PRETTY GIRL MISSING-Miss Emma Davidson 1904

DAVIDSON

Posted By: cheryl Locher moonen (email)
Date: 11/2/2019 at 19:55:52

Evening times-Republican, Thursday, Jul 07, 1904, Marshalltown, IA, Page: 2

PRETTY GIRL MISSING
~
Emma Davidson, Living Near
Centerville, Disappeared
From Home Monday.
~
CLOTHING FOUND NEAR RIVER
~
Hundreds of People Searching the
Woods and River – Woman Seen Going
Towards Des Moines Disguised as
a Man-Feared She was Enticed
to St. Louis.
~
Special to Times-Republican
Centerville, July 7 – A girl dressed in man’s clothing was seen coming to Centerville Monday evening. She was thought to be Emma Davidson, who disappeared from home. It is believed she was enticed to leave, and was taken to Des Moines or St. Louis. A girl thought to be Miss Davidson took a train here for Udell and went north on the Wabash.
~
Special to Times-Republican
Ottumwa,, July 7 – Pretty Emma Davidson, daughter of W. R. Davidson, a prominent farmer living four miles northeast of Centerville, has disappeared and farmers numbering fully a hundred, are searching in the woods about the Davidson farm for the missing girl.

What has become of the girl know one knows. She was last seen Monday morning when she left her home saying she was going in the woods to gather some ferns.

She did not return home that night but her parents though little of it, believing she was spending the night with some neighbors.

However, when she did not return in the morning a search was instituted and up to date has brought little or nothing to light regarding her whereabouts. Late Tuesday evening, the searchers had found where the girl had gone down the path, in the dense woods leading to the bank of Chariton. Upon following the path to the river bank they found the shoes and stockings worn by the girl when she left home.

As the articles were found close to the river bank, the searchers at once began to drag the river. At the end of several hours’ work, and after the river had been dragged for a mile or more, they had found no trace of the missing girl.

It is supposed that the girl has been murdered by some tramps and her shoes and stockings were placed on the river bank to divert suspicion.

Miss Davidson was a very pretty girl. She was about seventeen years old and had always resided on the farm. Her parents are almost --- with grief over her disappearance.
~~~

CENTERVILLE IS AGITATED
Trail Shows Girl Tried to Avoid
Some One Following.

Special to Times-Republican
Centerville July 7-The town of Centerville is terribly agitated over the disappearance of Emma Davidson, who left her home Monday. All was harmonious at her home and no reason is found to explain her voluntary disappearance. The family is almost distracted. One sister is at home, a brother and married sister live in Centerville and two sisters in Kansas.

The trail of the girl through the woods shows at one point she left the path and took a peculiar course up a ravine and back of some large trees, as if to avoid someone following her. She is a member of a prominent family, her father owning a good farm a mile from where her shoes were found.