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

Bump Bump

It has always seemed signifcant to me that on the afternoon of her dissappearance,Dorothy bought two things:A box of candy and a book of short stories. these are exactly the kinds of things onewould buy if they were planning a convalescance. Perhaps Dofothy was planning to spend afew days in bed,recovering? Sadly,I think Dorothy died on the abortionist"s table...

It has always seemed signifcant to me that on the afternoon of her dissappearance,Dorothy bought two things:A box of candy and a book of short stories. these are exactly the kinds of things onewould buy if they were planning a convalescance. Perhaps Dofothy was planning to spend afew days in bed,recovering? Sadly,I think Dorothy died on the abortionist"s table...

I have done a very superficial search for both PONTSETTIA FLAMES andLOTUS LEAVES at the Library of Congress website .Beginning authors often feel it is important to copyright thier work,as this lends a sense of validity to thier efforts.....If Dorothy did so,the stories might offer further clues into her character.(From it's title LOTUS LEAVES sounds as if it might be a rewrite of the first story) If any one has any particular skill at negotiating this kind of search ,it might prove a profitable avenue !

It has always seemed signifcant to me that on the afternoon of her dissappearance,Dorothy bought two things:A box of candy and a book of short stories. these are exactly the kinds of things onewould buy if they were planning a convalescance. Perhaps Dofothy was planning to spend afew days in bed,recovering? Sadly,I think Dorothy died on the abortionist"s table...

Newspaper articles that aren't pay per view on this case, for those that wish to read them.

Jan, 1910 - Dec, 1919
Note many of these articles require adobe acrobat to read.

January 29, 1911, Sunday
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A0DE2D71731E233A2575AC2A9679C946096D6CF

February 3, 1911, Friday
Page 1, 854 words
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D02E6DF1439E333A25750C0A9649C946096D6CF

The Milwaukee Sentinel - Feb 3, 1911
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&pg=6714,6046618&dq=dorothy-arnold&hl=en


February 4, 1911, Saturday
Page 22, 739 words
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A02E1D8113EE233A25757C0A9649C946096D6CF

The Milwaukee Sentinel - Feb 4, 1911
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&pg=6713,6042044&dq=dorothy-arnold&hl=en

February 12, 1911, Sunday
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C00E1D61731E233A25751C1A9649C946096D6CF

February 13, 1911, Monday
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9503E6D91331E233A25750C1A9649C946096D6CF

4 Articles from 1912 (free to read)
http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=dorothy-arnold&scoring=a&sa=N&cid=4204687083438183

The Evening News - Mar 14, 1914
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&pg=5210,2841393&dq=dorothy-arnold&hl=en

Lewiston Evening Journal - Mar 16, 1914
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&pg=3697,4778028&dq=dorothy-arnold&hl=en

Berkeley Daily Gazette - Apr 17, 1916
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=3001,733667&dq=dorothy-arnold&hl=en

There are scads of free articles now scanned to the internet!

Here's one I thought interesting dated April 15, 1922, Saturday. Her Father's will did not make provisions for her.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F05E6DD1739EF3ABC4D52DFB2668389639EDE

Then there are several articles dated April 21, 1921 where a LE CPT stated that the mystery had been solved some time ago. Her family lawyer and family responded vehemently that it was still a mystery.
http://www.google.com/archivesearch?q=dorothy-arnold+located&scoring=a&sa=N&cid=4224748875678321 (both free to read).

Kat said:

Here's one I thought interesting dated April 15, 1922, Saturday. Her Father's will did not make provisions for her.

Then there are several articles dated April 21, 1921 where a LE CPT stated that the mystery had been solved some time ago. Her family lawyer and family responded vehemently that it was still a mystery.

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Actually, neither her mother nor father made provisions for her in their wills, claiming that they felt she was dead.

Her father was extremely reluctant to get LE involved in this case, whether because of pride and his "position" in the community, or because he knew what really happened. In any event, he continued to claim Dorothy had been killed in Central Park and her body was thrown into the lake/reservoir there.

