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A Father’s Desperate Search for His Missing Daughter

A laundry worker seeks help from police in Tacoma and Seattle after his wife disappears to Olympia with their 10-year-old child.

Charles Webster of Olympia was in the city yesterday in search for his wife and little daughter, who disappeared from their home in the capital city early last week. The wife had fled from her home owing to domestic troubles, due to her infatuation for a barber who lived in Olympia. Webster believes that his wife has gone to join the barber, but he is determined to recover his 10-year-old daughter, whom the woman took with her. He has asked the police in Seattle, Tacoma and neighboring cities to be on the lookout for the woman, and last night returned to his deserted home in Olympia. Mr. Webster is a laundry worker and has tried hard to make a comfortable living for his family.

“He is determined to recover his 10-year-old daughter, whom the woman took with her.”

— Printed in The Tacoma Times (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1904
Then · 1904122 years apartNow · 2026

While legal frameworks for custody have evolved significantly since 1905, the struggle of working-class parents facing the sudden loss of their children remains a poignant feature of the modern family court system. The story reflects the period's rigid social expectations regarding domestic loyalty and gendered employment.

The original page

The Tacoma Times (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1904-07-25. Library of Congress, Chronicling America.

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About this story

From
The Tacoma Times (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, JUL 25, 1904, Page 2
Text
Cleaned up from the page — spelling and layout repaired — not a word-for-word transcription. The page itself is above, for exact wording.
Rights
Public domain
Place
47.03553, -122.90083 · placed automatically
The paper in the Library of Congress catalog ↗