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

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historymysteryfan - assuming he came back to the US we could probably find out that info, as well as info about her family, in US records. I will dig around tomorrow. Interesting to note, I read today that census records are made public after 72 years.
 
Claudette said:
Maybe I forgot this but her full name was actually Harriet Camille Dorothy Arnold?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...g=2958,295294&dq=dorothy+arnold+mystery&hl=en

Second column of the article.
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I found her as Harriet Camilla Dorothea Arnold.

http://www.archive.org/stream/brewstergenealog190802jone/brewstergenealog190802jone_djvu.txt

761 HARRIET MARIA WELLES (Lucy’ Brewster, Ichabod\Ichabod, William*, William, Love, William’’-), married at Boston, Mass., November 4, 1824, DAN HINCKLEY ARNOLD, son of Dr. Dan and Arethusa (Gillett) Arnold of Hebron, Conn., born
EIGHTH GENERATION 6C9
there, September 18, 1800; died at New York City, June 26, 1887.
She died at New York City, April 1, 1867.
They resided at New York City for many years.
Children, i born at Hebron, ii New York, iii-viii Brooklyn, N. Y. :
i Maet Ann Thompson b. Oct. 6, 1825; d. at NY, June 25, 1890; unm.
1284 ii Eliza Arethusa, b. March 29, 1827.
iii John Welles, b. March 11, 1830; d. March 16, 1838
iv Harriet Maria, b. July 24. 1832; d. April 5, 1838.
v Lucy Matilda, b. March 16, 1835; d. March 11, 1838.
vi Francis Rose, b. July 22, 1837; m. at NYC, Oct 17, 1882, Mary Martha Parkes, dau. of Nathan and Charlotte (Parkes) Samuels of Montreal, Can., b. there, Sept. 24, 1856. He grad. Harvard Coll.. 1856. A merchant at NYC. Chn., 1-3 h. at NYC, 4 Elheron, NJ:
1 John Welles Arnold, b. Dec. 15, 1883
2 Harriet Camilla Dorothea Arnold, b. July 1, 1885
3 Dan Hinckley Arnold, b. Feb. 24, 1888.
4 Marjorie Brewster Arnold, b. Aug. 25, 1891.
 
I think the 'Maet' in my above post is supposed to be 'Mary', FWIW.

I've come up with some marriage items for Dorothy's siblings, and names of a few of their descendents, but I don't have my notes on this computer. I can post what I can remember off the top of my head if anyone is interested.

ETA: I also have come up with an idea to maybe get the police files, if they can be had. I'll post how it turns out, one way or the other.
 
Lanie said:
I think the 'Maet' in my above post is supposed to be 'Mary', FWIW.

I've come up with some marriage items for Dorothy's siblings, and names of a few of their descendents, but I don't have my notes on this computer. I can post what I can remember off the top of my head if anyone is interested.

ETA: I also have come up with an idea to maybe get the police files, if they can be had. I'll post how it turns out, one way or the other.
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Cool - to both!
 
iconoclast said:
It's an encouraging thought that Dorothy may have used some of that cash to go to California and help build the movie industry. And the fact is, in 1910 it was much, much easier for someone to simply vanish. There were no Social Security numbers, and most employers or landlords did not do much of a background check; it was simply too difficult and expensive. That circumstance may have been expedient for Dorothy, but makes tracing her, over a hundred years later, nearly impossible for the likes of us. I hope she found what she was looking for.
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Also the act of her simply taking off her clothes and putting on something that 'lower class' people would have worn would have nearly made her invisible.
 
punklove said:
Also the act of her simply taking off her clothes and putting on something that 'lower class' people would have worn would have nearly made her invisible.
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Dorothy was certainly smart; probably a lot smarter than her family gave her credit for. She almost certainly had read the Sherlock Holmes stories, which contained many accounts of how Holmes was able to blend into the London scenery in working-class garb.Yes, I think Dorothy was likely able to use the strong class prejudice of her time, to her advantage.
 
iconoclast said:
Dorothy was certainly smart; probably a lot smarter than her family gave her credit for. She almost certainly had read the Sherlock Holmes stories, which contained many accounts of how Holmes was able to blend into the London scenery in working-class garb.Yes, I think Dorothy was likely able to use the strong class prejudice of her time, to her advantage.
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I always imagine that she filled the large muff she left that day (she brought a purse and the large muff - apparently she didnt typically wear the muff) with money/things to pawn and headed into the sunset. Part of me feels like she wanted to teach the family a lesson by going away and only coming back when she was able to show that she could be a writer and that they were silly to doubt her but things didnt go as planned.
 
