To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. Griscom urged all whom he met to call him "Junior." When his parents traveled, he invariably accompanied them. They were on par with the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, and the Zwirners of today, and their name was prominently featured in the Social Register, a publication whose origins date back to the 1880s and is considered the definitive guide to New York Citys richest families. George Griscom Jr, Arnold's boyfriend, theorized that she had committed suicide because she was despondent over her failed writing career. In an effort to bring things to a close, Dorothys father said he thought shed been killed and disposed of in the Central Park reservoir not likely, said the police, as the lake was frozen at the time of her disappearance. He was quickly found in Florence, where he admitted receiving on December 16 a cable from John Keith. Or rather, lack thereof. A fourth brother, George, died at the age of 21. IIRC, a New York businessman who had known Dorothy since childhood and knew her family very well, had travelled to Mobile, AL about 6 months to a year after her disappearance. All that I can say is that it has been solved by the department, Police Captain John H. Ayers, the head of the Missing Persons Bureau, told the press. Dorothy came from serious money with direct lines back to Mayflower passengers. Also, no witnesses of an attack came forward. As if lie wished the interview over as soon as possible, he immediately informed the reporters that he believed his dearly beloved daughter dead. She was a woman about town and the belle of too many Uptown balls to count, but to this day, no one could ever figure out whether Dorothy was murdered, kidnapped, or stepped through some kind of inter-dimensional portal. Was it Dorothy herself? Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. Presumably the police department of New York City received one of these circulars, but it stood firmly on protocol, refusing to act in the Dorothy Arnold matter until appealed to directly. No one said she seemed upset though, and it seems strange for herto buy a book before killing herself. She was a niece of a justice of the United States Supreme Court and the daughter of a family so wealthy that she could be called an heiress. Brother of Henry Schwartz Griscom. Some suspected the man had been hired by Griscom, but when investigators searched the attic where Glenmorris said her body had been kept they found nothing. He lives with his parents in a hotel in Pittsburgh, and summers in Nantucket. Well-behaved society girl that she was, Dorothy dared not push the matter further, instead, she followed her fathers advice, and during the next few weeks wrote a short story (ailed Poinsettia Flames, which she dispatched to McCluress , the combination New Yorker-Saturday Evening Post of the day. Instead, she stayed in Boston, where she was met by Junior Griscom, who had arrived the day before and registered at the Hotel Essex. of Luneburg, Province of Hanover, Prussia, came to America 1752. What had, or was going to happen? Still,at some point, had Dorothy lived, would she nothave eventually contacted her family or Griscom? At Fifth Avenue she turned left, and headed downtown. Mrs. Arnold was widely believed to be a semi-invalid who seldom left the residence on Seventy-ninth Street. The disappearance of New York City socialite Dorothy Arnold remains one of the biggest missing persons cases in U.S. history. Or perhaps her family already found her and simply kept her in hiding due to shame. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. But he also discovered that some of the burned papers were letters with foreign post from a man named George Griscom Jr. The discovery of these letters revealed that Arnold and Griscom were in regular communication before she vanished, a communication she continued over her parents' objections. The pair had met when Arnold was still at Bryn Mawr, and Arnold once even lied about visiting an old college friend to meet with Griscom in secret. She was well educated, and graduated with a major in literature from Bryn Mawr College. Soon the newspapers revealed that she and Griscom, whom she presumably met while at Bryn Mawr, had at one time called themselves engaged. Well, without meaning to tarnish the reputation o a girl unable to defend herself, there is the possibility that Dorothy may have been something of a hybrid in the Arnold family. For the most part it was cheerful, feminine, and chatty, but toward the end there appeared an intriguing paragraph: Well, it has come back. That's how Blaine Trump remembered her friend Nina Griscom, the socialite, entrepreneur, model, TV personality, and Town & Country cover girl who died Saturday in New York at age 65 from. Another rumor circulated that she had gotten pregnant and died during a . But who, the world wondered, was the heavily veiled woman? The people she had encountered prior to disappearing said Dorothy seemed to be in good spirits. Instead, he seemed desperately in need of rescuing himself. Make sure that the file is a photo. At least, thats how Francis and Mary felt about the first time Dorothy had disappeared to live with him for a week at a hotel in Pittsburgh. The Arnolds were reluctant to cooperate with police, which led them to clash with investigators and spawned a plethora of conspiracy theories. Just as Mr. Arnold had feared, the case became highly publicized. Dorothys mother, who lived until 1928, never believed her daughter was dead. This may have left a lasting mark on the impressionable Dorothy, becoming her pattern of behavior when disappointed in life and love. Her sudden disappearance shook New York City and beyond. Mrs. Arnold, recounting the episode later, reported that Dorothy had merely answered, No, Mother, dont bother. