The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-11-06
LAPSES OF IDENTITY.
PEOPLE WHO STRANGELY DISAPPEAR
FOR LONG PERIODS.
When They Reappcar to Their Friends,
They Have No Memory of Their Wan
derinSs-Cases of p Tinsmith and q Law
yer Related by DR.. Osborne.

J Iney nave NO hemOrJ Oh 1nelr an
! derings-Cases of n Tinsmith and a Law
yer Related by DR.. Osborne.
A paper entitled People Who Drop
Out CT 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 autho,
says happened to persons and under cir
cumstances well known to him.
The first case was that of a man of
middle age, "in rugged health and free
from any inherited homeopathic faint"
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 a short walk. He stepped into the
street and suddenly disappeared, as if
he had vanished into air.
Although a conspicuous figure in the
town, and although the streets were
CROWDED. no woe coon nv roh1l- u;e
absence continuing, the next day all 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, Civ
ing up all hope of finding a clew to the
mans disappearance.
One day two years later a number of
men were working at their trade in a
tinshop in one of the far southern states.
Suddenly one Of them dropped his work
and olasped his hands to his head.
"My Cool! he cried, looking about
dazedly, where am I? How did T get
here? This isn't my shop! Where am 1:
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 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 incrCdulous. 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 . a trustworthy and
skilled workman, md no further inqui-
ry had been made.
Under a fictitious name" DIR. o.
borne says i'll 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 a dim recollection had
to him Of that fateful Sunday-his
to go out, his promise to return
soon-and then all was a blank. He
had no money, although he had worked
steadily in his shop and had received
good wages. At the last accounts I had
him he was at Chicago, living his
normal life. Somewhat mystified over
his realization of the strange freak in
he figured, although feeling we'll
and apparently in mental balance, he
realizes that be has been the central fig
ure in some ovcrstrange mental phenom-
enon quite mysterious enough to make
him at times doubt his sanity"
DIR. O~sbOcne'S second case he speaks
of thus: A similar case occurred to a
resident Of another town near Philadel-
phla. This man, whom we shall desig-
nate as x. was a lawyer, a prominent
politicians former member Of CON
gress, | believe-a man of fine orator
lcal powers and of brilliant attachments.
'One day he got up from his desk,
leaving his lawbooks open at the pages
he had been consulting, and stepped
outside for a few moments. He disap-
peared. IN due course vigorous search
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.
the slightest clew was obtained.
domestic affairs were we'll known
20 be most happy. He was abstemious
n his habits and more devoted to his
profession than to society. The hue and
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