Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1896-01-18
loss OF IDENTITY.
PEOPLE WHO MYSTERlOUSLY DISAP-
PEAR OR LOSE THEMSELVES.

PEAR OR LOSE THEMSELVES.
Some of Them Walk Out of Home Circles
and Are Never Heard of Again-Aberra-
ton of Mind One of the Causes-Strange
Cases of This Character.
In community of 100000 souls q
man must be great indeed to command
general notice. The young man who
comes from the country, leaving behind
him happy fireside filled with loved
ones and bringing with him only his
fond mothers Bible and few neces-
saries, to try his luck in the city. comes
unheralded, to be quickly swallowed up
i'll a whirlpool of uninterested, selfish
humanity. Humanitarians are the ex-
ception here. He does not fill the ocean,
and the simple drop he represents will
not be missed when he vanishes.
There are thousands of dark corners
i'll great city, and i'll one of these he
may be found dead, with marks of vio-
lence upon him. The coroner's jury may
find a verdict of "killed by some person
unknown" and, unidentified, the poor
boy finds final rest in the pauper's grave,
while the loved ones at home wonder at
his silence that is never broken. The
merciless waters surrounding the town
wash increasingly in and out of dread,
dark hooks i'll black, Shiny places under
piers and ferry slips, and objects are Of
ten found there which loving mothers
and tender sisters should not look upon.
There are resorts i'll the great city from
whence the innocent, unsuspecting
young man is followed by the assassin
There are open places where desperadoes
lie i'll wait for victims and kill without
either mercy or remOrse, and for such
pittance Of plumber that one wonders
that they make the venture. A great
event is but ga nine days wonder" in
great city, for what length of time will
the people bear i'll mind the murder of
an unknown man?
The scenes i'll the thoroughfares are
Kaleidoscope, with instant changes.
The stories of the disappearance and
wanderings of the people are sometimes
sad, but they arc frequently amusing
In many cases alteration of mind is the
cause of disappearance, and while the
whole city is alarmed the object of
search is innocently wandering among
the searchers after him and contributing
to the hue and cry.
Only yesterday l heard of man who
came from the west nine years ago and
found himself in Providence, so dazed
that he lost his identity, and under the
first name that came to his mind start
ed business which he continued with
success there for six years. One day, at
the end of that time, he went to Paw
tucket On business and again lost his
identity. Again he started a new bust
ness and made a success of it for three
years when he remembered his Provi-
dence name and returned there recently
to resume his former occupation.
1t was six years ago, while was liv-
ing in flat with my aged parents, that
IL strange case of alteration of mind
came under my personal notice. 1t illus
trated that the cause may be grief, while
other cases show that business troubles
lead up to it In the first flat lived
physician and his wife, very estimable
lady of some so years, who was also a
practicing physician. Both We're grad
yates of medical colleges and they had
their own patients. 1t may be granted
that the lady was of sound mind and
fair reasoning power. The husband died
very suddenly and for three days the
widow remained inconsolable, lament
ing his unexpected death.
At the end of that time she went out
alone for walk. She walked several
miles up town, as nearly as she after
ward remembered, and then turned to
gohome. But everything seemed strange
to her and she could not decide what
direction to take. She thought of the
recourse that comes to every mystified
person i'll great city and decided to ask
a policeman to set her right. But after
arriving at this conclusion she could not
remember the street or the number of
the street where her home was, and
worse than all she could not recall her
name. She was not addicted to the use
of liquor, as this state of affairs would
indicate, nor was she of a constitution
ally weak intellect
In this dilemma, as she afterward
told me, she wanted to talk to some-
body, just to hear her own voice, and
she stopped the first policeman who
came in view. She recognized the fact
that the officer might think her either
drunk or crazy, but while she had en-
tirely lost both her name and address
from her mind she was perfectly sane
on all other subjects. She asked him,
first, if he knew where she lived. He
stared at her quiZzically at first, SEEM
ing to want to suggest an insane asy-
lum, but her elegant attire and common
sense face rofuted that idea. He simply
remarked That he was us ignorant as
herself Of her address, but was nom
plused when she followed up her first
inquiry by asking him to tell her NAME
1t was too much for the officer. He
laughingly suggested that she should
accompany him to the station house,
where the captain might give her the