History of the Times Square Ball

Blogger: Amber Lemus

7th Times Square Ball
Photo Credit: Jtalvy, CC0, CC

 The dropping of the ball in Times Square has become a New Years icon. This year will make new history for the Times Square Ball, because it will drop twice. The second time in honor of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. 

Since we have new history being made with the ball drop, I thought it would be fun to explore the origins of the celebration that has become so well-known across the globe as a symbol of New York City and the USA.

The New Years celebration in Times Square had begun in 1904 as a way to celebrate and promote the newly finished headquarters of the New York Times newspaper building. The festivities were a hit, but after a few years of fireworks celebrations, the owner of the New York Times, Adolph Ochs, decided he wanted something bigger. It was the idea of the company's chief electrician to build a "time ball" after seeing one used elsewhere. In 1907, Ochs commissioned the Artkraft Strauss company to construct the ball. A young Russian immigrant by the name of Jacob Starr, built the ball out of iron and wood, then adorned it with one hundred 25-watt bulbs. The finished ball was five feet in diameter and weighed a whopping seven hundred pounds. It thrilled the spectators at the 1907-1908 New Years festivities in Times Square. 

Since then, the ball has been lowered every year, except for 1942 and 1943 due to WWII blackouts.

The Millennial Ball (2000)
Photo by: Hunter Kahn (Public Domain) 

In total, there have been nine versions of the ball:

• The original, built in 1907. 
  
  
• A version made entirely of wrought iron with replaced the original in 1920. 
  
  
• A lighter version made of aluminum replaced the four-hundred pound wrought iron ball in 1950. This version weighed only one-hundred-fifty pounds and remained until the 1980's.
   
• In the 80's, the "I Love New York" advertising campaign had launched, so a new ball with red lights and a green stem to look like an apple was installed and remained from 1981-1988.   
  
  
• After 1988, a more traditional ball with the white lights returned. 
  
  
• In 1995, technological updates were made to the ball to include an aluminum skin, rhinestones, strobes and computer controls. 
  
  
• The birth of a new century in 1999-2000 demanded a new ball. It was completely redesigned, this time a crystal ball with the very latest lighting technology combined with traditional materials. 
  
  
• 2007 brought the 100 year anniversary of the New York Times ball drop, so again, updates were made to the ball. The incandescent bulbs were replaced with LED, which gave the ball color capabilities and increased brightness. This one is known as the Centennial Ball. 
  
  
• The owners of One Times Square were inspired by the beauty of the Centennial Ball to create a permanent one that was visible year-round. This new, permanent version is known as the Big Ball and is made of crystal triangles and over thirty-two-thousand LEDs. It weighs nearly six tons.

The most recent Times Square Ball
Photo By Alex Lozupone - Own work, CC

However, on New Year's Eve, a NEW version of the ball will be revealed, celebrating the 250th birthday of the United States. If the celebration's reputation continues, it will be a spectacle to be seen. 

The notoriety of the ball drop has inspired many kinds of "drops" around the world. Sometimes balls, like in Times Square, and other times cultural objects such as the Bermuda onion. To read more about this, you can check out the Wikipedia page here. 

Have you ever been to the Ball Drop in NYC? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. 

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Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award, Amber Lemus writes enthralling non-fiction for children and adults alike. She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior, so her writing is centered around faith, family and history.

She lives at the foot of the Rocky Mountains with her prince charming and two boys. Between enjoying life as a boy mom, and spinning stories out of soap bubbles, Amber loves to connect with readers and hang out on Goodreads with other bookish peoples.

Amber is a proud member of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. Visit her online at www.AmberLemus.com/ and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!

State Name Origins - Part IV

   By Tiffany Amber Stockton

In August, my post focused on the invention and minor evolution of the sewing machine, showcasing how it revolutionized the clothing industry. You can read last month's post if you missed it.

Today, it's time for the next 10 state name history stories. Aren't you excited? Has your state already been covered? If not, there are only 10 more after this group, so it's certain to be covered soon.

STATE NAMES and their ORIGINS

One thing I found interesting with this list is it's almost a 50/50 split of the state names starting with a letter of the alphabet from either the first half or second half of the 26 letters. Montana is the 26th state out of 50 and the last one with an "M." The remaining 24 states come from the latter half of the alphabet. It would have been fun to see 25 of the states start with letters in the first half of the alphabet and the other 25 from the second half, but we're close!

