The Vanishing Boys of Seattle
While the city grew rapidly, parents found themselves in a recurring panic as children repeatedly 'flitted away' from home, triggering police searches and frantic reunions.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Thursday afternoon, Mrs. Hiram Bohm, living on the alley between Second and Third streets near Union, sent her four-year-old son, Clarence, to a downtown grocery to make some home purchases. He had not returned when the evening shadows fell and his parents were considerably agitated, although he had frequently wandered away from home before when sent to make purchases. Early this morning, Mrs. Bohm reported the matter to the police, but none of the force were able to find the slightest trace of the boy further than that he had been to the store and made the purchases and had been seen later playing with some children. Late yesterday afternoon, the anxious parents received a telegram stating that the missing youngster had safely arrived there on the train to a friend of the lad's parents to see and recognize him and at once sent a telegram. He will be sent back to Seattle on the next steamer. This is the second case of a similar nature within a week. A few days ago, a five-year-old youngster rattled off on the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern train and slept at a hotel where he was cared for until the following day, when he returned to Seattle.
“His parents were considerably agitated, although he had frequently wandered away from home before.”
In 1888, the 'flitting away' of a young child in a rapidly urbanizing Seattle sent parents into a tizzy, yet such events were a recurring urban oddity. Today, while our concerns are far more digitized, the neighborhood anxiety of a missing child remains a constant, haunting rhythm in a city that continues to grow and sprawl.
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