Lanie said:
I think the 'Maet' in my above post is supposed to be 'Mary', FWIW.

I've come up with some marriage items for Dorothy's siblings, and names of a few of their descendents, but I don't have my notes on this computer. I can post what I can remember off the top of my head if anyone is interested.

ETA: I also have come up with an idea to maybe get the police files, if they can be had. I'll post how it turns out, one way or the other.
Click to expand...

I sent an email to the NY Times, and made, IMO, a very compelling case for them to petition LE to release the files on Dorothy, and to write a story on this to come out on the 100th anniversary of Dorothy being reported missing to the media and public. I never heard back from them, and it does't appear they went for it. :(

I'll do details when I have more time, but in a nutshell, I found Dorothy's coming out party, and several references of her attending other's parties. I found engagements and marriages of her siblings, births of their children, and deaths for most of her family. I even found births of siblings grandchildren, but no sign of Dorothy. I also found several trips to Europe by the family for the year of 1911, which had me at first leaning towards Dorothy having gone off to Europe and her family finding her and knowing where she was. I could even believe the family would continue the pretense of searching for her to avoid scandal, but it's hard for me to believe she was just sitting around in Europe as her family went on with their lives, especially after the death of her father.

I plan on researching how often family members went to Europe after 1911. Off the top of my head, the mother went with the brother right after Dorothy went missing, and stayed a week longer than the brother did. I also show the mother coming back from Europe in June, seemingly with no other family, just in time to make the wedding of I believe the younger brother. I then found the father, mother, and sister go back to Europe in August, and stay until towards the end of October. I can't decide if I think they were going to visit Dorothy, or going to escape NY, and the media attention. It just seems to me to be a LOT of trips to Europe right after Dorothy goes missing, especially considering it was at least a week one-way trip, though I guess being on maybe a luxury liner would not make it so bad a trip.
 
Lanie said:
I found her as Harriet Camilla Dorothea Arnold.

http://www.archive.org/stream/brewstergenealog190802jone/brewstergenealog190802jone_djvu.txt

761 HARRIET MARIA WELLES (Lucy’ Brewster, Ichabod\Ichabod, William*, William, Love, William’’-), married at Boston, Mass., November 4, 1824, DAN HINCKLEY ARNOLD, son of Dr. Dan and Arethusa (Gillett) Arnold of Hebron, Conn., born
EIGHTH GENERATION 6C9
there, September 18, 1800; died at New York City, June 26, 1887.
She died at New York City, April 1, 1867.
They resided at New York City for many years.
Children, i born at Hebron, ii New York, iii-viii Brooklyn, N. Y. :
i Maet Ann Thompson b. Oct. 6, 1825; d. at NY, June 25, 1890; unm.
1284 ii Eliza Arethusa, b. March 29, 1827.
iii John Welles, b. March 11, 1830; d. March 16, 1838
iv Harriet Maria, b. July 24. 1832; d. April 5, 1838.
v Lucy Matilda, b. March 16, 1835; d. March 11, 1838.
vi Francis Rose, b. July 22, 1837; m. at NYC, Oct 17, 1882, Mary Martha Parkes, dau. of Nathan and Charlotte (Parkes) Samuels of Montreal, Can., b. there, Sept. 24, 1856. He grad. Harvard Coll.. 1856. A merchant at NYC. Chn., 1-3 h. at NYC, 4 Elheron, NJ:
1 John Welles Arnold, b. Dec. 15, 1883
2 Harriet Camilla Dorothea Arnold, b. July 1, 1885
3 Dan Hinckley Arnold, b. Feb. 24, 1888.
4 Marjorie Brewster Arnold, b. Aug. 25, 1891.
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I was wondering if anyone ever read that her brother and sister looked for her until they died? Her great neices and nephews that may be around? Or they doing research? This fasinates me! I just bought the 2 books mentioned in this thread: Dorothy Arnold Escape and Lost and Never Found.
 
VictoriaVictoria said:
I was wondering if anyone ever read that her brother and sister looked for her until they died? Her great neices and nephews that may be around? Or they doing research? This fasinates me! I just bought the 2 books mentioned in this thread: Dorothy Arnold Escape and Lost and Never Found.
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I have wondered that myself.