New Mexico is self-explanatory and based on the Spanish Nuevo Mexico. Although, did you know the Aztecs coined the word Mexihco for their ancient capital?

New York was named for the Duke of York and the future King James II.

North Carolina is named after a monarch, King Charles II, as Carolus is the proper Latin version of Charles.

North Dakota describes the northern land of the Dakota people, but it also means friendly or allies.

Ohio comes from a body of water, this time, the Ohio River. The Seneca Native Americans billed it as a good river.

Oklahoma comes from the Choctaw word meaning "red people."

Oregon has an origin where some scholars point to Algonquin as the source.

Pennsylvania was named after Admiral William Penn, under Charles II. It literally means Penn’s Woods.

Rhode Island has multiple name theories, including the idea that Dutch explorer Adrian Block applied the name Roodt Eylandt, meaning red island, to reflect the red cliffs of the region. Alternatively, it may come from the Greek island of Rhodes.

Tennessee comes from the Cherokee village name ta’nasi, but the meaning is unclear.

And that's all for today. If you're like me and LOVE puzzles, download this PDF for some puzzle challenge fun. You might be able to solve it on your own without reading the rest of the blogs in this set, or you can save it and add to it in future months. :)

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN:

* Which one of these states was the most fascinating to you?

* Do you live in any of the 10 featured states this month? If so, do you have any other unique tidbits about your state?

* What do you think might be the origin of any of the final 10 states?

** This note is for our email readers. Please do not reply via email with any comments. View the blog online and scroll down to the comments section.

Leave answers to these questions or any comments you might have on this post in the comment box below. For those of you who have stuck around this far, I'm sending a FREE autographed book to one person every month from the comments left on each of my blog posts. You never know when your comment will be a winner! Subscribe to comments so you'll know if you've won and need to get me your mailing information.

Come back on the 9th of October for my next foray into historical tidbits to share.

For those interested in my "fictional" life as an author and industry news about other authors, subscribe to my quarterly newsletter. Receive a FREE omitted chapter from my book, A Grand Design, just for subscribing!

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BIO

Tiffany Amber Stockton has been crafting and embellishing stories since childhood, when she was accused of having a very active imagination and cited with talking entirely too much. Today, she has honed those skills to become an award-winning, best-selling author and speaker who is also a professional copywriter/copyeditor. She loves to share life-changing products and ideas with others to help improve their lives in a variety of ways.

She lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, along with their two children and four cats in southeastern Kentucky. In the 20 years she's been a professional writer, she has sold twenty-six (26) books so far and is represented by Tamela Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. You can find her on Facebook and GoodReads.

Amana Village Life – with giveaway -- by Donna Schlachter

The General Store from Wikipedia

Amana Colonies from Wikipedia

The Amana Colonies in Iowa were founded in 1854 by a closed sect of Christians who originally came from Germany. However, after many years of persecution in Europe, they emigrated first to New York, just outside Buffalo. They enjoyed a communal lifestyle, maintaining their commercial and provisional independence as much as possible. The tract of land they purchased in New York was owned by the Colony, and was originally called Ebenezer.

However, the city of Buffalo grew rapidly, and by the early 1850’s, the community was almost surrounded completely. They sent an advisory team west to find new land on which to settle. The decision was made to purchase land near Homestead, Iowa, and six communities were plotted out. A few years later, when the railroad came to Homestead, they purchased the entire town so they could have access to the rail for shipping goods in and out.

Each colony operated under similar rules, and each colony had its own board of elders called the Bruderrath. The Amanites kept themselves to themselves, but occasionally hired an outsider to live and work in their community as need arose. Sometimes this included a blacksmith, laborers, or folks with special skills. Housing was provided to these outsiders, who also ate in the communal kitchens in each colony.

Life was simple in the colonies. Each person had their job to do, and was expected to do it as the entire community relied on them. Laundry was dropped off at each colony’s wash room, where it was cleaned, ironed if need be, then picked up later. The kitchens were ruled by a Kȕchebaas and several helpers, and provided three meals and two snacks per day. There were no cooking facilities in the houses.

Under their original structure, marriage was frowned upon as a weakness of the flesh, but in time they came to understand the need to continue the community, and so permitted marriage. Families lived together until they, too, left home to wed.

They lived a true communal existence, in that nobody owned anything in their own name, including homes or equipment. Any monies earned by sales of products or labor to the outside world were pooled within the community. Each person was given an annual allotment of money, and was expected to spend it within the community store.

