Sadie Trupe of Findlay never found - what became of her?
An 1895 newspaper missing person’s report involving Bluffton and Findlay brings our attention to the following curious story. Reading like a plot of a Sherlock Holmes novel, however, it offers no conclusion.
In 1895 the easiest way one could travel and return from Bluffton to Findlay was on the Lake Erie and Western Railroad. However, the rail connections made the return trip from one town to the next on the same day nearly impossible, adding some confusion to this account.
This story leaves the modern-day reader with several unanswered questions. Viewers may decide for themselves what became of Sadie Trupe.
1895 Bluffton News headline: Something of a mystery
Reprinted from the Findlay Republican
Yesterday morning Mrs. Eliza Moore, of 207 Larkin Street (Findlay), called at the police station to make inquires for her missing daughter, Sadie Trupe.
She stated that her daughter left home last Monday with a woman by the name of Smith and intended to go to Bluffton and return the next day.
Since then the woman said she had not seen anything of her daughter, but had on Saturday received a letter dated at Bluffton and signed by her daughter’s name, Sadie, stating that she was very sick and had been given up to die.
Mrs. Moore went to Bluffton but could find no trace of her daughter. A search in Findlay had also proven fruitless.
Mrs. Moore says the penmanship of the letter she received does not resemble that of her daughter. She was nearly distracted by the mystery surrounding the affair.
Last night the police had learned nothing of the girl’s whereabouts, but it is thought she is in the city (Findlay) somewhere.
The letter was dated at Bluffton, but bore the Findlay postmark.
Reprint from 1895 Bluffton News