They were a wealthy east coast family - most likely they are still wealthy east coast. I would assume (though "assume makes an *advertiser censored* out of u and me" as the saying goes) that we would have come across her family looking for her still - I wonder if they did find out her whereabouts and it is the secret family scandal.
 
Claudette said:
I have wondered that myself.

They were a wealthy east coast family - most likely they are still wealthy east coast. I would assume (though "assume makes an *advertiser censored* out of u and me" as the saying goes) that we would have come across her family looking for her still - I wonder if they did find out her whereabouts and it is the secret family scandal.
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Yeah, if she has great neices and nephews, seems like this would intrigue them to see what happened to her.
 
Susan Shock said:
Hi I'm Susan. I'm new to the site, but the posts on Dorothy Arnold caught my attention. I've been researching her disappearance. I want to write a book about it. I've been at my local university library reading the times articles on her disappearance from the 1910s. It's a puzzling case. So many rumors about what happened to her, but nothing concrete. And Griscom's behavior towards the press is strange. When he first speaks to the press about her disappearance, he is quite garrulous and eager to talk, but at the same time he's kind of evasive. He comes across as cagey. He claims to be engaged to her, but his father who is with him for the interview denies the engagement. So does the Arnold family. He says that he has come back to the US to help find her, but then the next day takes off for Atlantic City, claiming exhaustion, after a luxury cruise. After that he refuses to speak to the press and is surly. Then the Griscom family hires a former police detective as their spokesman and there are no more interviews. It is a fascinating case, and one I can't let go of. It really is a compelling story. Wish me luck in my researches.
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I am fascinated by this case as well. I have read two different general accounts. One has her going shopping for a dress and if she finds one, she'll phone her mother to come down and look at it. The other account has her meeting her Mother for lunch at the Waldorf Astoria and says nothing about her shopping, the pound of candy, and the book of enigrams. All accounts agree that the family was simply mortified at even the hint of scandal and that she had been involved to some extent with George Griscom, a pairing I don't really see. It was her father who speculated that she was killed in Central Park and thrown in a reservoir, an odd thing to say without proof of some kind.

There is one angle I haven't seen anyone pursue, perhaps because it is a red herring, but maybe not. Her Aunt Harriette Maria Arnold Peckham was the widow of Associate Justice Rufus Wheeler Peckham who died in 1909. A woman with connections who might have shared her brother's fear of scandal especially with her husband on the Supreme Court. By the December of 1910, he had been dead for a year and she would have been under less scrutiny at that time. John Keith and George Griscom searched vigorously for Dorothy. Her father signed checks and worried, but not enough to involve the Police initially. In his will he expressed his belief that she was dead.

These people were well off and probably had some connections, but even the Thaw case couldn't be kept out of the papers at the time and he was equally wealthy. Aunt Henrietta might have had contacts, friends of her husband who would consider it an honor to do or repay a favor, even if that favor was to kidnap and kill a young girl who was bound to cause a scandal. An intelligent and independent woman who wrote. Perhaps she hated life in a guilded cage and was planning on meeting Griscom in Europe, away from her parents. Of course, Aunt Henrietta could have also assisted Dorothy in leaving without a trace and without George. Henrietta died in 1917.

If you have heard anything about Aunt Henrietta, I'd love to know it.
 
I have had a change of heart, or rather believe that Dorothy was not killed or died in a botched abortion. It appears, based on the April 9, 1921 article from the NYT, Capt. John Ayers states that the Dorothy Allen case has been "solved" and that she is no longer listed as missing. In light of a 1916 Philadelphia article in which a Captain Souder acknowledges that Francis Arnold had correspondence from Dorothy after December, 1910.

Since abortion was a crime at the time, even the closest of family doctors would not have performed one unless the mother was dying. No one has been prosecuted for her murder so all I can conclude is that she wanted to walk away and did so, perhaps with her Aunt Harriett's help. Here is the link for the article: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F05E5D9103FEE3ABC4153DFB266838A639EDE
in case the pdf didn't upload.
 

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I haven't seen this posted anywhere so I will run the risk of reposting it. Based on the statement of the Pittsburgh DA R. H. Jackson, Chief Detective E. E. Clark and his squad of detectives from Pittsburgh all verify that Dorothy Arnold came to the "House of Mystery" maternity hospital in Pittsburgh in 1910, had an "operation" and returned home to New York where she died in her family home soon after. If this is true, and I believe it is based on Capt. John Ayers statements in 1921, the book and candy Dorothy bought, perhaps for a train trip, and the fact that the last place she was seen was within 3 to 6 blocks of Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station. Based on the totality of the evidence, I believe she died as the result of an abortion in the presence of her family and was reported missing to the Police after her body was disposed of. The pretense of a search and Griscom's advertisement for years created the illusion that she was still missing. I believe the father was known to the family.

