Disappearance of Alice Corbett

Alice M. Corbett
Born Alice M. Corbett
1908/1909
Utica, New York
Disappeared November 13, 1925
Northampton, Massachusetts
Status Missing for 92 years and 11 months
Parents
  • James H. Corbett (father)
  • Emma Corbett (mother)

Alice Corbett was a woman who disappeared in 1925 from her residence hall at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Her case remains unsolved.

Background

Born and raised in Utica, NY, Corbett was a junior in good academic standing at the time she disappeared.[1][2]

Early on the morning of Friday, November 13, a fellow student and friend of Corbett's, Jean M. Robeson, was found dead in her dormitory room as a result of accidental asphyxiation by illuminating gas.[1] Later, at about 8 AM, Corbett was observed leaving her room in the Clark House dormitory. When she failed to return later that afternoon, friends entered her quarters and discovered a note in Corbett's handwriting.[1] College officials examined the note and reported that it contained the line “Mother, I am going home” and included content indicating that Corbett was in a “confused” state of mind.[1] Corbett's father showed the note to a physician who determined that she may have been suffering from mental illness at the time she disappeared.[3]

Before her disappearance, Corbett was dating Thomas Sterling, a student at nearby Amherst College. Sterling reported to police that Corbett asked him to buy her poison a week before she disappeared. He refused the request.[4] Police also examined letters exchanged by Corbett and Sterling indicating they had recently quarreled. In December, Sterling was cleared of any involvement in Corbett's disappearance.[5]

Corbett was last seen wearing a dark dress and hat and a distinctive yellow rain slicker. She was believed to be carrying $75 in cash.[4]

Investigation

The day Corbett was reported missing, College staff and students searched the campus. The following day, the Massachusetts State Police and local Boy Scouts conducted ground searches in the area including Mount Tom in nearby Holyoke where Corbett reportedly enjoyed hiking.[1] Corbett's father, James, posted a $500.00 reward for information leading to her discovery and local radio stations in Springfield and Schenectady, NY broadcast her description.[4]

In the weeks that followed, Police investigated numerous reports from witnesses in nearby communities. A druggist believed he saw her on the morning of the 13th and stated that she had inquired about the local trolley schedule. Trolley crews, however stated that no woman resembling Corbett had ridden the line that day.[6] Witnesses in Easthampton and Westfield reported seeing a young woman resembling Corbett who wore a yellow rain slicker.[7] One week after Mt. Tom was searched, a witnesses claimed to have seen Corbett hiking in the area, spurring an additional search of the site.[8]

On November 20, telephone linemen working on Whiting Peak near Mt. Tom reported being held at gunpoint by a young woman resembling Corbett who demanded food and then escaped into the woods.[9]

In early December, a resident came forward claiming to have seen a girl “wearing a yellow slicker” walking down an embankment toward the Connecticut River in Hadley around the time of Corbett's disappearance. Police linked this report with an earlier sighting of a yellow slicker floating on the same area of the river.[10]

On December 13, State Police Detective Joseph V. Daley said he believed Corbett had "wandered away" and was dead.[10]

Widespread publicity of the case also produced false reports and hoaxes. In December 1925, police and newspapers reported receiving "many" crank letters about the case.[11] In March, 1926, a resident of Troy, NY twice tried to collect a reward by claiming a housemaid employed at his boarding house was Corbett.[12][13] In April, a middle-aged woman turned herself in to the police at Cheshire, MA claiming to be Corbett.[14] In May, a message in a bottle purportedly written by Corbett was retrieved from the Connecticut River near Northampton. The note indicated that Corbett was being held captive in caves near Smith's Ferry, MA. While police believed the event to be a hoax, they searched the area but discovered no new evidence.[15]

Searches of urban areas, woodlands, and waterways in Western Massachusetts continued throughout the spring and summer of 1926. In January, James Corbett enlisted the help of a boatman to search the Connecticut River and in July, as canals at various mills in and around Northampton were drained for annual maintenance, a search was made for Corbett's body and clothing.[16][17]

In October 1927, James Corbett renewed search efforts of wilderness areas by publicizing a $1000.00 reward at the opening of hunting season.[18]

Aftermath

Interest in the Corbett case was revived in 1928 when another Smith College student, Frances Smith vanished from her residence on campus on January 13.[19] In March 1929, Smith's body was recovered from the Connecticut River near Longmeadow, MA but no official cause of death was reported.[20]

In 1933, a New York City man confessed to killing Corbett while living in Hadley in 1925. He later recanted and, following an investigation, police dismissed his confession as false.[21]

In 1936, human bones discovered in a shallow grave in Northampton were initially suspected be Corbett but later identified as historic Native American remains.[22]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Smith College Girl Vanishes Strangely". Press and Sun Bulletin. United Press. 14 November 1925.
  2. ↑ "Posses Seek Missing Smith College Girl". The Boston Globe. Associated Press. 16 November 1925.
  3. ↑ "All Clues Fail In Hunt For Missing Utica Girl, Smith College Student". Ithaca Journal. Associated Press. 19 November 1925.
  4. 1 2 3 "Fail in Search for Missing Girl". Boston Globe. 17 November 1925.
  5. ↑ "Exonerate Youth of Complicity in Disappearance of Lost College Girl". Buffalo Courier. Associated Press. 13 December 1925.
  6. ↑ "Search for Smith College Junior". Burlington Free Press. Associated Press. 16 November 1925.
  7. ↑ "Search for Smith Girl Centers in Easthampton". Boston Globe. 17 November 1925.
  8. ↑ "Missing Girl Student Thought Seen on Mt. Tom". Boston Globe. Associated Press. 21 November 1925.
  9. ↑ "Suspect Corbett Girl as "Bandit"". Asbury Park Press. Associated Press. 21 November 1925.
  10. 1 2 "Missing Girl Seen on River's Bank". Buffalo Courier. Associated Press. 14 December 1925.
  11. ↑ "Many Crank Letters About Alice Corbett". Burlington Free Press. Associated Press. 4 December 1925.
  12. ↑ "Alice Corbett Thought in Troy". Oneonta Star. Associated Press. 10 March 1926.
  13. ↑ "Domestic Not Alice Corbett". Boston Globe. Associated Press. 12 March 1926.
  14. ↑ "Tells Queer Tale to State Police". North Adams Transcript. 17 April 1926.
  15. ↑ "Alice Corbett Sends Plea for Help". Buffalo Courier. Associated Press. 2 May 1926.
  16. ↑ "Father Engages River Man to Help Search for Alice Corbett". Fitchburg Sentinel. Associated Press. 21 January 1926.
  17. ↑ "Canals to be Drained in Renewed Search for Missing College Student". Fitchburg Sentinel. Associated Press. 30 July 1926.
  18. ↑ "Again Seek Body of Alice Corbett". Hartford Courant. Associated Press. 20 October 1927.
  19. ↑ "Alice Corbett Mystery Two Years Later". Boston Globe. Associated Press. 16 January 1928.
  20. ↑ "Police Certain Body That of Frances Smith". Press and Sun Bulletin. Associated Press. 30 March 1929.
  21. ↑ "Recants Confession to Murder of Girl". Boston Globe. Associated Press. 25 November 1933.
  22. ↑ "Skeleton Not Alice Corbett's". Fitchburg Sentinel. Associated Press. 31 March 1936.
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