News media has always had a fascination with the lifestyles of the rich and famous. And the disappearance of a socialite is no exception.
Dorothy Harriet Camille Arnold was born on July 1st, 1885, in New York City, New York. She was the daughter of perfume importer Francis Arnold, who provided a very affluent, and privileged lifestyle for his wife, and his children. The Arnolds were said to be so wealthy, that they were listed in the Social Register. It was also said that the family’s ancestors could be traced back to the Mayflower.
Dorothy lived in luxury, and attended prestigious schools to show for it. In 1905, she graduated from Bryn Mawr College, located in Pennsylvania. She majored in literature and language, and fully intended on establishing a career as a successful writer.
While living at home, where her father was more than happy to keep her sheltered from the outside world, she wrote steadily, and confidently submitted a short story to McClure’s magazine in 1910. The story was rejected, much to Dorothy’s dismay.
Seeking support, she instead found ridicule, as her friends and family teased her mercilessly over the rejection. In order not to experience that kind of humiliation again, Dorothy rented a post office box, and changed all of her correspondence to be received there.
Dorothy then submitted a second story to McClure’s, which was also rejected. This left her dejected, but also encouraged her to keep trying.
Believing a change of scenery would do her good, she asked her father to rent an apartment for her in Greenwich Village. This request was denied. Francis kept his daughters very sheltered and close to home, believing they were safer at home until they were wed. If Dorothy was intent on a career in writing, she could write from anywhere – including her childhood home.
On December 12th, 1910, at around 11:00 AM, Dorothy informed her mother that she was leaving to go shopping for an evening dress for her sister’s debutante party. She left with cash on her, and set out on foot towards Fifth Avenue.
At the Park & Tilford store, she charged a half pound box of chocolates, and then walked towards the corner of 27th Street and Fifth Avenue. There, she entered Brentano’s bookstore, and bought a book of essays by Emily Calvin Blake, titled “Engaged Girl Sketches”. Dorothy had a voracious love of reading, and she was always sure to stop by any bookstore when out on errands.
After purchasing the book, she ran into a friend of hers, Gladys King, at around 2:00 PM. They chatted for a few moments, and then Gladys excused herself. She was meeting her mother at the Waldorf-Astoria for lunch. With pleasantries, the two women parted ways, with Dorothy telling Gladys that she was going to take a walk through Central Park.
Gladys last saw Dorothy as she turned to wave goodbye to her friend a second time before setting off in the direction of the park. This was the last known sighting of Dorothy Arnold.
Dorothy’s parents grew worried when she failed to arrive home in time for dinner. Dorothy was not one to miss meals, or to not send word of a change of plans. Her parents began calling round to Dorothy’s friends, asking if they’d seen her, trying not to draw suspicion to the fact that Dorothy was missing.
Just after midnight, another friend of Dorothy’s, Elsie Henry, called the Arnold home looking for Dorothy. Her mother informed Elsie that Dorothy had come home, and gone to bed with a headache.
A year prior to this incident, another prominent New York society family had undergone the trauma of their child disappearing. 13-year-old Adele Boas had gone missing, and her parents had drawn an incredible amount of attention to themselves in their search. Adele later returned home, unharmed. If was found that she’d run away to Boston. The family was scandalized, and ridiculed within their social circle for the incident of their runaway daughter.
Fearing a similar form of social mockery, the Arnolds did not alert law enforcement that Dorothy was missing. Instead, they called their family friend, and attorney, John S. Keith.
When Keith arrived at the home, he found that all of Dorothy’s belongings were still in her room, indicating that she hadn’t run away. The only items that were missing were the outfit, hat, and muff she wore to go shopping. Further searching her room, Keith also found personal letters, which bore foreign postmarks on them, as well as several pamphlets for transatlantic ocean liners. He also found a bundle of papers that had been burned in the fireplace.
Overall, there was nothing to indicate that Dorothy had left of her own volition.
Keith proceeded to visit jails, hospitals, and morgues all over the city in search of Dorothy, but came up with nothing. Still fearful of their social standing, it was suggested that the Arnolds contact the Pinkertons Detective Agency to continue the investigation discreetly.
The Pinkertons retraced Dorothy’s steps, interviewed her friends, family members, and those who had seen her the day she went missing. They all said that Dorothy was in good spirits, and was a happy young woman, despite the setbacks to her writing career. It was apparent that Gladys really was the last person to have seen Dorothy on December 12th.
