A strange worldwide disappearance dominated newspapers and magazines in the first half of 1872. The case drew attention because, whatever the reality, it reads like one of the era’s most bizarre penny dreadfuls. William Blows and Sons was a Birmingham-based gas engineering business.
They worked for Moscow’s gas business. Their Moscow manager was L.R. Bauer, 26, a Russian of German heritage. Bauer was a great worker. He was engaged to a Latvian woman. His life was known to be affluent and trouble-free. Bauer wrote to Blos and Sons on January 12, 1872, saying he was going to England to counsel on a business situation.
On the 25th, he landed in London and met with a Moscow gas business official. That morning, he texted that he was going to take the noon train from Euston to Birmingham, and he was going to be there. A taxi driver afterwards claimed to have brought Bauer at 21:12. But, for unclear reasons, Bauer missed his train. He assured the station porter he’d catch the 3 p.m. train.
He informed Blos of the change of plans via a second telegram from Euston. Bauer DID NOT GET A Eight days later, Blow and his sons received an envelope with two messages, both dated January 27. It was dated February 2 in London. First letter, Sir, Permission has been given to me to write my final words to you, for I will die in a few hours. I joined some folks a few years ago in good faith. Alas! My youth and inexperience had led me into a regrettable miscalculation.
The fact that one of these monsters, in the form of a man, prevented me from leaving London yesterday afternoon surprised me. I had no idea I was being monitored. Having no choice but to do things that my soul despises and that I am incapable of doing, I chose death and will die in a few hours. My heart hurts when I think about my family and my poor child in Russia, but it is inescapable. My destiny is sealed, and I feel calm now. How could I write this otherwise? My baggage, I suppose, has been damaged, so they will work around me.
I am really sorry for the grief that my untimely death will cause you, dear gentleman, but I trust you will excuse me when you see that I am thus cut off from all! It was all there to make me happy. Farewell, dear gentleman. I will not die as a criminal because I have the strength and wisdom to deal with everything that comes my way as a man.
Never again, Bauer, L. The second message simply read “Sir”—the dumb author of the accompanying brief is dead. Our safety stops us from sending your property—some burned papers—we are, sir. “Enough.” Opinions differed on whether these letters were both written by Bauer or by two distinct hands. Nobody knew how to describe what was going on. Bauer’s Russian father evidently took them seriously.
He wrote to the firm’s head, “I’m saddened by his letter to you and the included note, signed “a sufficient number.” It doesn’t seem insane to me. The gang persecution my son mentions in his letter is accurate, since he suffered through it last summer in St. Petersburg before becoming insane and speaking alone. “ Marie Schulze, the man’s fiancée, wrote to Messrs. Blews and stated Bauer was “full of horrible forebodings” when she last saw him before his flight to England.
His last letter to her, dated January 26, “contained serious concerns and worries about a huge coming tragedy.” In May, Blows and Sons sent the press a letter from one of its agents in Brazil. It merely muddled the mystery: Gentlemen, I received your email alerting me of Mr. L. R. Bauer’s disappearance. This awful tragedy has really affected me.
Upon leaving Moscow, he embraced me as no man had ever done before; he promised to write to me immediately in case of any business difficulty; we sketched out how each of us would pull together, how we would not be separated despite living in different hemispheres; and I left satisfied that you had as good and faithful a servant in Bauer as you ever had.
When it became essential to replace me, it was only on the condition that he marry at Christmas, 1871, and then hunt for a magasin with a storeroom underneath or in the back and apartments above it for his occupancy. I knew such an act would put him face to-face with the association, and with a beloved wife and the position your Moscow business provided him, the problem was in his hands.
Mr. Bauer’s youth association with such organizations would not discredit him in the eyes of Moscow’s general governor, and I advised him to make any required appeals, as well as myself. I promised to rush to Moscow if he said the moment had arrived. I frequently reflected on the urgency of marriage among the young guys at the hotel Haldy.
Many will recall my adjurations and may now understand their meaning. Bauer swore he’d marry, and I promised to provide him with a comfortable life through your service. As you can see, I am not shocked he has problems, but I am disappointed they did not happen in Russia. I know of numerous similar groups in London that are totally run and handled there with no repercussions in England.
Many impoverished people die in accidents that are quickly hushed and hardly acknowledged, but not cocky John Bull. Organizations are wonderful in London, but they need more effort in the area to benefit from association. Bauer was significantly less safe in London than in Russia. Foreigners sometimes struggle to comprehend the police’s protecting role; they are only known for their repressive objectives, and foreigners are reluctant to employ them.
When Bauer arrived at Euston for the 12 p.m. train, an agent greeted him. His extreme politeness caused him to balance his head twice or three times and address the agent instead of seeking a seat from the guard and leaving the agent alone. Of course, the agent had a credible reason to hold Bauer, and Bauer’s life was on the line in the first minute of the assault. It was game over.
His only hope was to keep moving forward. But I’ve seen him in Moscow, listening to strangers’ applications. This is a tendency I have avoided both at home and abroad. It’s risky in a thousand ways. The 27th January letter is quite Bauer-like. It is unmistakably his work. “My bride,” Russians say to Russians. Bauer always said “my girl” to my wife and me, but you have the original and can check the handwriting. If I were in England, I could easily determine if he had really been dissatisfied with his affiliation, but I am not.
Because I don’t think London would do anything more than send the man to Paris or Russia for a hearing, I don’t think he’ll be satisfied. The telegraph indicates prospective defalcations. My position is that this is not true. The money he had was worthless to him.
When I think about temptations like this, I know that I’m better than them. I’m sure that Bauer didn’t see the appeal of London. I am convinced that Messrs. Laidlaw and the son’s manager will join me in stating that Bauer’s whole connection with him was, as with me, singularly pure. None of these will help you in your quest. That second letter (February 2) suggests he has been tormented by the terror of those monsters being near him and has lost his reason.
He would not, under any circumstances, write the second letter. If he doesn’t write about it, I doubt you’ll find him in England. You’ve lost a wonderful servant, and I’ve lost my best buddy of late. My wife (who urged him to marry her) is stunned. It’s all a bad dream, she says. He would have been safe in England. I anxiously anticipate your further information and will remain, gentlemen, respectfully yours. Jones, James EDW It gets stranger.
One source said that the “gang” Bauer’s father referred to was the so-called “white dove” orthodox cult, which performed voluntary castration as part of their rituals. The skoptsy group of mystical eunuchs had gained many followers by the time Bauer vanished. Bauer didn’t like the idea of being castrated because he had found a girl he wanted to marry.
The cult members abducted and killed him in retaliation. Was Bauer’s abduction linked to his subversive political connections, as Joseph Jones implied? Or did Bauer merely run away, as some have suggested? Was this apparently happy guy secretly unhappy with his work, life, and planned bride? Did he stage his own abduction and death to reclaim his identity? Is he dead? Others observed his father’s mention of Bauer’s “madness” in 1870.
Did the young man suffer another “madness” episode and drift off in a daze? But, if so, where was he? For weeks, the public speculated about the young Russian’s fate. Eventually, the store vanished from public view. L.R. Bauer vanished.