Church services were held Sunday morning and every evening, and men sat on one side, women and children on the other. Weddings were held as part of a regular service, and the couple didn’t send invitations. Instead, they traveled from colony to colony to invite folks to the wedding.

When a baby was born, the mother could stay home for two years, at which time the child was enrolled in a care program half days, and the mother returned to work half days. At the age of five, the child began attending school, at which time, the mother returned to work full time. The work and school weeks ran six days a week, with the Sabbath, or day of rest, being the only free day.

Marriage to an outsider was not permitted, and divorce was never an option. If one spouse had a problem with the other, they went to the Bruderrath for advice and counsel.

In 1932, The Great Change, as it is referred to, relaxed many of the rules regarding the way of life, and the communal life was ended. Colonists purchased houses, ran their own businesses, and kept their own profits or salaries. However, the Amana Colonies still exist with many of the original buildings now re-purposed for commercial use. The Great Change also ended the religious aspect of the colonies, propelling them into a secular form of government.

The current colonies enjoy a great tourist trade, and the museum is a treasure-trove of history. If you’re in the area, be sure to stop by! It’s in the neighborhood of Highway 6 and 151, just north of Highway 80 near Iowa City.

Leave a comment and be entered into a drawing for an ebook version of A Nurse for Caleb, as a special pre-release gift.

Welcome sign from Amana Colony website

Resources:

https://amanacolonies.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amana_Colonies



About A Nurse for Caleb (releases September 3, 2020):

In 1868, Tessa, a Mennonite nurse graduates from nursing school and is assigned to the Amana Colonies in Iowa because of her expertise in treating asthma and other breathing problems. As a former student at a women's medical school, she knows more than most about respiratory diseases. She's also had her fair share of heartbreak when, upon her mentor's death, she was forced to abandon her dream of becoming a doctor. Will she be able to use her skills? Or will her gender keep her from helping those who truly need her?

Seth, a widower in Amana, is still nursing a broken heart from his sweetheart's passing two years before. Now raising their invalid son Seth on his own, he wonders why God didn't listen to his prayers for healing for his family. Caleb has been afflicted with the same form of asthma that killed Anna, and Seth stands by helplessly as his son fades away. Can he trust God and trust medicine, or is faith in one mutually exclusive of faith in the other?


About Donna:

Donna writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 30 times in novellas, full-length novels, and non-fiction books. She is a member of ACFW, Writers on the Rock, SinC, Pikes Peak Writers, and CAN; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; ghostwrites; edits; and judges in writing contests. www.HiStoryThruTheAges.com

New York Slave Revolt of 1712

By Michelle Shocklee

I've never been to New York City. It's on my bucket list, but if I never make it there, I won't be heartbroken. Big cities, crowds, and noise just aren't my thing. But just between you and me, as a history nerd, I would love to time-travel to New York City in the 1700s. Not live there, mind you, but take in all the sights and nuances before coming back to my modern comfy home with air conditioning, indoor plumbing, and wifi. One event from that time period, however, is something I would definitely not want to witness. 

After England took over the colony of New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, renaming it in honor of the Duke of York, they began importing more slaves directly from Africa rather than the West Indies. By 1712, the population of New York City was between 6,000 and 8,000 people, of whom approximately 1,000 were enslaved black people working as domestic servants, artisans, dock workers and various skilled laborers. Unlike the sprawling slave plantations of the south where slaves

were somewhat isolated from free people, residents of New York lived in close quarters, even in the city’s early days. That meant in the densely populated city, slaves and free people often worked and lived side-by-side. As one can imagine and sympathize with, resentment among the city’s slaves grew. And as a result of their close proximity, it was much easier for them to communicate with each other. Whispers of rebellion were fed as more and more laws put more and more restrictions on blacks, both slaves and freemen alike.

On the evening of April 6, a group of more than twenty slaves gathered in an orchard on Maiden Lane (near Broadway) in the center of town. Armed with swords, knives, hatchets and guns, the group sought to inspire the city’s slaves to rise up against their masters by staging a dramatic revolt. To gain the attention of the white slave owners, an outhouse was set on fire at the home of Peter Van Tilburg. When the town's residents responded to fight the fire, they were confronted by twenty-three slaves (though reports ran as high as one hundred). They attacked, killing nine people and injuring another six. Some of the panic-stricken residents ran to the fort at Battery Park and alerted governor Robert Hunter who discharged the militia to scour the city for the rioters.

