The Lost Heiress of New York

Dorothy Arnold was a 25-year-old woman who disappeared mysteriously on December 12, 1910, in New York City. She was the daughter of a wealthy perfume importer, Francis Arnold, and had received a great education, graduating from the prestigious Bryn Mawr College for women, where she majored in literature. She was smart, rich, beautiful, and popular in New York's high society. Life was going great for the young woman, that is until the day she vanished without a trace.

On the day of her disappearance, Dorothy left her room around 10:45 am and met her mother in the main hall. She told her mother that she was going shopping to buy a new dress for her 19-year-old sister Marjorie's debutant party. Dorothy's mother suggested going with her daughter to keep her company, but Dorothy refused. She left the family's home in the posh Upper East Side of Manhattan, carrying $25 with her, or about $700 by today's rates. She was dressed well, as was typical of a woman with her social status, and was carrying a large muff purse. She headed west for Fifth Avenue and then down toward Midtown Manhattan. On her way, Dorothy met several acquaintances, who later recalled that she was in a particularly good mood. She even stopped in at a candy store on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 27th Street for a box of chocolates. The clerk at the shop would also recount to detectives that nothing seemed strange about Ms. Arnold's mood or behavior.

At 1 p.m., Dorothy went to Brentano's bookstore, where she bought a collection of funny stories and essays. Upon leaving the shop, she bumped into her friend Gladys King, who was also invited to Marjorie's party. They discussed the event for a while before Gladys excused herself to meet her mom for lunch. Dorothy waved a farewell to Gladys and headed home. She decided to go through Central Park on her way, at least that's what she told her friend. And that was the last time anyone saw Dorothy Arnold.

In the evening of December 12th, Dorothy still hadn't arrived home, but there wasn't any immediate cause for alarm. Dorothy was a grown woman and was out and about taking care of her own errands. Perhaps she was having a hard time finding the perfect dress, or maybe she met up with friends. When she didn't come home that night, her parents figured that she'd stayed at her boyfriend's. They sounded the alarm only when Dorothy hadn't come home by the next evening. They didn't go to the police, though, not yet. Her father didn't want to cause a stir, afraid of damaging his business reputation because of a possible scandal. At that time, it wasn't quite common for a young single woman to date men and not get married. If the press wrote something about it, Mr. Arnold's good name would be ruined. He also suspected that someone could have abducted his daughter to demand a ransom from the well-off family. He didn't want to make things more complicated by giving publicity to the story. Plus, what if that gave other bad guys the idea of kidnapping his other daughter?

Instead, the Arnolds turned to a friend of Dorothy's older brother. John S. Keith was a lawyer who knew the missing girl well and had connections. So the family friend got down to business immediately. Keith interviewed Dorothy's friends, acquaintances, and shop assistants that worked in the young woman's favorite stores. Little by little, he started putting together a detailed account of Dorothy's last day, but there was still no information on what happened to her after she parted ways with her friend. Keith went to all the hospitals and mortuaries in New York and sent requests to nearby cities, but nothing turned up. He also searched Dorothy's room and found only one strange thing: burnt sheets of paper in the fireplace. He couldn't make out the text, but there were some flyers of ships carrying passengers from the U.S to Europe. It looked like this investigation would require more manpower, so Keith recommended the family hire a famous private detective agency called Pinkerton.

Detectives checked passenger lists of all ships that were going to Europe, and their contacts across the Atlantic kept an eye out for a woman arriving by ship and matching Dorothy's description. Again, nothing was found. However, Dorothy's boyfriend, George Griscom Jr, was in Europe at the time. Dorothy had met the 42-year-old Philadelphia native while she was in college. In December 1910, he was on vacation in Florence with his family. Perhaps the pieces of this puzzle are finally falling into place.

Dorothy's parents had always been against her relationship with Griscom, so maybe the two went to Europe to secretly elope. The Arnolds sent a telegram to Griscom asking him what he knew about their daughter's whereabouts. He answered that he knew nothing. This reply didn't satisfy them, so on January 6th, 1911, they sent another telegram, stating that they would go to Europe to search for their daughter. Griscom got wind of their plans and sent a message, saying that he would return to the U.S to help them look for Dorothy. The Pinkerton detectives met Griscom at the pier when he arrived in New York. They questioned him, and he denied having any knowledge of Dorothy's disappearance. However, he seemed evasive, and the detectives found his alibi for the day of Dorothy's disappearance to be weak.

The investigation continued with Griscom as the prime suspect. The Pinkerton detectives searched his apartment and found a letter from Dorothy. It was dated December 11th, the day before she disappeared. In the letter, Dorothy told Griscom that she was unhappy with her life and wanted to leave everything behind and start anew. She asked him to help her disappear and start a new life with him. The detectives believed that Griscom had something to do with Dorothy's disappearance and that the letter was proof.

Despite this, the Pinkerton detectives never found concrete evidence to prove Griscom's guilt. Dorothy Arnold's disappearance remains a mystery to this day. Some say that she died by suicide or was murdered, while others believe she ran away to start a new life. The case has fascinated people for over a century, and many theories have been put forward, but no one knows for sure what happened to Dorothy Arnold on that fateful day in December 1910.