The Mysterious Disappearance of Sergeant Brown
A career soldier vanished without a trace after leaving his post on the cableship Burnside in Tacoma.
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.
Sergeant Brown, of the signal corps on the cableship Burnside, has mysteriously disappeared and all efforts to locate him have been futile. He left the Burnside at 7 o'clock Sunday morning for a short walk about the city. Since that time he has not been seen nor heard from. Brown's fellow officers spent several hours yesterday trying to get some trace of him. The hospital, police station, as well as the places frequented by him while in Tacoma, were visited, without result. In view of the fact that Brown has 22 years of service to his credit in the United States army, with but eight years more to serve before being retired, the officers of the boat are loath to believe his absence is of his own accord. Brown is about 38 years old and is of a quiet disposition. During the years he has served in the army he has never before been known to absent himself from duty. It is feared that he has met with foul play.
“In view of the fact that Brown has 22 years' service to his credit... the officers of the boat are loath to believe his absence is of his own accord.”
Missing person reports are a staple of the historical press, often revealing as much about the anxieties of the military and the city as they do about the victim. The Burnside was a prominent vessel, and the sudden loss of an experienced career soldier would have cast a pall over the port district.
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