Many of the slaves ran north through a wooded swamp and escaped. Seventy people were rounded up near present day Canal Street and taken into custody, although it is not clear if all had participated in the riot or were simply innocent bystanders. While awaiting trial, six of the black rioters took matters into their own hands and committed suicide. Eventually forty slaves were brought to trial. Eighteen were acquitted, and a few more were pardoned, but the remaining captives suffered greatly for their rebellion. Four were burned alive at the stake. One was tortured and killed by a medieval breaking wheel. Another was chained and starved to death, and thirteen were hanged. Among those who were hanged was a pregnant woman. She was allowed to give birth before she was led to the gallows. Afterwards, harsh rules were enacted to control the black population including restrictions on gathering, gambling, owning weapons, and travel. A high tax was placed on anyone desiring to set his slave free – often much higher than what the slave would bring at auction. This almost guaranteed the perpetual enslavement of African Americans living in New York.

The American Revolution would take place sixty years later. American Patriots would fight for their freedom on the same streets as those brave enslaved men and women fought on in 1712. How very sad that the citizens of our country in those days didn't recognize the injustice of keeping men and women in bondage while at the same time declaring their own freedom and independence. It would be another 153 years before slavery was abolished in the United States.   

Your turn: Have you ever been to New York City? What was your favorite thing to see and do? Did you visit any historical sites? Do tell!!

Michelle Shocklee is the author of several historical novels, including The Women of Rose Hill historical series set on a Texas cotton plantation. Her new time-slip novel set in Nashville will release in September 2020. Married to her college sweetheart and the mother of two grown sons, she makes her home in Tennessee, not far from the historical sites she writes about. Visit her online at www.MichelleShocklee.com.

THE WIDOW OF ROSE HILL

Widowed during the war, Natalie Ellis finds herself solely responsible for Rose Hill plantation. When Union troops arrive with a proclamation freeing the slaves, all seems lost. In order to save her son’s inheritance she strikes a deal with the arrogant, albeit handsome, Colonel Maish. In exchange for use of her family’s property, the army will provide workers to bring in her cotton crop. But as her admiration for the colonel grows, a shocking secret is uncovered. Can she trust him with her heart and her young, fatherless son?

https://www.amazon.com/Michelle-Shocklee/e/B01MYD4TRE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1486004955&sr=8-1

New York Symphony Debuts!

By Tiffany Amber Stockton

Last month, I shared about the history of the telephone and the amazing transformations it has taken in just a little over 100 years. If you missed that post, you can read it here: https://www.hhhistory.com/2018/10/the-dawn-of-telephone.html.

Now, let's go from our vocal instruments to the crafted instruments of music.

* * * * *

The New York Symphony Orchestra

The Apollo on lower Broadway

Also known as the New York Philharmonic, this orchestra is the oldest American symphony orchestra and one of the oldest in the world. When I was nine, I held my very first violin in my hands and began what would become a twelve-year career as violinist. By high school, I achieved the high honor of "first chair" and was given several solos. My violin traveled with me to college where I continued to take lessons and practice, but I never again played with an orchestra after my Junior year.

I kept my violin for another twenty years, though, and I even brought it out from its case to play a few songs for my husband and children. Last year, my beautiful violin and I finally parted ways as I sold it to a young girl just getting started with her own playing. Passing the torch, I guess it's called. The smile on that girl's face when she received the violin with the case for her birthday warmed my heart. I know that instrument is being loved and honored and still making beautiful music.

There are definite times when I miss playing, but my love of classical music has never dwindled. Those renowned performers of days gone by still inspire today, and I am sure they also treasured the instruments they played, passing them down to the next generation to keep the music alive.

Ureli Corelli Hill

The New York Philharmonic was founded in 1842 by the American conductor Ureli Corelli Hill. It was then called the Philharmonic Society of New York and existed with the purpose of, "the advancement of instrumental music." The first concert of the Philharmonic Society took place in the Apollo Rooms on lower Broadway before an audience of 600. The concert opened with Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, led by Hill himself.

Two other conductors led parts of the eclectic, three-hour program, which included chamber music and several operatic selections with a leading singer of the day. The musicians operated as a cooperative society, deciding by a majority vote such issues as who would become a member, which music would be performed and who among them would conduct. At the end of the season, the players would divide any proceeds among themselves.