Running out of leads in New York City, Pinkerton agents soon decided to take their search to international waters. Having found the ocean liner pamphlets in her bedroom, the next logical theory was that Dorothy had taken passage on a transatlantic ship. They suspected that Dorothy may have eloped with a man to Europe.
No marriage records were found to validate this theory. Though many women were stopped and questioned who matched Dorothy’s description, Dorothy herself was not found disembarking transatlantic ocean liners.
The Arnolds had run out of leads, and options.
On January 25th, 1911, Francis Arnold finally contacted the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and reported his daughter, Dorothy, as missing.
A press conference was held, where a monetary reward was offered for any information that may lead to Dorothy’s whereabouts. Reporters seemed to be of the same mind as the Pinkertons, and asked Francis if it was possible his daughter had simply run off in order to get married. Francis scoffed at this, and informed the press that he did not allow his daughter to date, let alone to marry. He had very high standards for his daughter, and he told them as much.
Reporters discovered that Francis’ vehemence over his daughter being sheltered was in reference to 30-year-old man by the name of George Griscom Jr.
Dorothy had met George while she was attending Bryn Mawr, and the two began dating. George came from a wealthy Pennsylvania family, and himself was educated as an engineer. While Dorothy was smitten with George, Francis did not approve – he wasn’t good enough for his daughter.
It was also discovered that Dorothy and George had spent a week at a hotel together in Boston in September of 1910, just a couple of months before she disappeared. Dorothy had pawned some jewelry in order to fund the hotel stay.
Dorothy had lied to her parents about the trip, stating she was visiting a former classmate.
When her deception was discovered, her family disapproved wholeheartedly. But that didn’t stop Dorothy and George from continuing their relationship via correspondence. They saw each other in early November, before George left with his parents on vacation.
Reporters theorized that Dorothy had simply run off to marry the man she loved.
George has been sent a telegram on December 16th from the Arnolds. They had tracked him down in Florence, Italy, and asked if he knew anything about Dorothy’s disappearance. George sent a return telegram denying any knowledge of her whereabouts. He hadn’t even known that she was missing.
Prior to Francis holding the press conference to announce the disappearance of his daughter, Dorothy’s mother, Mary, and her brother, John, travelled to Italy, and tracked George down physically. They interrogated him about Dorothy’s disappearance at length on January 16th, but he maintained that he had no idea what had happened to Dorothy.
Mary and John returned to New York City without answers, and feeling frustrated.
A month later, George also returned, and told the press that he fully intended on marrying Dorothy when she was found. Her parents retorted that they would never approve of the marriage.
By this time, news of Dorothy’s disappearance had hit national and international newspapers, with readers impatiently waiting for updates, gossip, and all of the gritty details.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that a veiled woman had visited George in Italy, and hotel clerks firmly believed that the woman was Dorothy. The two had an animated discussion before parting ways. No evidence has ever indicated that this conversation factually took place.
By the end of January, the NYPD lost interest in the case, believing that the spoiled rich girl would return home of her own accord.
The Arnolds believed that Dorothy was dead. Francis held a press conference stating that he believed Dorothy had been attacked and killed on her way home through Central Park, and that her body had then been thrown into the Central Park Reservoir. Francis told reporters that he had two important clues, that would remain private, which indicated that this had been Dorothy’s fate.
The NYPD dismissed this theory, stating that it was impossible. The temperature had hit too low for it to be feasible for Dorothy’s body to have been thrown in the reservoir, as it had entirely frozen solid. The NYPD had searched Central Park, and had not found any indication that foul play had befallen Dorothy there. However, they also stated that their search had occurred over six weeks after Dorothy had gone missing, making it unlikely to find fresh clues there.
To appease the Arnold family, a thorough search of the reservoir was conducted in the spring when it was fully thawed. They did not find any evidence to indicate that Dorothy’s body had been there.
Multiple sightings of Dorothy were reported all across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Mexico. As leads were followed up, none of the sightings panned out.
The Arnolds had also received two ransom notes asking for $5,000 in exchange for Dorothy. They were found to be hoaxes created by opportunists.
In February of 1911, Francis received a postcard with a New York City postmark. The postcard stated “I am safe”, and was signed “Dorothy”. While the handwriting matched Dorothy’s, Francis believed this to be a hoax as well, as the papers had printed samples of Dorothy’s handwriting.
When Francis made his press conference announcing his belief that Dorothy was dead, the NYPD officially stopped their investigation. Francis, who once obsessively had leads tracked, ceased all investigative activity seemingly overnight. While they still looked into reported sightings, nothing came of them.
