The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-05-25
MANN NOW MISSING
DISAPPEARED MYSTERIoUsLY
FROM GEORGIA INFIRMARY.
THROUGH SCREENED WINDOW.
JUMPED NAKED TEN FEET TO THE
GROUND.

No Irnce or the WOunoeO wan OF
His Body Discovered Up to 3
O'cIock-HOspitnI Employees ana
Police Searched the Grounds and
Observation-Disclosures Had Not Been
out of His cot since He Was Taken
to the Infirmary in Supposed
Dying ConditiOn-Three Hours be-
fore He Disappeared DIR. Barrow
said He Was Holding His own"
Under circumstances so mysterious
and remarkable that any theory ap-
pears absurd, Jabez Mann, the negro
janitor who was shot at the Guards
Armory Thursday night by Mr. r.
Carlton Claghorn, disappeared from
the Georgia Infrmary a few minutes
after y o'clock this morning.
In a nude condition the negro went
through a wire screen window FIVE
feet from the floor of the toilet room
at the eastern end of the ward to the
ground below, a distance of ten feet
A search of the infirmary yard and the
territory surrounding the hospital fail
ed to reveal his dead body and no
trace of him had been found three
hours after he disappeared.
The police learned of the disappear
ance of the negro some time after the
night Waterman, Sam Lee, had made
the discovery and were puzzled to &C
count for it.
From the time the negro was taken
TO the infirmary he had never been out
of his cot Although the physicians
said that he had a fighting chance for
life it was not believed that he would
recover DIR. Craig Barrow. who had
been attending Mann saw him about 8
o'clock and an hour later told Morn
ing News reporter that Mann was
holding his own. At midnight he was
given some medicine and less than ten
minutes afterward he could not be
found anywhere.
The wounded negro occupied the first
cot on the south of the ward and with
in twenty feet of the hospital office.
The toilet room is at the other end of
the ward, distance of about 100 feet.
The matron arrived a few minutes be-
istered the medicine to Mann. The
negros condition was unchanged, and
he was not delirious. The ward man
Lee was engaged at the time in scrub
bling the toilet room through which
Mann disappeared. The toilet is a
private one. and is opposite the one
used by patients in the ward. 1t is on
the south side of the infirmary.
Lee was called from his work to the
Office by the matron and passed the cot
occupied by Mann. He was awake
and had no unusual appearance. Sew
eral of the patients in the ward were
awake. In the office Lee received in
structions from the matron about
Mann's medicine and then accompan-
led the matron to her home just out
side of the infrmary yard and about
fifty yards from the office. Lee said
he returned Immediately to the ward
and not more than five minutes had
passed since he had seen Mann in his
cot.
Where Mann Went Out.
1ite U6SIO warn lildI anu lnG
had to pass within a few feet of the
window through which Mann disap-
peared. Neither saw anything of the
wounded man and neither heard any
noise that attracted their attention
They passed through the gate near the
toilet room window and no one could
have gone Immediately before them or
behind without having been seen. The
breaking of "a wire screen such as was
used in the toilet room would make
noise enough to he heard several yards
away even if the neighborhood were
noisy. Lee said there was no noise in
the hospital.
When Lee returned to the ward he
found Mann's cot empty. The negro
in the next cot told him that Mann
had got out of bed suddenly and run
towards the toilet. He wore only a
night shirt bearing the stamp of the
Georgia Infirmary. Three patients near
the toilet room door saw Mann run in
there and heard a slight noise.
The window Screen Broken.
on the floor of the room by the win
dow and the only opening was in the
piece of the heavy wire screen. The
hole was a large one, but Lee said that
Mann could not have gotten hold of a
knife and cut it, Under the window in
the soft sand there was every evidence
of the fact that somebody had struck
the ground with much force.
No Trace of the Missing Man.
The marks in the ground showed that
they had been made by a persons feet
Only in the one spot was the distur.
lance of the sand visible. A search
under The house failed to show tina;
the ground had been disturbed and nc
trace of Mann could be found. Lee
was impressed with the belief tina
Mann had a death struggle when h,
Jumped from his cot and the Negro
patients were of the same opinion
Just why he stopped r.
discard his night shirt or how he sur.
vived the shock of an encounter witt
the wire screen, were inexplcable. The
negro was not a prisoner, and the DO.
lice had no charges against him.
At 3 o'clock nothing had been dis,
covered around the hospital that tend
ed TO clear up the mystery, and tn,
patrolman on duty in that section o.
the city was still searching for tn,
body OF the negro.