My opinion is that Dorothy "vanished" of her own accord. She left her house around 11 a.m. ostensibly to purchase an evening dress for her sister's coming out party. It is unknown whether she purchased such a dress. What is known is that her purchases included a book of love stories and a 1/2 pound box of chocolates. According to a friend she ran into outside a bookstore around 2 o'clock that day, Dorothy didn't seem upset or act unusual in any way.

I've held on to the pregnancy theory for some time, but now I wonder if that was really the case. She spent the Thanksgiving weekend with her girlfriend Theodora (discussed more below), who believed Dorothy was on her menstrual cycle that weekend. Since Dorothy disappeared just a couple of weeks later, the pregnancy theory doesn't seem viable.

Dorothy's father was extremely overbearing and her mother was under his domination. Dorothy had a creative flair (as expressed by her desire to be a writer), and just a couple of months before her disappearance had asked her father for permission to get an apartment in Greenwich Village. Of course, he denied her request. In addition, Dorothy had an independent streak - she snuck off to spend a few days with Griscom, but told her family she was with a college friend - and pawned some of her jewelry to finance this outing.

What has always puzzled me is the story told by her friend Theodora (the same one Dorothy had used as a cover to meet Griscom), with whose family Dorothy was to spend the Thanksgiving holiday. Dorothy acted out of character, staying in her bedroom most of the time. Her girlfriend believed Dorothy was having her menstrual cycle and left her alone.

A package was delivered for Dorothy at her friend's house. How this came about is a mystery - Theodora would later state that it was delivered by the postman, but there was no mail on that day. And who would have known that Dorothy was spending the holiday out of town with a friend, rather than at home with her family? In any case, when the package was given to Dorothy, she tossed it to one side without opening it. Shortly thereafter, she packed up her things and headed back to New York, in spite of having promised her friend that she would stay through until Monday.

One thing that has lead many to suspect Dorothy commited suicide was found in a letter she wrote to Griscom, in which she said "Well, it has come back. McClure’s has turned me down. All I can see ahead is a long road with no turning. Mother will always think an accident has happened.”

This passage, read by itself, sounds dire, but the rest of the letter was friendly and chatty. By reading mere words, it is impossible to tell someone's frame of mind. She may well have just been exaggerating for effect, trying to make light of an unhappy situation. Or perhaps she was trying to elicit sympathy from Griscom ("oh, poor me, I'll just have to kill myself because my story was rejected"). Seeing as how the rest of the letter was not gloomy, but rather cheerful and upbeat, I think the often quoted passage shouldn't be taken too seriously as evidence of a suicide.

Dorothy was a free-thinking, artistic young woman who had grown weary of her family's strict attitude. On the day she disappeared, Dorothy did a lot of walking - over 52 blocks in chilly weather. I believe that as she walked along, she thought about her family situation. Did she want to go on as always, or did she want to leave her old life behind and begin a new life where she could do as she pleased without family interference? The "last straw" may have been her father's refusal to allow her to rent an apartment in Greenwich Village. In addition, I think Dorothy finally realized that nothing would come of her relationship with the much-older Griscom. So Dorothy decided to head out on her own.

I firmly believe that Dorothy contacted her family at some point, and that they were well-aware of what became of her. She may have been "dead" to her parents due to her actions, but not dead to the world.

Marilynilpa, that is a good theory. I hadn't thought about the idea that Dorothy walked away from home on her own and then later contacted her parents and was rejected.

I imagine at the time there were few options for unmarried women regarding work that they could do, where they could live alone, etc. And as much as Dorothy probably wanted to be away from her parents, I'm sure she was not prepared for the reality of a working single woman at that time. Also, it sounds like she had romantic ideals (for instance, she imagined herself a bohemian-type writer living in Greenwich Village). I think she would have been very susceptible to men with less than honorable motives.

Or, maybe, she wandered away to live alone and did find someone who would love her and care for her, got married, and lived a happy life.

I've always thought that she just walked and walked and walked and ended up far from home where she succumbed somehow, whether she was murdered or committed suicide. Maybe she hopped on a train and was even further from home, and her body was unidentified. That would make sense, since her family didn't contact LE right away.

