Evening Star Newspaper, October 26, 1930, Page 86

“When a man mysteriously drops out of sight, the first thing we do is create & mental picture of that man,” said Capt. Ayers, who has been chiel of the Missing Persons Bureau for 1 : if we are to be successful in finding him, build up a likeness of him,” continued Capt. Ayres. “This we do by studying the environ- ment from which he vanished, his relatives, his associates, every one possibde with wham he came in contact. We must know everything that we can about him; his reactions to people, places, his work, his wife, his family; what he ate, where he ate, what he wore, thought and “We must know about his foibles, his possible idiosyncrasies, his hobbies, his religion, what he did in his hours of relaxation. “Does he love his wife? Are they in har- mony? Does he covet somebody else’s wife? Is he inclined to philander or is he the type that likes to stay home and play bridge with a few congenial friends? Has he a conscience or is he unscrupulous in his dealings with others? “Has he business worries? Is he enmeshed _with any ‘other woman'? What are his €lub affiliations, his financial and moral standing? Where did he dine? Did he like the theater? ‘Whom did he see last before he disappeared? “Was he fastidious about his appearance? Did he like good clothes and where did he buy them? Is he popular? Moody? Cheerful and optimistic? “What was the state of his health? “These are only a few of the sidzlights on his character and personality which we must unearth, but which, combined with all the other information we dig up, help us to build & pretty clear and accurate picture of the man who has disappeared. “This mental picture is tle ‘double,’ and no matter how hard a man tries to cover his tracks and prevent being traced, unless, of course, he has eontemplated suicide, he cannot .blot out his whole past life. He leaves behind Rim not only his double, which must be as- THE: «(SUNDAY : STAR, WASHINGTON, - D, C., OCTOBER .55, 19%. - ‘racking Down M Circular sent out by the New York City police soon after the disappearance of Justice Joseph Force Crater. sembled, but usually hundreds of other clues which indirectly help us in trailing him. “Let me tell you how we trailed—and found— one very well known man who vanished several years ago,” continued Capt. Ayres. “Then you will get an idea of how the ‘double’ works along with us to find his ‘twin.’ This man was con- nected with a financial house. He had a wife and two children. He was prominent and a fine example of civic virtue. “One day he just dropped out of sight. Ap- parently no one who knew him could give a fair reason for his disappearance. Foul play was suspected, but no motives for his vanishing act could be dug up—that is, not for a while, The first thing we did was to check on his financial activities and standing. We found that everything was all right there. He was not involved in any way, not mixed up in any troublesome financial deals; he was prosperous and his firm was in splendid shape. “His fraternal affiliations were excellent. In fact, he was so well Mked that the president of one of the organizations volunteered all possible financial aid in locating him. g “His family life was apparently ideal. His stricken wife loved him very much and de- clared that he was a wonderful husband and father. “His health was good and he was in fine spirits at the time he suddenly dropped out— away from his family, his business and his usual haunts, “Tnvsluvehndlpnttytoodpicmol the type of man he was—prosperous, a family man, without financial troubles. We also had found that he was a fine-looking man, that he dressed well. But this was not enough. We did not yet have a thorough nor completely comprehensive likeness of his ‘double.” “One day I sent one of my men out to leamn where the missing man had taken his noonday meals and, if possible, the name of the man or men who had been in the custom of dining with him. “I did' this because I have frequently found that it is not always & man's best friends who learn the most about the things which deeply interest and concern him. Often business men crave surcease from a constant discussion of their work. When they eat their noonday meals they often make chance acquaintarices in res- taurants and discuss very satimate things with such persons. They make confidants quite often of comparative strangers. “When my man made inquiries he discov- ered that the missing man had invariably dined at the same restaurant. The manager of the place pointed out the table at which he cus- tomarily sat and then, on being questioned, said that he usually dined with one man at this table, and that this man was one of the regular patrons, too. “‘He’ll be in any minute now,” the manager said. The detective waited, and when the man- ager pointed him out he approached him. He said that he assumed g$hat the man liked the missing acquaintance well enough to try to help clear up his disappearance and, if so, would he be so kind as to step over to the Missing Persons Bureau? “This the man agreed to do. We had a talk. At first he appeared reluctant to say anything and offered no information of any particular value. But finally, apparently on a sudden impulse, he asked to use my telephone. He made 2 call and it was obvious that he was talk- ing to a woman. Men’s voices always change and soften when they talk to women over the telephone. “He asked her about a girl friend. ‘Would the two of them like to make an engagement with him and a friend? They would. Good. We’ll be right over. “‘Came along with me,’ said the missing man’s restdurant friend. ‘I think youll learn something zbout the case.’ “When we reached the young woman’s apart-’ ment, this man told her that she could speak freely, since we were’ They dis- cussed the missing man and it was soon to me that he was a friend of one of her ‘girl friends,’ that they had often spent afternoons together in this apartment and that they were off together on a ‘little trip.’ he was really quite interested in this ‘other woman.’ “I got the address of the place, on an out- of-town road, and went there. I asked for my man under the name his friends had told me he would use for registering, saying that I was a friend of his. He was horrified when- I told. him I was from the police department. “But I assured him that it wae simply our business to ‘find the man,’ 'a& $o ruin his I learned that ° - ho Leave Home The méntal picture of & person who has van- study of the environ- ment from which the man disappeared, his ——vrelatives, associates and every ‘one with whom he came in con- tact. “About two years ago a woman appeared afl my office looking like a death's head. Hes husband, & prosperous business man, had suds denly vanished. He was a home-loving many she said, and it was her opinion that he had for some unknown reason, committed suicide. “It was obvious that the woman was deeply in love -with her husband and that she was willing to help in any way to find him. She impressed me favorably. somehow, that she had the clue to his disape pearance. “So I had several conferences with her. % found that she had a very fine opinion of her husband’s business ability; that, in fact, she thought he was more or less a financial wizard, I discovered that whenever she felt that she wanted a new gown or a coat, wished to give a bridge or theater party, she did so, since her husband was always generous and a good pros vider. “When we investigated the man’s business we found that, while it had for many years been in good shape, it had gone downgrade because other smaller dealers were crowding him in his neighborhood. He had had greag difficulty in making up his pay roll each weel, “After I had this man’s ‘double’ clearly bee fore me, I came té the conclusion that financial +difficulties had inspired him to vanish; this, with the inability on his part to confess his straits to his wife. So, instead of ‘coming clean’ to his mate, realizing that he was in the wrong neighborhood for the best interests of his business, and moving, he had simply thrown up the sponge and gone away. “We found &kds man eventua'ly, but not until his wife %ad about worried herself into hex Continued on Twenty-first Page il