Vanishing Act: The Search for Two Teenagers
Two Tacoma teenagers disappear, sparking a region-wide search after rumors suggest they eloped with newsboys.
Leana Christian and Pearl Clow, seventeen-year-old girls living at 517 South 23rd and at 25th and G streets, respectively, suddenly disappeared from their homes yesterday and are thought to have eloped with two Seattle newsboys. They were last seen in Tacoma as they were in the act of embarking for Seattle. The name of the boys with whom the girls are said to have eloped is given as Harry Mathews. The only name applied to the other is 'Runt.' The quartet is supposed to have met in Seattle last night and departed for Vancouver, B.C. Police of the entire Northwest have been notified of their disappearance.
“The quartet is supposed to have met in Seattle last night and departed for Vancouver, B.C. Police of the entire Northwest have been notified of their disappearance.”
The moral panic surrounding 'eloping' teenagers was a recurring theme in the early 1900s press. While the story today is mostly a quiet reminder of historical domestic policing, it reflects the intense societal pressure placed on young women's mobility and social associations at the time.
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