Mr. E said:

Also, it sounds like she had romantic ideals (for instance, she imagined herself a bohemian-type writer living in Greenwich Village). I think she would have been very susceptible to men with less than honorable motives.

Or, maybe, she wandered away to live alone and did find someone who would love her and care for her, got married, and lived a happy life.

I've always thought that she just walked and walked and walked and ended up far from home where she succumbed somehow, whether she was murdered or committed suicide. Maybe she hopped on a train and was even further from home, and her body was unidentified. That would make sense, since her family didn't contact LE right away.

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I think Dorothy would have been susceptible to any man - she was naive for the most part, her family made fun of her unsuccessful attempts at being a writer, her father ruled with an iron hand, and she was involved with a man much older than herself who stilled lived with his parents! I can see her being swept off her feet by any man who promised her the life she wanted. And if the man was of the type her parents would not approve, so much the better!!

I'd like to think she met such a man, made a spur of the moment decision to run off with him, and lived happily ever after! Of course, that would probably only occur in a Kapra movie.

Marilynilpa said:

I think Dorothy would have been susceptible to any man - she was naive for the most part, her family made fun of her unsuccessful attempts at being a writer, her father ruled with an iron hand, and she was involved with a man much older than herself who stilled lived with his parents! I can see her being swept off her feet by any man who promised her the life she wanted. And if the man was of the type her parents would not approve, so much the better!!

I'd like to think she met such a man, made a spur of the moment decision to run off with him, and lived happily ever after! Of course, that would probably only occur in a Kapra movie.

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I honestly think that she was just tired of being tied to people that didnt 'get' her and decided that she would rather be 'free' than to deal with the ties that bind. To most it would seem unlikely that someone would step away from such means but her family was described as a family with 'unbending reticence.'

She was given a $100 monthly allowance (which is $2273.88 in 2009 dollars) and its not unlikely that she was saving a lot of that money to fund a new life.

Its also possible that she was aware of any funds (or items) in the home that she could have taken directly before she left - we know she stole things from her parents in the past as she stole (she stole $500 dollars worth of jewerly and pawned it for $60).

She could have been taking small things or amounts of money from the home and nobody noticed or she could have taken a large sum directly before leaving which would be why her family waiting so long to report her missing - they already had to face the shame of everyone knowing that she stole (and pawned) things from them before.

Some noteworthy facts:

*When selling the jewerly she signed her real name and address to the pawn shop slip when 'hiding' in Boston with George Griscom, Jr. The pawnbroker tipped off press regarding her 'visit'.

"That day she wore a well-tailored suit, with a blue serge coat and a tight hobble skirt in a matching color; she carried both a huge silver-fox mutt and a satin handbag"

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*Women of that time wouldnt typically wear a muff AND carry a purse. If you are unsure of what a muff looks like click here that muff is considered to be a medium size for the time, the one she had was considered "huge". Considering she was also carrying a purse it seems she would have ample room to hide a few keepsake items (and stash of money) she couldnt bare to part with.

Mrs. Arnold was widely believed to be a semi-invalid who seldom left the residence on Seventy-ninth Street. Nevertheless, on this particular day she seemed more than walling to venture out of doors. “Maybe I’d better go with you,” Mrs. Arnold said to her daughter.

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*What was so special about this day that her mother would suddenly offer to go with her? Is it possible Dorothy had been acting differently and her mother picked up on the vibes?

December 12 was not an especially good day underfoot; the winter weather was raw, and strips of ice made the Fifth Avenue sidewalks treacherous. Then she walked 32 MORE blocks.

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*Why walk 20 blocks (taking about 40 minutes) when its freezing out and the ice is making walking difficult?

Dorothy had requested her lather’s permission to take an apartment in Greenwich Village, a district which even then had a reputation lor stimulating creative effort. The elderly Mr. Arnold had exploded into a fine display of parental wrath: “A good writer can write anywhere,” he said Dorothy dared not push the matter further, instead, she followed her father’s advice, and during the next few weeks wrote a short story (ailed “Poinsettia Flames,” which she dispatched to McClures’s, the combination New Yorker-Saturday Evening Post of the day. Then she made a frightful mistake. She told her family about “Poinsettia Flames,” and they all began teasing her unmercifully about her literary pretensions. In a few days, a much-dreaded event occurred: “Poinsettia Flames” was returned. In the words of a news account, “Dorothy now found life a torment among her amused relatives.”

