Theodore Trautvetter went missing from Warsaw, Illinois in January of 1890. He was eventually found in Kansas. Many of the hard details of his disappearance are unknown. There are a few details of the search for Trautvetter that center on dreams and psychics that are known. There’s something of an irony in that.

The disappearance of Trautvetter came to a happy end when he returned home in February of 1890.

[Warsaw Bulletin, 7 February 1890, page 4]

Theo. Troutvetter wholly dispelled the mystery surrounding his sudden disappearance by returning home last Saturday, accompanied by John Heger, of Pittsburgh, Kan., whither Troutvetter went. Heger was a neighbor of Troutvetter a few years ago; hence Troutvetter’s visit. The latter is possessed of his right mind, and is, perhaps, as glad to get back to see his family as they are to see him. The whole affair is a sensation that could have been easily avoided, but since it has terminated to fortuitously no good can come of any criticism.

The last sentence seems to suggest that there was more (or perhaps less) to this story than stated in the local newspapers. The discussion of his disappearance mentioned several attempts to find him locally, including a reference to a medium.

[Warsaw Bulletin, 24 January 1890, page 4]

Quite a number proceeded to drag the river at a point below where the traces of blood were found but, of course, without success. Those who believe in the mesmeric powers of Dr. Wright were convinced that Troutvetter was murdered on the bridge and his body thrown into the river. There were many others, with no faith is mesmerism, as thus applied, who were satisfied that Troutvetter met with foul play; and if he had, the river offered a convenient repository for the body and the season was opportune for thus shielding the crime for months to come—perhaps forever.

Further reference to Dr. Wright has not been found and while I was curious about why Trautvetter disappeared, I did not research the psychic connection any further. Locals were apparently not the only ones interested in the Trautvetter disappearance. A reference to attempts to find Trautvetter was located in the Louisville Courier-Journal of 26 January 1890. This reference mentioned Jules Raymond “a local spirtualist” of some note” who apparently had a dream or a vision about Trautvetter.

An invisible voice told him to “Look in the river. Drag the river.” This message was intertwined with an apparent metaphor involving grapes and vines. The newspaper indicated that Raymond was at a loss to understand the dream and frankly, I am too.

Raymond apparently discussed his dream with a few local “spiritualistic friends” (perhaps the Dr. Wright mentioned in the Warsaw, Illinois, newspaper) and then went to the authorities. The sloughs and river shore were drug in an attempt to find Trautvetter.

Of course, while Raymond was dreaming and the authorities were dragging, Trautvetter was hanging out in Kansas.

While one may be tempted to shake one’s head at attempts to find Trautvetter through dreams and psychic meanderings, it’s important to remember that his wife, children, and two brothers were probably very concerned about what had happened to him. The Warsaw Bulletin, 24 January 1890, page 4 indicated that his brother George had contacted Dr. Wright in an attempt to locate Theodore.

Newspaper accounts do not mention when Theodore’s Kansas friend realized that his family in Illinois was looking for him.

Why Theodore left has not been determined. The Warsaw Signal doesn’t mention any specifics and the last sentence seems to indicate in a very subtle way that gossip about the matter should stop.

The items from the Louisville Courier-Journal were located on Newspapers.com.