The Law Student Who Vanished Into Love Poems and Everett
J. L. Reed left Snohomish on a Friday morning and never came back; friends traced him to Everett, where he showed signs of mental collapse. An officer went after him.
Snohomish, March 24. — Special. — J. L. Reed, a young law student of this city, left in a mysterious manner Friday morning, and has not been heard from since. He had been acting in a peculiar manner for some time past; had spent a large part of his time in composing love poetry and in deep, absent-minded reveries. Yesterday some of his friends went to Everett, and think that they traced him there to a mill. In Everett he gave unmistakable signs of mental aberration. An officer has gone after the unbalanced man. Reed is a native of England, and is a carpenter by trade. The past six months he has been in a law office.
“He had spent a large part of his time composing love poetry and in deep, absent-minded reveries.”
Reed's disappearance is a small, human reminder of how mental-health crises were handled in the 1890s—friends traced him to the next mill town and an officer went after him. The story still reads like a modern missing-person notice: ordinary details, sudden alarm, and a community trying to catch up.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.