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*This could be a key factor in her leaving home and never telling anyone - she ended up doing what her father said (the whole 'a good writer can write anywhere thing') and still ended up being rejected by her family - and shown that her feelings really didnt matter.

*Why did her mother lie and say she was home when she wasnt later that night when Dorothy's friends called, saying she was in bed with a headache?

*The lawyer that they called the day after she went missing said that when "Opening a desk drawer, Keith found a pile of personal letters, some with foreign postmarks. On the desk-top he noted two transatlantic steamship folders - why wasnt this looked into right away?

*When the police were finally told six weeks later (against the family wishes) why did her father fight so madly to NOT let the public know?

*What made her go visit her friend for thanksgiving when she had spent it with her family in the past?

*She goes missing in December and her mother is placed into a nursing home in Jan? Why? Her husband said that the other couldnt do anything on her own but every other people that knew the mother said that she could do MOST things on her own.

I enjoyed reading your post, punklove.

I think Dorothy's mother lied about Dorothy being home because the family didn't want any publicity surrounding this.

Regarding the transatlantic steamship folders - I think Dorothy might have been thinking about joining Griscom in Europe (the fact that he was traveling with his parents may have dissuaded her!) I need to do a little research and see if Dorothy had a passport.

It's hard to understand exactly why Dorothy's father was so against making her disappearance public. Although he was supposedly a very strict, "proper" person with a reputation to uphold, his child was missing and that should have been more important. I think that from the beginning, he had an inkling of what had happened to Dorothy and didn't want to let anyone know. That's why he came up with the story that Dorothy had been killed in Central Park and tossed into the lake. He never changed his story about that.

The Thanksgiving trip to visit her girlfriend Theodora puzzles me, as it does you. All I can think of is that her family was giving her a hard time over her aspirations of being a writer, and she just didn't want to deal with it.

The nursing home story was just a ploy. Dorothy's mother actually sailed to Europe with Dorothy's brother to visit Griscom, and to obtain letters from him that Dorothy had written. Apparently the brother and Griscom got physical at one point.

Dorothy's story would make a great movie.
KInd of like the forbidden love/tragic love story
where they leave to find freedom and not be tied down.

Apparently the family lawyer was looking at hospitals, morgues, and other possible places where she might have ended up in the six weeks before they called LE. I wonder if he did find her, and (remember this was the turn of the last century), to save the parents grief, decided to withhold the information so they could at least have hope. You know what I mean? Say for instance he found her mutilated, raped body, and he knew it would destroy the mother and even embarrass the father that Dorothy had ended up like that, so he just kept quiet and said that he didn't uncover anything. So maybe, even though she'd been ID'd by the lawyer, she remained an unidentified.

Just a thought I had as I was reading about the case for the umpteenth time in Jay Nash's book Among the Missing.

I thought this was neat - Where she lived with her parents.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...2&ll=40.776227,-73.960149&spn=0,0.002401&z=19

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...775506,-73.960149&spn=0,0.002401&z=19&iwloc=A

Dorothy obviously wasnt behaving as one would expect (or demand) a socialite to behave during that time. Her father was in his 70s when she went missing, and seemed to have very firm ideas on what was (and wasnt) acceptable for a young woman.

It goes without saying that the last several months before she went missing must have been miserable & difficult for everyone involved.. She felt that her parents didnt understand her, didnt take her seriously and her parents were ashamed of her uncouth & scandalous behavior.

She must have felt rejected repeatedly by her family - they certainly made it clear that they were more concerned by what everyone else thought than her feelings.

This rejection only got worse when she attempted to move into her out apartment and was told no, then to share her dream of writing with her family only to have them mock her endlessly when they found out she was rejected - the mocking was so upsetting to her that she then rented a post office box so they would now longer be able to see any rejection letters.

Im sure she felt like she had put in enough 'time' and wanted to begin her life, instead of doing things to make a family that ridiculed her endlessly - one would expect her to feel that they didnt really care for her or at the very least accept her..

