#205 The Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Society & Culture, History, Documentary, Places & Travel

4.8 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2016

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The young socialite Dorothy Arnold seemingly led a charmed and privileged life. But on December 12, 1910, while running errands in the neighborhood of Madison Square Park, Dorothy Arnold -- simply vanished. In this investigative new podcast, we look at the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, from the mysterious clues left in her fireplace to the suspicious behavior exhibited by her family. This mystery captivated New Yorkers for decades as revelations and twists to the story continued to emerge. As one newspaper described it: "There is general agreement among police officials that the case is in a class by itself." ALSO: What secrets lurk in the infamous Pennsylvania "House of Mystery"? And could a sacred object found in Texas hold the key to solving the crime? www.boweryboyshistory.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0	Episode 205 of the Bowry Boys, the disappearance of Dorothy Arnold.
0:06.6	Hey, it's the Bowry Boys.
0:08.2	Hey.
0:09.3	Support for the Bowry Boys is provided by our listeners.
0:12.9	Join us for as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com slash Bowry Boys.
0:21.6	Hi there, welcome to the Bowry Boys. This is Greg Young.
0:24.5	And this is Tom Myers.
0:25.9	Presenting one of the most famous mysteries in New York City history.
0:30.3	This is the story of Dorothy Arnold, who seemingly vanished from existence on December 12, 1910.
0:38.7	Today we'll be investigating this story, which captivated and intrigued New Yorkers in 1910 and four decades that followed.
0:48.3	It's a mystery that centered around a New York socialite whose life dramatically changed one day,
0:54.6	when she headed off to Midtown on a shopping trip.
0:57.7	Now, many of you have watched mystery television shows, anything from Jessica Fletcher on Murder She Wrote to maybe a little law and order.
1:06.1	So have a little bit of that detective work in the back of your mind while you listen to the show,
1:11.5	because this tale is rife with suspicious figures, you know, acting with rather shadowy motivations.
1:17.1	And of course, we'll be taking our modern detective work and looking back at this story that's over 100 years old.
1:23.3	That's right, we're going back just after the turn of the century, just after the end of the gilded age,
1:30.2	to a city that was rapidly expanding, bursting with new arrivals, yet the city was fixated and captivated on something seemingly criminally afoot in high society.
1:42.1	And they weren't just captivated for a few months.
1:45.3	This story kept in the news for decades and was not just of interest of New Yorkers, but of people around the world.
1:52.3	If anything, I think it's kind of strange that today so little is known or remembered about this case.
1:59.0	And it's interesting because we live in a world of high surveillance today.
	...

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