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The headline on the Jan. 9, 1914 edition of The San Mateo County Daily News said it all: “Redwood City Schoolgirl Lured Away From Home.”
But the sad story was more complicated than that.
Fifteen-year-old Myrtle Douglas didn’t come home from school and her father George soon believed that her disappearance was connected to the same-day disappearance of Harry Tucker, a 23-year-old married man living in the same boarding house as Myrtle.
The living situations of the principals were strange, to say the least. George and Myrtle lived in Redwood City, although not together. George lived in the family home while he had placed Myrtle in a boarding house nearer to her school. Myrtle’s mother and younger brother lived 90 miles north in Santa Rosa. It’s not clear if the Douglas couple was divorced or estranged or simply living in an unusual arrangement that worked for them. Tucker was married and living in the Redwood City boarding house while his wife lived in a hotel in San Francisco. It is similarly not clear about the status of the Tucker marriage. Tucker worked at a Redwood City market.
It’s unclear when an improper connection between Myrtle and Tucker may have developed, although Myrtle’s brother would later state that during a 1913 Christmas visit to Redwood City he thought that Tucker was too friendly with his sister.
On the day Myrtle went missing, the boarding house landlady was not immediately concerned when Myrtle didn’t show up after school. The landlady presumed that the teenager had stopped to visit with a friend. But when she did not appear that evening, the landlady alerted George, who informed the local night watchman. It was quickly discovered that Tucker was also not at the boarding house. Further investigation showed that Tucker had taken $75 from his employer and subsequently vanished. His wife, when contacted in San Francisco, said that she had no idea where Tucker was and stated that not only did he still owe her money for her rent but that the owner of the hotel where she was living had recently won a $46.45 settlement from Tucker that had not been paid.
When contacted by The Daily News, the landlady stated that Myrtle “…was always a good girl…and I had no idea she was friendly with Tucker… I am told now that the last few weeks, when she told me she was going to bed she didn’t retire at all, but slipped out of the house and came back quietly some time during the night.”
Fortunately, it did not take long for the situation to resolve itself. The day after their disappearances, Myrtle and Tucker were found separately in Santa Rosa. Myrtle was not publicly asked for her version of what had happened, but Tucker tried to convince the newspaper and the police that his being in the same city as Myrtle was a complete coincidence and he had only gone to Santa Rosa in order to find work. He proclaimed not knowing anything about Myrtle or her disappearance.
The Daily News did not believe him, printing a not-so-subtle threat: “Indignation runs high in Redwood City and if Tucker is found to have lured the girl away, the grand jury may be requested to bring an indictment against him for white slavery or some similar charge…” As for punishment, the newspaper opined that the former punitive whipping post would not be “too primitive” to be used in Tucker’s case.