She falls in love and is told by her family that the man she loves is too 'bald, fat' for her and they would never let her marry him. She shows them something thats very important to her (her writing) and they make fun of her nonstop, to the point that she feels the need to sneak around in order to still write but not have her family aware - which must have been quite a difficult thing to do - her signing up for a mailbox without SOMEONE saying something to her parents/family/friends about it.

I really think that she had just finally had enough and decided that she wanted to live her life how she wanted it, not at the whim of other people.

Honestly, can you imagine what it must be like living with parents that thought it was a good idea to wait 6 weeks before reporting you missing? To adamantly argue that their child was dead when other people wanted to look for her? The facts pointed to her being alive, why was the father so intent on making people think she was dead? The only answer I can come up with is this - he would have rather her been dead.

When she was in Boston with George, the pawnbroker noticed her name (and address) when she was selling him her things and decided to get a little extra money from her by tipping off the press.

Her 'activities' were posted in the newspapers and quickly became the hot topic in the Arnold's circle of friends.. Suddenly Dorothy was no longer a socialite and heiress that would make any man a lucky husband - she was a *advertiser censored* and a thief.

It certainly seems harsh to use such words describing her, but things were much different in 1910 than now - the moment she was caught with a man she put a shame onto the family that would never be removed. Keep in mind that in 1910 a hemline that was above the ankle was considered pushing it - it was also unthinkable that a couple would really EVER be alone together, during the courting process they would typically having someone watching over them.

That being said, I dont think its all that unlikely that Dorothy decided to leave that life (and all the judgemental people in it) behind.

Haha, Sorry for being so wordy!! A few things I forgot:

Her family acting as though she could only have around $25 dollars on her confuses me, there is no way I could be convinced that she hadnt been saving up money (or stealing) for some time because she knew she was going to start over and wanted to make sure she had enough money to do so.

Ive got a theory that Ive never heard anyone else bring up - so here goes.. Bare with me:

Things around the house were really tense considering the fact that just a couple months before she went missing her family found out she was in Boston with George, and had pawned some of the family jewerly.

That added to the whole wanting to move out issue and her family making fun of her for the rejected writing finally ended up being enough and she decided that she would start over somewhere else and finally be able to live the way she wanted and made a plan.


A few facts that could support her leaving on her own:

• The daybefore she went missing she took $36 out of the bank ($818 dollars in today's money) and treated her best girlfriends to a fancy dinner and a movie. Was this her saying goodbye to them?

• Being the writer that she was, why did they find nothing of her writing (other than a couple personal letters) when searching her room once she was gone? Even considering that she no longer wanted to share her writing with her family she was still writing and its only logical that she would have some of her writings somewhere in her room, even if hidden? It seems much more likely that she went through her writings, kept the ones she couldnt bare to part with (and took them with her) and burned all the rest so her family would never be able to read them, which would account for the burned bits of paper they found in her fireplace. Between the huge muff she was carrying and the satin purse she had ample room to store a few things that she couldnt part with.

• Her mothers unusual offer to go with her while shopping - was this her mothers intuition picking up on Dorothy's plan? It just seems more than chance that her mother would offer to go with her on the very day she went missing considering that she never did that in the past.


Things that could account for her family not reporting her right away and lying about things -

• Once Dorothy went shopping her mother could have found a note from Dorothy telling her family that she wasnt coming back - this would have made both parents not contact the police and could also account for the mother calling Dorothy's friends (and then begging them not to say anything) as it would be a logical thing for them not to take her completely seriously and expect that she was just at a friends cooling off.

or

• Once Dorothy went shopping her mother could have found something was missing (money or items) and waited for Dorotthy to come home - even when she didnt come home they would have avoided calling the police because the first thing they would ask is if something was missing - also, the last thing they wanted was another scandal involving their daughters deviant behavior.

Had there been something missing, they would more than likely assume that she would turn up sooner or later, which would be why they waited so long to report her missing.