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. Mr. Arnold much preferred it that way, and vigorously resisted two days of intensive argument before he brought himself to tell the world about Dorothy. At around the same time she was dating George Griscom Jr, a 40-year-old engineer who still lived with his parents. Unfortunately, she wasnt very discreet about it and borrowed the modern-day equivalent of $12,000 in family jewellery to cover her travelling costs, but only pawned them for about $1,500. . Then she made a frightful mistake. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 16 daughters. Not tonight, they said. She hurried away, but on the far corner of Twenty-seventh Street, she turned to wave back a second good-by to Dorothy. Dorothy may have returned with a fierce hatred of them and her empty society life. About six months before, a tipster claimed to have seen her at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-third Street. Record information. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. A hundred years on, the mystery is still waiting to be solved. When a reporter endeavored to tell him over the telephone of the arrival in New York . Your Scrapbook is currently empty. She also had on a long blue coat and carried a black fox muff. Fearing that her disappearance would become a media spectacle and a source of shame for the family, the Arnolds didnt report their daughters disappearance until six weeks after the last time she was seen alive. Repository: Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. On Thanksgiving morning she expressed a desire to remain in bed. Some believe that she may have slipped and fallen on the icy pavement, suffering a concussion that brought on amnesia. This did not happen until January 22, 1911, six weeks after Dorothys disappearance. *Burial confirmed via The Times archive - Deaths column dated March 14, 1938*Engagement confirmed via FamilySearch.org, Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. After her second short story was rejected, Arnold wrote a letter to Griscom expressing her disappointment over her lack of progress as a writer and alluded to suicide, stating, "Well, it [the short story . PA John Denn Griscom b.1808 m. 1839 Margaret . CABLE GARVARMCOM IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING OF HER WHEREABOUTS . She decided that it contained the rejected manuscript of Dorothys second short story, Lotus Leaves. Yet there is nothing to support this assumption. Arnolds uncle was the former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Rufus W. Peckham, and the Arnolds were generally regarded as high-society as one could get. But the mystery was never truly solved. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. His tongue had slipped, and he had been misquoted. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. You have chosen this person to be their own family member. Library of CongressThe disappearance of New York City socialite Dorothy Arnold remains one of the biggest missing persons cases in U.S. history. For Keith and George, suicide was one strong guess, but it was so taboo that the parents wouldnt even consider it. There were three telling discoveries in Dorothys room: recently burnt documents in the fireplace, pamphlets for transatlantic steam liner voyages, and letters with foreign post a trifecta of intrigue if ever there was one. Dorothy Arnold was hardly the madcap, kick-up-her-heels type of girl who might easily get into trouble. Try again later. Was this mothers intuition or wishful thinking? In 1742 his marriage was condemned by Friends as contrary to discipline. Griscom, Jr. (who preferred to be called "Junior") was a 42-year-old engineer who came from a wealthy Pennsylvania family with whom he still lived at the Kenmawr Hotel in Pittsburgh. Why? After mentioning her metaphorical, long road with no turning, she writes, Mother will always think an accident has happened. What accident? On that fateful winter morning in 1910, the official consensus is that Dorothy left 108 East 79th Street to buy a new dress at 11:00am. By the next day the Captain denied that he had ever said this. Despite the New York Police Departments belief that Dorothy Arnold was still alive, her father filed an affidavit stating his belief that she was murdered. /George Griscom Jr./ Ksbb jobb tletk nem lvn, knytelenek voltak felvenni a kapcsolatot Dorothy lltlagos szeretjvel, George Griscom Jr-ral. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. Dorothy's parnets disapproved of the relationship and forbade her to see him. asked the World , tying her story to Andrew Griscoms death. Arnold had fallen out with her father, who refused to let her move out of the house. She may have become pregnant by Griscom. Then, on the afternoon of the twenty-fifth, he called reporters to his office. Could she come to the phone? The one theory to which I have always leaned is that she was kidnapped and made away with in a short time, he told a journalist. The facts of her case are sparse but suggestive of a darker story. Dorothyenjoyed writing, and aspired to become a novelist. The blow of her first story getting rejected from a publishing company was hard enough on her, but the second was unbearable. He also had an electrical cord tied around his neck.