March 27, 1913: Mrs. C.H. Hampton, 139 S. Olive St., is a woman with a stretch of bad luck. First her husband died, and then in December the former Mrs. Schwartz married a man named Hampton who talked her into selling most of her property, then deserted her in Bakersfield after spending all the money.
Now her 16-year-old daughter Bearthina is missing and Hampton fears the worst. The girl had been staying at the home of G.L. Peckham, 125 S. Jackson St., in Glendale. Bearthina, a beautiful and usually responsible girl, left there a few days ago without saying where she was going.
“I have been going from one place to another like a wild woman yesterday and today but none of her young friends appear to know anything about her,” Hampton says.
Bearthina has frequently complained of being followed by strange men and seemed worried when she returned from a dance in Venice, The Times says.
I can find nothing further about Bearthina (or Berthina) in The Times, so we can only hope she returned home to mother and did not fall into the clutches of white slavers.
ladailymirror.com 
In the old newspapers, I come across quite a few brief items saying “so-and-so has disappeared,” with, as far as I can tell, no follow-up stories. I’m always left wondering what happened…
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Yes, unfortunately that happens somewhat often. Quite annoying for the researcher!
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Might want to dig up the yard on Jackson St. in Glendale, never know.
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When I visitd Colombia in 1966 I was astounded by the calm manner in which the locals responded, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, to the back pages of the newspapers which were filled by listings of Ninos Perdidos …missing children. Perhaps this is everywhere more common than we think..
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Bet the slavers came in all colors. Not just that boring old white.
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“Bearthina?” No wonder she ran away.
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Larry, as you know, I tend to take your “I can find nothing further . . . ” as a challange. However, I’m not doing well recently. Last week it was F.C. Fredericks, the mad gunman. After an hour of searching, nothing. This week it was Berthena. I did find was a Berthena Swartz in Seattle for the 1900 census. She was born in Missouri in September, 1897. Her father, Henry, was born in Germany and was a gold miner, and mother, Mary, was also born in Missouri. I couldn’t take it any farther, but maybe that spelling will find something in the Times.
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It is difficult to imagine anyone naming their child “Bearthina!” The spelling of names in The Times can be very frustrating. In later years, names were clearly written phonetically because a reporter had called in information to a rewrite man (and virtually all of them were men). The same thing is true with LAPD reports, where they were obviously transcribed from dictation. The newspaper’s use of first initials is equally frustrating, as is its casual reference to “Judge Smith,” “Attorney Jones” and “Doctor Brown,” etc. L.A. was a small town then, so presumably everybody knew everyone but it’s quite a challenge now. As always, thanks for your incomparable research!
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