The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1906-05-11
&c q QUEER FIND. =
Or the Strange Tale Found in the Depths
Of Lake Weir.

was
at first it seemed a joke and won
dered if 1 had attended a banquet, in
dulged too freely and some of my
friends had put me TO bed: and then
1.-THE thought came to me who were
lmy friends? Suddenly, like an ava
,lanche. crushing my very soul within
lme-like the dark shadow OF the
wings of the Angel of Death-it came
upon me that my past was a blank.
that my memory was gone, From out
the dim shadow of the past / could
make no single ray of light, and
strong man as / was, I sobbed aloud,
Lost! Lost! Lost! No home. no friends
no name. My God, what is To become
lof me?'"
with this exception-this entire alb
lsence of all recollection of my past,
even my name, concluded after lit
tie that my mental faculties were
otherwise sound, that l could reason
logically and clearly enough to fear
that should / acknowledge that l did
mot know even my own name. might
be judged an escaped lunatic. So
Isummoning all my courage and reso-
Tuition / arose and walked across the
room to the dresser which contained a
large mirror; to my JOY found myself
gazing upon what seemed a familiar
face and figure. / even gravely re-
marked to the reflection. An, yes, old
=
lmustache, those brown eyes and that
flair complexion and graceful figure
before. and there is more than some
thing familiar in that smile showing
Iyour white teeth of which you seem
Unfortunately proud. You don't look
ldissapated, and neither would l judge
you To be insane Well, after this
brilliant conversation with myself. |
bethought me of breakfast. for | felt
as if / had undergone a long fast
also thought out or rather tried To think
out plan To conceal the fact that
had lost my identity. for l fully real
lied the embarrassing position il would
put me in should I parade the fact
Something in me seemed 10 revolt at
the idea of making a spectacle of my
self. or an object for the idle curiosi-
" of Others. and ! resolved 10 keep
my own counsel and work out the So
luton of the mystery myself
with these thoughts filling my
mind. made my ablutionS.
picked up the trousers where
had thrown them and began
my toilet. l found that the whole
suit fitted me perfectly and felt al
once | had worn it before
One discovery | made puzzled me
even more than my lost self When
brushing my hair / felt an unusually
tender spot. half way between the
brow and the crown of my head.
Placing my fingers on the spot l felt
ia long shallow trench across my skull. |
Jas if the scar of a recently healed /,
wound. but struggle as | would Il
could no more tell how / came by the !
wound than could recall any other Of |
the events of my past life.
II occurred 10 me 10 search my |
clothes. and for a moment the joy |
ful thought came to me- Now you'll |
find something. some object that must |
recall your fieeting memory: |
Alas, nothing rewarded my search !
that would throw any light upon the
gloom of this living grave Of my bur |
led self. In the hip pocket Of the |
trousers | wore | found a pocket book. /
IL. like the clothes. was entirely new. /
Il. &c
opened il and found. only the following |
articles:
One note for $500 issued by the |
Chemical National Bank. OF New York |
City. Two fifty dollar gold certificates |
three five dollar silver certificates and |
five one hundred dollar treasury notes |
eleven hundred and fifteen dollars /
in all-nOthing whatever To give me |
"a clew as 10 whom l was.
Il then turned inside out all the |
pockets of the coat and vest and was /
rewarded. by finding in one of the
vest pockets a card bearing this le-
gend. John Smith There was no adj I
dress. nothing save those two words.
and they brought Ia my mind only
'he certainty that this was not my
name. although the first name. John I
had so familiar sound that / kept
.repeising 1t over and over. John .
John. John who?' but il was all use
less and only brought me back 10 the
sad recollection thar | was lost. In
another of the vest pockets found
small key. which perfectly fitted the .
Satchel. and noV. thought l. surely .
u md some clew here. Vain hope. 4
the Satchel only contained such ar
ticies of a gentlenan's attire usually
carried in that way and they bore no,
the slightest mark Of Identification
and We're APPARENTLY new
Giving up the idea of finding
out anything of myself in my room. .
finished my toilet and sallia3 /