On This Date in Minnesota History: April 14

April 14, 1915 – After an eight-day search extending over the entire Northwest, the police found Grace Fuda, 17-year-old girl from Duluth’s Italian colony, at Brainerd, Minn., this evening.

Reports that a girl answering her description had been in Brainerd were verified over the telephone this afternoon by Chief of Police C. H. Troyer, and at 7:15 p.m. F. Fuda, the father, left for Brainerd. After a short search, aided by the Brainerd authorities, he discovered his daughter in a hotel there, and will return to Duluth with her tomorrow afternoon.

Motives for the girl’s flight from home have not been learned by police, as no reports have been received other than that she had been found.

Grace was well known in New Duluth, being the belle of the Italian colony. She left home about noon on April 7, and after visiting a school nearby, went to the New Duluth public library. She left there about four p.m. and was not seen after that.

At the time of her disappearance she was wearing about $100 worth of jewelry, which encouraged a theory of foul play. She is believed to have pawned some of the jewelry to secure money for railroad fare.

After police verified reports of her presence in Brainerd, they learned from Mrs. Fuda that a Northern Pacific time card, with the name Brainerd written along the margin, had been found in the girl’s room the morning after she disappeared.

Waitresses in a Brainerd hotel were attracted by the unusual amount of jewelry worn by the girl, and when reading newspaper accounts of Grace’s disappearance a day or so after she had worked with them, notified the police.

The Duluth Herald; “Girl Found At Brainerd. Grace Fuda Is Returning to Duluth With Her Father.”; April 15, 1915; p. 11.

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