Carnegie Hall

In 1878, the Symphony Society of New York became a rival to the New York Philharmonic and they both continued performances around the city for the next thirteen years. It was then that Walter Damrosch (the conductor of the Symphony Society) convinced Andrew Carnegie that New York needed a first-class concert hall. On May 5, 1891, both Walter and Russian composer Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted at the inaugural concert of the city's new Music Hall, which in a few years would be renamed for its primary benefactor, Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie Hall would remain the orchestra's home until 1962.

On board S.S. de Grasse / European tour

In 1909, to ensure the financial stability of the Philharmonic, a group of wealthy New Yorkers formed the Guarantors Committee and changed the Orchestra's organization from a musician-operated cooperative to a corporate management structure. The Guarantors were responsible for bringing Gustav Mahler to the Philharmonic as principal conductor and expanding the season from 18 concerts to 54, which included a tour of New England. Under Mahler, the season expanded, musicians' salaries were guaranteed, the scope of operations broadened, and the 20th-century orchestra was created.

Twenty years later, the Philharmonic merged with the Symphony Society, bringing the two biggest orchestras in the city together and consolidating extraordinary financial and musical resources. In 1930, the present conductor led the Symphony on a tour to Europe, bringing about immediate international fame. A few years later, nationwide radio broadcasts began. The orchestra was first heard on CBS direct from Carnegie Hall, and those broadcasts would continue uninterrupted for the next thirty-eight years.

Bernstein / Televised performance

Program from Bernstein's debut

In 1943, Leonard Bernstein made his spectacular and memorable debut with the Philharmonic as a substitute, but wasn't appointed Director until 1957, a position he held for the next eleven years. He is one of the most famous conductors and worked hard to continue the orchestra's recognition. From that point forward, several tours abroad occurred, and the orchestra also began appearing on television, with award-winning programming and performances that reached across the country.

On May 5, 2010, the New York Philharmonic performed its 15,000th concert, a milestone unmatched by any other symphony orchestra in the world. It is without a doubt leaving a legacy transcending multiple generations.

* * * * *

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN:

* Have you ever attended a symphony performance? Where?

* Did you play an orchestra instrument as a child or have you as an adult? What is/was it?

* Do you listen to or enjoy classical music? Who is your favorite composer?

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BIO

Tiffany Amber Stockton has been crafting and embellishing stories since childhood, when she was accused of having a very active imagination and cited with talking entirely too much. Today, she has honed those childhood skills to become an author and speaker who also works as a force for literacy as an educational consultant with Usborne Books. On the side, she dabbles in the health & wellness and personal development industry, helping others become their best from the inside out.

She lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, along with their two children and two dogs: Nova, a Shiba-Inu/Chihuahua mix and Nugget a Corgi/Chihuahua mix, in Colorado. She has sold twenty (21) books so far and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads, and LinkedIn.

Where's Dorothy?

Socialite Dorothy Arnold had everything going for her, or so it would seem.

In 1910, the wealthy young woman went shopping on Fifth Avenue in New York City, ostensibly to buy a new dress for her younger sister’s debut ball. She was never seen again.

Dorothy was the daughter of perfume importer Francis Arnold, and she was the niece of Supreme Court Justice Rufus Wheeler Peckham. Her family moved in the highest circles of society. She had a monthly allowance of $100, which was quite a lot in 1910--about $2,500 in today's money. The day

Photo of Dorothy Arnold widely circulated after she disappeared

.

before, she had withdrawn $36 from her account and met some girlfriends for lunch.

Dorothy walked a lot, and the day she disappeared was no exception. From her parents’ home on East 79th Street in Manhattan, she walked about twenty blocks to a candy shop, where she bought a small box of chocolates and took it with her. Then she walked another distance down Fifth Avenue and stopped at a bookstore, Brentano’s, where she was known as a frequent customer. She purchased a book and left.

Just outside the bookshop, she ran into a friend, Gladys King. Gladys had been invited to Dorothy’s sister’s debut, and she was carrying her response card for the event and gave it to Dorothy, joking about the postage she had saved by running into her. They chatted for a few minutes, and Gladys said she was late for a luncheon engagement.

At this point, Dorothy left her and crossed the street. Gladys later said she’d told her that she intended to walk home through Central Park. Gladys set off on her way. At the corner, she looked back and waved. No one ever admitted seeing Dorothy alive again.