The disappearance of a socialite was major news, and readers were eager for any bit of information they could get their hands on. As a result, a number of rumours and theories were reported on in the days, weeks, and months following the disappearance of Dorothy Arnold.
The most popular theory was that Dorothy was found to have committed suicide. Dejected by her lack of success as a writer, and her parents’ disapproval of George, she was depressed. She expressed such sentiments in a letter to George. Proponents of theory believe that this could also explain Francis’ sudden change of heart in regards to finding his daughter – he didn’t want the family to face the stigma.
However, there is little evidence to support this theory.
Another popular theory states that Dorothy may have been hiding in Oklahoma.
The rumour stated that her mother, Mary, had sent letters to law enforcement in Oklahoma, informing them that she knew that her daughter was in hiding there. Support for this theory came from the community of Muskogee.
In Muskogee, a lot of talk had gone around about a very particular couple, though few spoke of it outside of the community. Reporters spoke to friends of the couple, who told them that they believed their friend had secretly married Dorothy Arnold, though she had introduced herself as Virginia.
The couple’s friends stated further that their suspicions were greatly heightened when the man leaned over to one of them during a picture show, and asked: “You don’t think my wife is Dorothy Arnold, do you?” The question came seemingly out of nowhere.
The friends also told reporters that the wife, Virginia, often joked about being the real Dorothy Arnold. They all noticed that she bore a striking resemblance to her, and the woman never denied it.
The reporters found the couple, and noted that the man appeared to be nervous as they spoke to him. At one point, the man had told them that his wife’s maiden name had been Arnold, though he quickly backtracked once he realized what he’d said. A maid in the couple’s home also stated that the wife had informed her she was, in fact, the missing Dorothy Arnold.
Trunks belonging to the woman were also found, with a name scratched out of the corner. However, a capital letter A remained visible. The initials JWD had been hastily painted over the scratched out letters. The trunks also had the words New York City printed on the bottom. Though flimsy evidence, the trunks appeared to possibly belong to Dorothy Arnold.
While extremely compelling, there was very little substantial evidence to prove this theory true.
Another extremely popular rumour was that Dorothy had been the victim of a botched abortion, and then secretly buried or cremated.
In 1916, a clinic run by Dr. C. C. Meredith, known in Pennsylvania as “The House of Mystery”, was raided by police. Dr. H. E. Lutz testified that Dorothy had gone to the clinic to seek an abortion, and had succumbed to complications.
The Arnold family never gave this theory any form of credence, and vehemently denied that Dorothy would have engaged in activity that would have allowed her to become pregnant.
In April of 1916, Edward Glennoris, a convicted felon, confessed that he knew what had happened to Dorothy Arnold.
He claimed that he and an acquaintance of his, “Little Louie” had been paid handsomely to bury the body of a young woman in December of 1910. He claimed with confidence that this woman was Dorothy Arnold.
Glennoris and “Little Louie” met with two, men, a well-dressed wealthy man, and “Doc”, in New Rochelle, New York, and informed that they were to take an unconscious woman in a car to a house in Weehawken, New Jersey.
In the car, “Little Louie” informed Glennoris that the woman in question was Dorothy Arnold. He had been able to recognize her by the signet ring she wore on her left index finger.
The following day, the men were told to “finish the job”. The woman had died, and now they had to take her back to New Rochelle, and bury her.
Glennoris told his story to a prison warden, who repeated it to the proper authorities. When Glennoris was questioned about the story, he stated that he knew nothing about it, and appeared very confused as to why he was being questioned.
Over the years, many people came forward with rumours, stories, and sightings of Dorothy Arnold, though none of them came to fruition.
Francis Arnold died on April 6th, 1922, followed by his wife, Mary, on December 29th, 1928. They went to their graves firmly believing that their daughter was dead.
With no body, and very little evidence, fans of the case are left to speculate over rumours and theories.
Dorothy Arnold disappeared from New York City over 110 years ago. To this day, her disappearance remains one of the New York elite’s greatest mysteries.
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Sources:
The Girl Who Never Came Back – Allen Churchill – American Heritage
New York’s Most Infamous Disappearance – True Crime Edition
The Mysterious Case Of Dorothy Arnold, The Wealthy Socialite Who Vanished In Plain Sight – Natasha Ishak, edited by Leah Silverman – All That’s Interesting
Dorothy Arnold: Frantic Search for Beautiful Heiress – George Pallas – georgepallas.com
BuzzFeed Unsolved – The Impossible Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold
Morbid podcast – Episodes 314 and 315 – The Mysterious Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold
Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold Wikipedia page