her goal was to go some where for an abortion, it just seems that she would not have been busy for hours before then walking and shopping.

Has there ever been anything recorded about servants being questioned? I'm thinking the hired help for the family might have known more about what was going on.

If Dorothy did plan her disappearance for that day, it seems to be a cruel thing to do with her younger sister having her big coming out party in less than a week. Why not just hold off for a little bit longer until that was over with?

When she stayed at the hotel previously, did she register under her own name?

it does sound like she ended up having a financial emergency when she had to pawn her own jewelry then to pay for her expenses. Did she expect the boyfriend to pay, and then he refused?
She had a very generous monthly allowance, was it typical for her to spend all of that money every month? What did she typically spend it on?

I do believe her family wanted to keep any type of scandal away from the family name. They still had a younger daughter they would want to be married into a suitable marriage. Reputation was very important. Money could also help cover up a lot of things.

If anyone outside of the family knew what really happened, I think it would be the investigator her father hired. What might have happened to his findings and files on this?
Would the father even let the rest of the family know what might have happened, or would they also be kept in the dark?

Back then a woman didn't even have the vote. From all accounts it seems Dorothy was an intelligent woman who had some courage, she did have dreams and went after them. Getting a post office box is an example of that.

I would be very interested in reading the stories she wrote. It would help give some insight into the woman she was.

If she planned to disappear that day, would she really have spent so much time browsing along the shops for hours? Or would she have already had things planned earlier in the day to get away, having more time to be gone before anyone would start to look for her.

I'd like to find out more about her friends. Did she have any who were also writers? Who did she have to confide in?

 

[EllieBee]

Just a useless post to thank you all for your posts/research on Dorothy. I am now obsessed with her story.

It would be nice to one day have a resolution to this mystery, but I must admit the mystery itself is alluring.

One thing I can say: I would have loved to have known Dorothy.

 

[Lanie]

A fascinating mystery.
I would hope one day everything could be solved and hope she ended up living a long and happy life.

I find it suspicious that her mother traveled to europe Europe along with the brother, also that she stayed behind for a week. If the trip was just to confront the boyfriend, it seems the brother could have done that on his own, but if it was thought Dorothy was over there, it makes more sense for her mother to also go along.

It's been years, but I found where her mother went back to Europe and did not return to New York until the day before (iirc) her son's wedding (I think the youngest son). I've always found it odd that a woman whose daughter disappeared in New York City would spend so much time in Europe so soon after the disappearance, especially when I factor in it was a 5 day trip one-way, and communication with the States wasn't as cheap or convenient as it is now.

 

[Vegas Bride]

Wow, hearing that makes me wonder if she maybe had hopes of convincing someone to return with her so they could be at their brothers wedding.

 

[Sailor Haumea]

I've been binge reading this thread all day and after reading all of the terrible things that could have happened to her (botched abortion...etc..) I am somewhat relieved to see a post that suggests that she did go on and live out her life.

If it was Dorothy alive and well in her hometown I wonder why nobody ever put two and two together? She came from an affluent family and became famous in her own right because of her disappearance. Someone would have at least noticed and wondered. But the romantic in me likes to believe that she got away from a judgemental controlling father and a half hearted boyfriend and had what I hope is a very happy, if not normal and quiet life.

Who says they didn't figure it out?

My working theory is that sometime in the late 1910s, Dorothy went home, tried to patch things up, and her parents rebuffed her, basically saying "you're dead to us, we're disowning you". So by 1930, she's not even hiding.

The newspaper articles c. 1921, taken at face value, imply that both the parents and police knew where she was.

And I think the abortion theory is REALLLLLY stretching it. If that had happened, something would have turned up to support this. But instead we just have convicts (who I don't consider trustworthy at all) claiming they disposed of a body. Sounds like a load of crap to me.

 

[LadyL]

hope to have time tomorrow to read this entire thread
looks enthralling

 

[Sailor Haumea]

It's been 107 years since she disappeared. Let's hope she lived a long and full life somewhere.

 

[SeeThemFly]

Fascinating case!

 

[dotr]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...y-nyc-heiress-vanished-1910-article-1.2738134
BY Keri Blakinger
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, August 4, 2016

In early 1911, a shop owner claimed he’d spotted Arnold trying to buy men’s clothes for a disguise and inquiring about steamer fare, according to the The Evening World.
A month later, a city clerk claimed that detectives had come around inquiring about Arnold a few weeks before she went missing, the Times reported. Supposedly, they were looking for marriage records, hoping to find out whether the missing debutante had gotten hitched on the DL.
She hadn’t — or at least the Manhattan clerk couldn’t find any records of it.
Reports popped up that she was sighted in Italy in December. She was supposedly spotted in Chile, a slew of other countries and a goodly number of American cities. She was everywhere and nowhere all at once, it seemed.

(NYPD)
In 1914, claims surfaced that she was living in Los Angeles under the name Elle Nevins, though her father was predictably skeptical.

In 1916, a prisoner in Rhode Island came forward claiming he’d been hired to help bury a wealthy woman in a cellar in December 1910, according to The Lewiston Daily Sun. No proof of that claim ever panned out, either.

 

[dotr]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSV7lLGdxKQ

Missing Persons

Published on Jul 10, 2017 These are three unsolved cases of missing women in the United States between the years 1910 - 1930 that are still unsolved to this day. While I am skeptical, my hope with this video & more to come to spread these cases in hope to gain more information about them in the future. Please be respectful about what other people may say in the comments. Remember, these are women who once had friends, families, loved ones who one day simply just vanished without a trace. Leaving everything they had, behind them. 1. Dorothy Harriet Camille Arnold 2. Bessie Louise Hayley Hyde 3. Mary Agnes Moroney

http://www.strangematterspodcast.com/lost-heiress-mystery-dorothy-arnold/

History, Unsolved Crime, Unsolved Mystery
[h=1]The Lost Heiress – Dorothy Arnold Mystery[/h] March 8, 2017 Strange Matters Podcast

 

[Alleykins]

Even though agencies aren't pursuing her case, it would be interesting if a maternally related female would give a DNA sample to see what shakes out.

 

[dokmccoy]

Does anyone know if it is still possible to view/copy the original police file? Or the file the Pinkertons had on her? I remember reading somewhere they were brought in as well.

 

[Richard]

With the Pinkertons on the case, you can rest assured they will eventually track her down. The Eye that never Sleeps...

 

[Alleykins]

With the Pinkertons on the case, you can rest assured they will eventually track her down. The Eye that never Sleeps...

OT:
An acquaintance of mine said her father worked for the Pinkertons. He disappeared when she was a kid and was never seen again. She said her family didn't dare look for him because he was a Pinkerton. I had (and still have) no clue what the big deal about them is, so what's up with them?