[Archive of Letters and Documents Relating to the Search for a Missing Man in Yakima, Washington]

[Numerous locations, most notably North Yakima, Wa.; Ann Arbor, Mi.; Burlington, Ia., and Chicago, Il, 1912. Very good.. Approximately 300 manuscript letters and printed documents, plus a half-tone studio photograph of Carson Long, various newspaper clippings and ephemeral items, and assorted business papers. Some chipping to various documents on higher-acid-content paper, but generally a nice collection. Archive of over fifty letters and other documents related to Theodore K. Long, a Chicago lawyer and alderman who bought his alma mater Bloomfield Academy in Pennsylvania and renamed Carson Long Military Academy in memory of his dead son. The present archive is largely concerned with that very event -- the disappearance, search, discovery, and aftermath of the death of Long's son, William Carson Long who went missing in Yakima, Washington in 1912.  Long hired the Pinkertons and made a nationwide search for his son who had moved out to Yakima to work in the lumber business.  The collection contains broadsides from Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, the Chicago Police Department, and even one from Portugal issued during the search for Carson Long, letters from law enforcement officials around the country but specifically out west, correspondence and letters of condolence sent to Theodore Long, and more.

Notably, the archive includes several documents relating to the eventual finding of Carson Long's body.  A newspaper clipping from the April 13, 1912 issue of Spokane's Spokesman Review summarizes the discovery of Carson's remains. Headlined "Carson Long's Body Found Floating in Yakima River," the article reads, in part: "The body of Carson Long, son of Alderman T.K. Long of Chicago, who disappeared from here March 5, was found tonight in the Yakima River, five miles below this city. Both legs and one arm were broken, and it is believed Long was knocked off Pomona Bridge into the river by a train. Nearly $200 and valuable papers were found on the body, eliminating the theory of foul play." A letter to Father Long from Pinkerton's Seattle office, dated the same day, is also present here, among other documents.

The collection is enriched greatly by fifty-or-so letters between father Theodore and son Carson Long emanating from several years before the younger's disappearance and death, written from a wide variety of locations, the latter letters authored by Carson while staying at the YMCA in North Yakima, and some on the letterhead of his employer, the Cascade Lumber Company, in the same city. Another poignant moment occurs in one of William's letters to a friend after visiting Carson in Washington: "I have just returned from an extended trip through the lumber regions of the Northwest. At North Yakima I saw Carson, and he seems to be very much contented and happy in his position. All the Cascade Lumber Co people like him, and I believe he is going to get along very well.... North Yakima is a good place for him as it is a complete lumber plant, and does all most everything from the stump to the consumer." The half-tone photograph of Carson present here is very likely the same used for the missing poster and various newspaper reports about the case. A fascinating collection pertaining to the loss of a Chicago alderman's son while working in the lumber industry in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, with insights into contemporary detection and police procedures.