Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-01-08
ROYAL COWLES.
The Man who lost his Identity.
Is he playing 'POssum?.-The
Question answered by his Ply
sician.

my care in the lnflrmary, would feel II
unnecessary after the history you have
already given, were it not for the fact
some doubts appear to be entertained by
some, of his honestly being in the cOndi-
ton claimed. That these impressions
grow out of a want of correct knowledge
of all the facts, we have no doubt; and
as God in his wise providence has seen
fit to cast a veil over the mind of the
man himself, and closed his lips, it ap-
pears but Just, associated with him as
have been for the past year, that l
should defend his character and explain
all that may appear doubtful in his case.
If he is not in the state of mind he
claims he is, then necessarily he becomes
a hypocrite and cowardly deceiver
because, perhaps, business matters and
domestic matters may not be just agree
able, he would cowardly and meanly
turn his back on family, business and
honor; leave an aged mother, dear y
loved daughter and affcctiouate sister,
and ''hide" in an liiIirhiary among the
vile and low that necessarily congregate
there. As the most abundant proof ex-
lists that in Cleveland he was known
and respected very highly, well connect
ed, and without single blot on his hon.
Orable name-such a charge falls from
its owu weight. Then the 'hiding' the
ory will not stand, because the circum-
stances all show it untrue. To leave
home deliberately, intending to "keep
out of sight" and the very next day
bring himself into public notice in a
church full of people, and one day later
while quietly listening to Temperance
lecture, under an insane impulse pass
out into public street and break saloon
windows; then, after passing into the
hands of the officers of the law, persist
in his tale of lost identity and urge on
every effort to determine who he was.
While his friends were publishing his
loss in Cleveland, those interested in his
case were doing all they could in pub
fishing his description, &C., in Bellaire,
to have him found-he assisting then
as he ever did afterwards all such efforts.
Certainly need not detain to prove
his conduct up to this point accounted
for alone upon his suffering from some
of the multiplied forms of insanity. /
request all who doubt, to refer again to
your published accounts of his case up
to this point.
All his conduct while in the Inhrmary
was perfectly in accord with his honesty
and truthfulness.
1t is now known his trouble came on
gradually-was attributed by friends to
About last July, after
he obtained the liberty of eating at
superintendent table, and other marks
of confidence, he began to improve. At
first he reported to me the belief that he
saw in dreams, places and things he knew
that it seemed the clouds were about
breaking-then all was dark us ever. AT
length he knew he did actually have
these momentarily "lucid moments" |
had intended to have had him keep a
written statement of all that transpired
in these seconds of returned memory,
and would doubtless soon have found
his name-or the name of his friends
1t was in one of these experiences he
wrote the note of the 7th of Aug-the on
ly one, as far as Iknow, he did write. No
man could make him believe he did write
this from memory-of course he did be-
cause his intellect tells him it is his
writing This was sent back--the ad-
dress on the letter-to the postmaster
here, with the statement it was believed
to have been written by a man by the
name of Cowles who mysteriously disap-
peared from Cleveland, and was sup
posed to be either in or about the East
Richland postoffice. The postmaster's
inquiries being for Royal Cowles-of
course no one knew him. The note,
when viewed in the light of all the facts,
is perfectly consistent with Ralph's hon
or and honesty. Being in his own hand
writing undisguised, it is against the
hiding theory. The report he wrote
"waS well and wished to remain where
he was, &c." is untrue; he never wrote
any such thing, nor is it true that the
postmark was blurred by hint was
just as made by p. NJ, indistinct on one
side.
But to avoid making this article too
long, l would just say that in addition to
us all, he was tested in way
that rendered imposture impossible. Mr..
Ransom, the gentleman who came to
take him home, had been intimate with
Mr.. c. for twenty years-entered his
store when a boy and learned the jewel
ry business with him. Mr.. r. had but
an imperfect knowledge of all the facts
in Ralphis case since he left home;
could not believe me when l predicted
he would not be able to recognize him.
He said that was "absurd-that he was
the means-means that
could not fail-that would at once ena-
BILE him to expose and detect any decep-
would not submit to the non-
sense of him pretending not to know
him." After Ralph meeting him as inno-
Gently as child, without one single
spark of recognition, and after an hours
private talk with him, he voluntarily
confessed that what we claimed was
true--that the blank in his memory was
far more profound and much greater
than had even supposed it to be, and to
him was utterly confounding.
have had one letter from Ralph since
he arrived in Cleveland. 1t is in quite
a hopeful strain. He says: "From the
time left you. we kept up an uninter-
rupted interchange of questions and an
swers, he telling me all about myself
and friends, constantly recalling names
and incidents, that gradually seem to be
wearing into a web of feint, confused
and grotesque recollections. He is con-
stantly bombarding my citadel of for
yetfulness with books, papers, tools,
accounts, letters, &c, &C., of |
nine,"* ''and although l have not |
succeeded in recognizing either persons
,r places, familiarity with the situation
seems to be slowly gaining"
He has not yet met his mother or sister.
With reference to his past life he writes
-"My own life, as the main incidents
ire told me, seems like a distant land
cape enveloped in clouds and mist,
which if rolled away would discover
learly familiar view"
l have thus hurriedly ran over this
ase, IN regard TO those parts not already
eported. Some time in the future
'ropose preparing a careful report of
II that is interesting in it. A. H. II.
Robert Quiggin, a passenger con-
uctor on the Cleveland & Pittsburgh
dropped dead at the Union