The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-12-20
NO LONGER A MYSTERY
Young Man Who Lost His
Memory Identified
At the Hos
pital.
WANTED BY THE NEW YORK POLICE
He is Harry Lichheld, and
After Having a Bogus
Fit Acknowledges
His Identity.
WANTED BY THE NEW YORK POLICE

from a strange malady which caused hliii
to lose his identity, has recovered ms
senses-that is, if he ever reahy ios
them. There is little doubt in the minus
of the police that he is an mposter- WIN
his returning memory Of VINO ne IS comes
the recollection of various articles pol-
rowed'' from a friend, without the con
sent of that friend It is a peculiar case
throughout The account OF the yonhs
man which was spread broadcast through.
ont fine county through the medium OF
the newspapers, led to his idehtlileatlon
In all probability the state in which the
Young man was. ON falling into the hands
Of the police, was due to excessive cigar
ette smoking.
He is a cigarette fiend. He may have
had a genuine fiji in the police station. 1t
is probable that he had good and suffl-
cient reasons for not making his identity
known after he became an inmate Of the
city Hospital Possibly he has borrowed
things from more than one friend.
He was identified this morning by Har-
old G. Carpenter. formerly steward on the
Yacht of Commodore Stewart Smith, OIL
the New York Yacht Club but now enl-
ployed on the yacht of II. S. Vanderbilt
of No. 524 West Thirty-fourth street. New
York City. Carpenter recognized the pic
ture that appeared in a morning news
paper as that of Harry Lichfield, friend,
who had been missing for three weeks.
He went to the City Hospital and posi-
lively identified the unknown as Lichfield.
The unknown did not return his greet
ings and declared that he had no recol-
lection of him.
Il don't know you,s he said. DO you
know me?'
sOf course I do,'' replied Carpenter,
..youre Harry Lichfeld ought to know
you seeing that we roomed together for
some time in the Mills Hotel
.sYou have the advantage Of me" per-
sisted Lichfield. what was my business? y
.sOh, come now, . said Carpenter that's
too good. Why, you were correspondent
for the .Boston Herald
Carpenter telephoned Chief Murphy that
he had identified the mysterious young
man. Chief Murphy lost no time in hav-
ing Carpenter and the stranger taken be-
fore him. When in the Chiefs office Car
penter told how he came to know Lich-
field. for he stuck to his identification.
He met him at the home of William
Robertson. mutual friend. some two
months ago. They became very friendly
and were much in each others company.
three weeks ago AT that time Lichfield
disappeared, taking several articles of
clothing belonging to Carpenter. also the
qatter's check book with him. In addition
to that he had borrowed SO from Car
penter and was in his debt for several
other small amounts. Carpenter had not
heard of him until he saw the picture IN
the newspapers this morning.
LiehieId was closely questioned by
Chief Murphy, but continued in his re-
fusal to recognize Carpenter. Chief
Murphy called up Mills Hotel on the tele
phone and got the mail clerk to telephone
him an accurate description of Lichield
as he remembered him. The Chief re-
peated the description aloud so that Lich-
field could hear it.
you see,'' said the Chief when the
clerk was through, "the description tall
lies with your appearance precisely. You
must be LichfeId." The young man be-
gan to show signs of nervousness. He
tried to moisten his lips with his tongue
but the effort was fruitless. Finally he
asked Chief Murphy for q glass of water.
The Chief showed him into his private
Office and gave him drink. He left him
in the inner Office while he questioned
Carpenter in the outer Office
It would take me an hour, said Car
penter ito tell you how he beat me. 1
have Travelled all over the world and have
been running against all sorts of people
ever since was eleven years old, but
this is the first time I was ever buncoed
He was a smooth, plausible taiker and
could convince you on almost any sub
ject. He said he was the correspondent
for the Boston Herald and almost every
night had assignments on the New York
Herald, When / first knew him he was
well dressed. He had a good suit Of
clothes and an overcoat. He was not the
shabby looking fellow he is now. He was
always heavy cigarette smoker. I sell
dom saw him when he did not have a
cigarette in his mouth ] think it pos
sible that he was doped when he came
to Jersey City. would rather stand my
loss than tell all the details of how he
got the best of me-"
Chief Murphy. when he became satis-
fed that the fellow was shamming, went
to him and said:-'gThe time has about
arrived when in such cases the victim re-