Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-10-31
LAPSES OF IDENTITY.
PEOPLE WHO STRANGELY DISAPPEAR
 FOR LONG PERIODS.

They Have No Memory of Their Wan
 dering.-Cases of a Tinsmith and a Law,
 yer Related by Dr. Osborne
 A paper entitled People Who Drop | Out of Sight" by Dr. A. E. Osborne. | superintendent of a home for children | at Glen Ellen, Cal. was read at a re- | cent meeting of the Medico-Legal so- ciety at the Academy of Medicine, New York. After speaking of mysterious dis ! appearances in general and the usual inability to account for them the paper | gave several instances which the author | says happened to persons and under cir | cumstances well known to him.
 The first case was that of @ man of middle age, ''in rugged health and free from any inherited neuropathic taint." He was a plumber by trade and lived in a town near Philadelphia. He was prosperous and was neither overworked nor the victim of business troubles. His family life was harmonious, and he had no bad habits. The Sunday on which he disappeared he had been in the house all day, reading and playing with his chill dren. About 4 o'clock he got up from the lounge on which he lay, changed his house jacket for an ordinary business coat and told his wife he was going out for short walk. He stepped into the street and suddenly disappeared. as if he had vanished into air.
 Although n conspicuous figure in the town, and although the streets were crowded, he was seen by nobody. His absence continuing, the next day an ex- haustive search was made for him. But nothing could be learned. There was absolutely no trace of him, either in the town or in the surrounding country. In due course the business was disposed of and the family moved to Chicago. giv- ing up all hope of finding a clew to the mans disappearance.
 One day two years later 0 number of men were working at their trade in O tinshop in one of the far southern states Suddenly one of them dropped his work and clasped his hands to his head.
 My Godv' he cried, looking about dazedly, "where am I? How did get here? This isn't my shopl Where am I! What does it mean?''
 His companions were at first disposed to laugh, but when they saw the mans changed expression, the beads of sweat on his brow and his nervous twitchings they knew he was not drunk, but under the influence of some great emotion. They spoke to him, but he insisted that the name they called him by was not his. At last he made his way to the boss of the shop and tried to explain about his family and his business in the north. The boss was incredulous. He knew the man as a wandering tinsmith who had drifted into the town seeking work at his trade and whom he had employed. He had proved to be a trustworthy and skilled workman, and no further inQui- " had been made.
 Under n fictitious name," Dr. Os. borne says in his paper. ''the man had been known to his companions and had been paid He remembered nothing of the past during his period of employ ment, but at last dim recollection had come to him of that fateful Sunday-his rising to go ont, his promise to return soon-and then all was blank. He had no money, although he had worked steadily in his shop and had received good wages. At the last accounts had of him hc was at Chicago, living his normal life Somewhat mystified over his realization of the strange freak in which he figured. although feeling we'll and apparently in mental balance, he realizes that he has been the central fig- ure in some overstrange mental phenom- enon quite mysterious enough to make him at times doubt his sanity"
 Dr. Osborne's second case he speaks of thus: A similar case occurred to c resident of another town near Philadel- phia- This man, whom we shall desig- nate as K, was a lawyer. a prominent politician-a former member of con- gress, I believe-a man of fine orator ical powers and of brilliant attainments.
 ''One day he got up from his desk. leaving his lawbooks open at the pages he had been consulting. and stepped outside for few moments. He disap- peared. In due course vigorous search was instituted, reservoirs and streams were dragged for his body on the pre- sumption that he had committed sui eide, and, in short. all the means that money and influence would put into operation were employed, but in vain. Not. the slightest clew was obtained. His domestic affairs were well known 1 to be most happy. He was abstemious in his habits and more devoted to his profession than to society. The hue and cry of premcditated flight was dispelled by the disordered state of his unlocked desk, over which were scattered paperi and Q mass of unfinished work. His ao counts were all right, and among his papers were found uncashed cheeks amounting to several thousand dollars.
 After several months had passed word came through official channels that X was in Australia and had ap piled to a representative of our govern ment there to establish his identity and procure means for his transportation home. It was some time before his fam fly were fully satisfied of his existence in that farof country under such star tling ircumstances-broken in health penniless and unable to give @ definite account of how he got there.
 TX. finally established his identity His passage money was forwarded, ana in due season he arrived in this ooun try. He went direct to his former home and after O short period for recupera tion took up the practice of his profes sion and was, as he has continued t be up to the last information I have haG of him, his former normal self. How h, had disappeared he was unable to say He knew nothing until he came t himself aboard a steamer nearing aI Australian port"