Dr. Meridith had killed more than a dozen women during "operations". At this point, I have to believe the Pittsburgh and New York Police statements over anything the Arnold family or John Keith said. I'm calling it case closed.
 

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Sherlock61 said:
I haven't seen this posted anywhere so I will run the risk of reposting it. Based on the statement of the Pittsburgh DA R. H. Jackson, Chief Detective E. E. Clark and his squad of detectives from Pittsburgh all verify that Dorothy Arnold came to the "House of Mystery" maternity hospital in Pittsburgh in 1910, had an "operation" and returned home to New York where she died in her family home soon after. If this is true, and I believe it is based on Capt. John Ayers statements in 1921, the book and candy Dorothy bought, perhaps for a train trip, and the fact that the last place she was seen was within 3 to 6 blocks of Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station. Based on the totality of the evidence, I believe she died as the result of an abortion in the presence of her family and was reported missing to the Police after her body was disposed of. The pretense of a search and Griscom's advertisement for years created the illusion that she was still missing. I believe the father was known to the family.

Dr. Meridith had killed more than a dozen women during "operations". At this point, I have to believe the Pittsburgh and New York Police statements over anything the Arnold family or John Keith said. I'm calling it case closed.
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What a great find. This article really fills in a lot of gaps in the mystery.
It's amazing to me to see the legnths wealthy people of the time would go to in order to not bring shame upon the family name.
I agree I believe the family probably knew who the father was. He may have not been up to their standards or they probably would have had a quickie wedding to save face. she was 25, not too scandalously young to get married and have a child. If anything people probably thought she was somewhat of an old maid by that point.

What a sad end she came to. It’s terrible how pride and fear can cause so much damage. I wonder if she was able to get some real medical help at a hospital other than the family home,if she would have survived.

Are there still Arnolds around today? I wonder if they are still wealthy and powerful in the NY area. I’d like to know more of the recent history of the family. If any of them ever shared the information they could make alot of money in selling the movie rights to this story.
 
http://www.wvgenweb.org/mineral/mdnt11apr1914.htm

BODY OF ARNOLD GIRL WAS BURNED

MYSTERY OF THE DISAPPEARANCE OF HEIRESS

HAS BEEN SOLVED.

(PITTSBURGH)

With further arrests in prospect, startling disclosures were expected today in the case of Dr C C Meredith and his associates, arrested in a raid on the physicians private maternity hospital at Bellevue, long known hereabouts as the “House of Mystery.” In the big, isolated institution on a high bluff overlooking the murky Ohio, many women met a gruesome fate, according to a confession ascribed to Dr H F Lutz, one of those under arrest and fully credited by District Atty B H Jackson. A score of detectives went to the “death house” early today and began to a systematic search of the place. Every mysterious nook was examined and the cellar dug up in the hope of finding evidence of the disappearance of women of this and other cities. The victims probably numbered a score. There may have been more, according to Dr Lutz,, and among them, he said, was Dorothy Arnold, New York Heiress, who disappeared mysteriously in 1910. Dist Atty Jackson smiled at reports from New York to the effect that John Keith, Atty for Francis Arnold, father of Dorothy Arnold, had come to Pittsburgh unknown to his employer and investigated a report that the missing heiress was at the Bellevue Institution. “Lutz, has come through and told us everything,” said Jackson today. “We have evidence that Dorothy Arnold was traced right to the door of Meredith’s downtown office in the Schmidt Building. We have learned enough already to convince us that in this raid we have broken up one of the worst places in the country. It is too early yet to tell just what will be revealed about Dorothy Arnold’s fate by the arrests.” Although today was a legal holiday in the state, both the district atty and the Chief of Detectives E E Clark were early at work upon the case. And both were sanguine that the disappearance of the perfume importer’s daughter would be fully and finally explained, together with the dropping from sight of other women. According to the alleged Lutz confession, several Pittsburgh physicians acted as “feeders” for the hospital, sending to Meredith for illegal operations women who came to them. In a number of cases when complications resulted and were followed by death, the remains of the victims were heartlessly consigned to a monster furnace in the basement, according to Lutz.
 
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