So, I was just kinda drifting the other day, you know? Just clicking around on the internet, lost in those weird corners you end up in when you’re supposed to be doing something else. Not really looking for anything specific, just killing time, if I’m honest.
And then, this name pops up: Grace Humiston. Never heard of her. Not a single bell rang. My first thought was, “Who’s this then?” Sounded kinda old-timey, and I almost clicked away.
But something made me stop. Maybe it was the picture I saw next to the name, or just a random gut feeling. So, I did a quick search. And man, what I found just floored me. This wasn’t just some dusty historical figure. This woman was a force of nature.
My Little Deep Dive
Turns out, Grace Humiston was a lawyer and a detective. Yeah, you heard that right. A female lawyer and detective, way back in the early 1900s. They even called her “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes.” Can you even imagine the guts that took? Back then, women were mostly expected to, I dunno, serve tea or something, not solve crimes and argue in court.
So, my “practice” for the next few hours, and then days, really, became digging into her story. I wasn’t doing proper research, not like for a paper or anything. It was more like I was obsessed. I just kept thinking, “How did she even do it?”
What I found was that she wasn’t just some gimmick. She was the real deal. She took on cases that nobody else wanted, or cases that seemed impossible. Missing persons, especially young women, seemed to be her thing. Stuff that other people probably just shrugged off.
I read about this one case, the Ruth Cruger case. This young girl vanished, and the cops were apparently fumbling it, or worse. Grace stepped in. And she didn’t just sit in an office. She went out, she investigated, she got her hands dirty. She actually found the girl, though it was a tragic ending. But she got answers when no one else could, or would.
My “practice” then shifted. I started trying to put myself in her shoes. Imagine the pushback she must have gotten. The sneers, the disbelief. No fancy tech, no DNA testing, no massive police force backing her up. Just her wits, her determination, and probably a healthy dose of stubbornness.
It made me think about all the times I’ve backed down from something because it seemed too hard, or because I was worried about what people would think. And here was this woman, a century ago, facing down way bigger stuff with way less to work with.
So, my whole “practice” this week, if you can call it that, was just learning about her and letting it sink in. It wasn’t about learning facts and dates. It was about feeling that sense of, “Wow, people can actually do things like this.”
It’s not like I’m suddenly going to become a detective or anything. Let’s be real. I’m still just me, clicking around on the internet. But finding out about Grace Humiston, it was like a little jolt. A reminder that there are these incredible stories out there, stories of people who just refused to give up, who fought for things even when it was a thankless, brutal job.
It kind of made me look at my own small world a bit differently. Maybe be a bit more observant. Maybe question things a bit more. Or at least, try not to be so quick to just give up when things get a little tough.
Yeah, that was my encounter with Grace Humiston. Just a name I stumbled on, but it definitely left a mark. Makes you wonder who else is out there, forgotten, whose story could give you a kick in the pants if you just happened to find it.