When she failed to return home by dinnertime that evening, Dorothy’s parents and siblings were alarmed. They made some discreet telephone calls to friends, but no one could tell them where their daughter was. Being upper-crust social denizens, they didn’t want any publicity. They were worried, but they weren’t ready to involve the police.

Instead, they asked the family lawyer to make some inquiries. When he turned up nothing substantial, they hired a succession of private detectives. Eventually they even hired Pinkerton detectives and plastered the city with notices bearing a picture of Dorothy, but that wasn’t for six weeks.

Odd, you say, to wait six weeks? A lot of people thought that.  When the news broke in January 1911, the media had a feeding frenzy. Sensational headlines appeared across the country. Mr. Arnold offered a $1,000 reward for information that led to finding her. The police followed up on hundreds of supposed sightings of Dorothy--she was kept drugged in Mexico; she was basking on the beach in Hawaii; she was hiding out in disguise. Dorothy seemed to be everywhere, and yet she was nowhere.

Due to space constraints I can’t go into all the details of the case, but I’ll share with you a few of the

Dorothy Arnold--public domain photo

theories on what happened to Dorothy Arnold.

1. She was found to have a boyfriend, George Griscom, Jr. Her parents were very strict with Dorothy, even though she was 24. She managed several trysts with George, and had even spent a week with him in Boston a couple of months earlier, while her parents thought she was visiting a girlfriend. Could she have run off with George? George was still in New York and living with his parents, but once Dorothy’s disappearance made the news, he went to Italy with his folks. Dorothy’s mother and brother traveled to Italy in hopes of finding her there with him, but to no avail. All they got was a packet of love letters from Dorothy, which George handed over to them amid insistence that he knew nothing of her whereabouts.

2. Could she have disappeared intentionally, to start a new life on her own? There’s some basis for this idea. Dorothy was an aspiring writer. She had recently written and submitted two stories to McClure’s Magazine, but they had been rejected. Her father later said he burned her manuscripts. She had mentioned to her father that she would like to move to Greenwich Village and take an apartment there and pursue her writing. Her father forbade it. Was Dorothy determined to get out from under Dad’s thumb and live the Bohemian life?

3. Could she have been kidnapped and/or murdered as she walked through Central Park? Possibly. But no ransom demands were ever received. Among the false leads police received were tales of murdered women. When these were followed up, they were found to be hoaxes or concerned other victims, not Dorothy.

4. Could she have committed suicide? This was a popular theory. Although Dorothy appeared cheerful and upbeat to those with whom she spoke that day, including Gladys King, she was known to have been rejected by the magazine, thwarted by her father, and teased about her writing by her family. Her father also made it clear he had “no use” for men like George Griscom, Jr. George was more than a decade older than Dorothy, considered a playboy who lived with his parents and did not work. Francis Arnold didn’t want him courting his daughter. Was all of this enough to put Dorothy in despair? If so, why did nobody say she seemed depressed?

5. Could she have died as the result of surgery? Some speculated that Dorothy had undergone a back-alley abortion and died as a result. Six years after she vanished, a Rhode Island convict claimed he’d been paid $150 back in December 1910 to dig a grave for a wealthy young woman who had died after a “secret operation.” He said a wealthy young man had paid him. Police searched for the grave but never found Dorothy’s remains. Most people concluded the burial story was another hoax.

One thing that has always left people wondering was a sentence Dorothy penned in a note to herself which said something along the lines of “Mother would always think it was an accident.” Was this a foreshadowing of suicide? Of disappearing from her unhappy home life? Or did it refer to something more innocuous, such as the possibility of being published in an upscale magazine? The mystery of Dorothy Arnold’s disappearance remains unsolved. Much more about this case can easily be found online.

My novel The Priority Unit involves the disappearance of a man. To enter a drawing to win this book, comment below and be sure to leave your contact information. Since this is Book 1 in a series, if you’ve already read The Priority Unit, you can choose any later book in the series if you wish.

Susan Page Davis is the author of more than seventy novels and novellas. She’s a two-time winner of the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, and also a winner of the Carol Award and two Will Rogers Medallions, and a finalist in the WILLA Awards and the More Than Magic Contest. A Maine native, she lived for a while in Oregon and now lives in Kentucky. Visit her website at: www.susanpagedavis.com , where you can sign up for her occasional newsletter and read a short story on her romance page.