Mr. E said:

Apparently the family lawyer was looking at hospitals, morgues, and other possible places where she might have ended up in the six weeks before they called LE. I wonder if he did find her, and (remember this was the turn of the last century), to save the parents grief, decided to withhold the information so they could at least have hope. You know what I mean? Say for instance he found her mutilated, raped body, and he knew it would destroy the mother and even embarrass the father that Dorothy had ended up like that, so he just kept quiet and said that he didn't uncover anything. So maybe, even though she'd been ID'd by the lawyer, she remained an unidentified.

Just a thought I had as I was reading about the case for the umpteenth time in Jay Nash's book Among the Missing.

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I know that at one time, it was suspected that Dorothy had gone to Pittsburgh (where I live) to the home of a man who performed abortions, among other things. I believe that is discussed in other posts on here, so I won't go into all the details.

The fact that Dorothy's father quickly came up with the "killed in Central Park" theory makes me believe that early on, he knew or strongly suspected where Dorothy was. He never swayed from that theory.

Your theory about the lawyer is interesting. I know that he hoped to impress Mr. Arnold and possibly turn this into a profitable relationship for himself. If he found Dorothy, or what happened to her, it would seem reasonable that Mr. Arnold would reward him with some business. With that in mind, would he have kept quiet if he did learn something unpleasant about Dorothy?

By the way, I am a big fan of Jay Nash's book!

Punklove, you make some very good points.

I never thought about Dorothy taking her girlfriends to dinner/theater as a goodbye to them, but it does make sense! I wonder if Dorothy was usually so extravagant with her friends.

Although it appears Dorothy was not a particularly good writer, it was something she enjoyed doing (until the family began ridiculing her!) I agree that some evidence of her writing should have been found in her room unless she knew she would not be coming back that day and took everything with her. I think that a girl like Dorothy would have kept a diary or journal of some type. Obviously that would be something she'd take with her if she were leaving for good.

Like you said, she may well have burned up what she didn't want and took the rest with her, or mailed it off to wherever she planned to go.

Regarding her mother's offer to shop with Dorothy, I don't know if it was that unusual. It may be something she did regularly. The claims that Dorothy's mother was a semi-invalid were not entirely true - she was capable of doing things when she wanted to, such as traveling by boat to Europe with her son to confront Griscom.

It could have been "mother's intuition" behind her offer to go shopping with Dorothy, or it could have been the family's suspicions that Dorothy might be up to something. Given her recent behavior, shocking in the eyes of her family, it could be they were keeping a close watch over her whenever she went out on her own.

Your idea that Dorothy might have left a note is one I hadn't thought about, and it certainly makes sense. I think Dorothy was a little on the dramatic side, so any note she left might have been taken with a grain of salt by her family. Only when she didn't return would the parents start to worry, leading to her mother calling Dorothy's friends.

You've mentioned a couple of times that Dorothy had stolen family jewelry to pawn. I haven't read anything about that, what I've always thought was that Dorothy pawned her own jewelry and personal items. Can you remember where you read that she'd actually stolen family stuff? I'd like to learn more about that. If it's true, that changes my image of Dorothy a little, makes her more calculating that I've thought. It's one thing to pawn your own stuff, but something else altogether to steal from your family.

Keep up the posts, punklove, you are raising some great points about this old case! I'd particularly like to know your thoughts on what was in the mysterious package delivered to Dorothy over Thanksgiving.

RE: the missing papers

I think it sounds very plausible that Dorothy treated her friends for a day out as a kind of goodbye, and that she cleared out her writing papers before she left home.

But remember that the family didn't call LE for six weeks. Maybe they cleared out the papers out of embarrassment or anger or something. They apparently left her diary, though, so who knows.

When I was a kid, I would hide what I guess you'd call today "fan fiction stories" because I was so embarrassed by them. This was back in the late 70s/early 80s. They're probably still behind the wall in my grandparents' mountain home, which is largely unoccupied now, except when someone in the family wants to spend some time in the mountains. Maybe Dorothy, upset by her family teasing her, decided to hide what she wrote, and it's still hidden today. Or it's long since been nibbled up by mice or otherwise destroyed.

I do like the idea that Dorothy packed everything up, treated her friends to a last goodbye, and walked away from her unhappy life to something better. Maybe she changed her name and became a successful writer!