Montana Myths and Legends by Lawrence Edward;Ober Michael;

Author:Lawrence, Edward;Ober, Michael; [Lawrence, Ed]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TwoDot
Published: 2016-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Reward poster for missing Whitehead brothers.

Back home in Chicago, Dora Whitehead took up the lengthy campaign to do her part. She was already a grieving widow, having lost her husband just the year before, and had a small but close support group. She telegraphed and wrote letters to Superintendent Charles Kraebel at a frenzied pace. “Together with our many influential friends, [we] are keeping up a persistent effort to aid the authorities in every way,” she wrote. In her many letters back and forth to Kraebel she beseeched him to “follow every possible lead,” often suggesting her own notions. She obtained the serial numbers of the Waltham watches that both boys wore. She provided clothing and boot sizes and descriptions of the personal items the boys had taken on their trip. And she assured Kraebel that the boys “would not have left the well-established trails.” At one point she even shipped several pairs of boots to the park in order to “assist with the footwear needs” of the ground search parties. They were returned.

Also in Chicago, private detective agencies came forth to offer their services if only Dora would “put up some money, say a few hundred dollars, to defray travel expenses.” One man from New Mexico wrote to the park, stating, “This is only to let you know that if you wish to know where this [sic] persons are just let me know if you could pay me $7000.00 first to let you know in what county they are at and if you want me to show them to you just pay my $10.00 ten dollars a day and my board and room and I be willing to go.” Growing tired of all of these bogus inquiries, one park official wrote, “We need more light and fewer attempts to be funny.” But inquiries still trickled in.

Three weeks into the search, Dora Whitehead enlisted the assistance of Louis C. Mowry, family friend and president of the Universal Battery Company where Joseph was employed. He booked passage on the train to Belton (West Glacier) and, upon arrival, began interviewing local business owners, park proprietors, residents of the park and surrounding communities, park employees, and railroad officials. Everyone had an opinion. Mowry became focused on local rumors of a possible murder or kidnapping and pushed his own investigation in that direction. He reported this suspicion to Dora upon his return to Chicago. By now, Dora had fastened onto the idea that foul play had occurred as well, a belief she had held “since the beginning.” On October 14, 1924, she wrote to Interior Secretary F. M. Goodwin, “I feel sure that my two boys were picked up bodily and carried off somewhere, and that they are still alive. And I know that the Government will find them.” She further requested that government officials look into the possibility of the boys being kidnapped or recruited to work in nearby “lumber camps, stills, mining camps or Indian camps.”

All told, more than sixty park personnel were used in the two months immediately following the disappearance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.