One of the most extraordinary disappearances of recent times occurred
last week on the Kaiser Wilhelm IL' Mr. Kent Loomis, the brother of the Assistant State Secretary of the United States, was travelling to Paris, carrying a treaty from his Government to the Emperor Menelik, accompanied by a Mr. Ellis, who was going to Abyssinia as representa- tive of an American trading syndicate. Mr. Loomis was last seen by the officers of the vessel about half-past 12 on the morning of Monday, June 20th. At daybreak it was found that he was not on board, and at first it was assumed that he had gone ashore at Plymouth when the vessel stopped there at 2 o'clock. No trace, however, has been found of him in Plymouth. All his luggage remained on board, and it has been ascertained that no passenger without luggage dis- embarked. It appears that Mr. Loomis had entrusted the treaty to his companion, Mr. Ellis, and that the document has been conveyed safely to Paris. The most likely supposi- tion is that he slipped overboard and was drowned before the vessel reached Plymouth, and uncorroborated reports describe the finding of his body on the French coast. Another ex- planation, that he went ashore in a fit of abstraction and was kidnapped, seems untenable in view of the difficulty of avoid- ing notice in the process of disembarkation at Plymouth. Finally, there is the conceivable explanation of foul play on the part of some person on the vessel We confess that this is not likely ; but the steamship company will doubtless, in its own interests, insist on the matter being sifted.
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