San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-09-05
LOST HIS MEMORY.
STRANGE CASE OF AN OHIO YOUNG
NAN.
While He Forgot His Parents and Early
Life Did Not Forget His Trade
Restored to Home.

ST. Louis, Sept. 5.-A strange case of
lapse of memory developed when lost
young man, William E. Higgins, was
restored to his father, Elisha E. Hig-
gins, the street railway magnate, of
,Sandusky, Ohio. The young man had
been missing from his home for eleven
months, and it was only by the merest
chance that he was restored to his fam
lily. He is an electrician and has been
employed at a good salary as foreman
at the plant of the Missouri Electric
Light and Power company, at Twen-
tieth and Locust streets. He boarded
at 2027 Pine street. His case is re-
ported by physicians at the Dispensary
as one of the most interesting that
have come under their observation,
The young man is suffering from a
brain affection, the result of an acct
dent. While employed in an electric
light plant at Elyria, o., he was struck
on the head by an insulator, which had
fallen from the ceiling of the power
house. The blow was received on the
skull over the cerebellum. The in
ner plate of the skull was fractured,
and it pressed down upon the memory
center of the brain, obliterating all re-
collections of events in his life prior
and up to the moment of the accident.
The skull proper was not broken. The
young man had remained in an uncon-
scious condition for several weeks. He
was removed to his home in Sandusky,
where he recovered apparently from
the injury. He acted strangely, but
the phycician said that in time he
would be his former self His parents
were greatly concerned about him, and
were preparing to take him east for
expert treatment, when he suddenly
disappeared. No trace of him could
be found Mr.. Higgins, the father,
employed a detective and spent nun
dreds of dollars in the effort to locate
the son.
When the young man arrived here
he was in a weird frame of mind. His
past life was blank. At his board
ing house he told his landlady that he
had been i'll in a hospital in New York
state. He knew nothing about his
parents, home or past life. How he
happened to go to New York state he
could not tell. From there he went
to Cincinnati and then came to st.
Louis, arriving here about six months
ago. The young man had not forgot
ten his profession, and it was not long
till he obtained employment at the
electric light plant at Twentieth and
Locust streets. He told his new ac-
quaintances in st. Louis that he had no
home and had never seen his father,
mother or other relatives. He knew
his name only by papers on his person.
Frequently he told his landlady that
he would give anything If he could
clear up the mystery of his past life.
He had a faint recollection of people
and events prior to his residence in
New York, but not sufficient to enable
him to identify himself.
The disappearance of young Mr..
Higgins from home was advertised all
over Ohio. An electrician who had
worked with him here dropped into
Youngstown, that state, about two
weeks ago, looking for work. He incl
dentally remarked to man in the cleo
trical business that he had worked I'M
der a man named Higgins in St. Louis.
That gentleman remembered the mys-
terry of the electrician who had dis
appeared from Sandusky, and forward
ed the information the tramp" cleo
trician had given him to that city.
The young mans father was notified,
and through the city marshal of San
dusky, George Hilbert, communicated
with Chief of Police Harrigan relative
to his son. The latter made an inves-
tigation, and learned enough to war
rant him in summoning the father to
the city.