Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-03-07
MYSTERIOUS DISCREPANCIES.
Case of Dorothy Arnold Recalls othe1
Instances of People Suddenly Drop
pinq From Sight.

ping From Sight.
Mysterious disappearances such as
the disappearance Of Dorothy Arnold
have alarmed the public and baffled the
police before this; disappearances that
have had in their suddenness apparent
lack of purpose and inexplcability
much in common with the case Of Miss
Arnold. Leaving out Of account the
class of disappearance for their own
convenience, embezzlers, blackmailers
and so forth, there Is still large num-
ber of recorded cases where the sub
jects have dropped out Of sight without
apparent cause or reason, and who
have left behind them untarnished rep
utations and solvent bank accounts.
OF these a small percentage are found
to have met with violence, others have
been victims of a suicidal mania; and
sooner or later a, clew has come to
light which has established the fact.
The dead are often easier to find than
are the living. OF the remaining small
proportion there are on record a num-
ber of carefully authenticated cases
where the subject has been the victim
of a sudden and complete loss Of men,
ory.
This dislocation of memory Is a va
riety of aphasia known as amnesia, and
when the memory Is recurrently lost
and restored, as alternating PERSONAL
ity. The Society for Psychical Re-
search and many eminent psycholo-
gist, among them the late William
James, DR.. Weir Mitchell, DR.. Hodg-
son of Boston, and DR.. A. E. Osborn
of San Francisco, have reported many
cases of alternating personality. Stu
dious efforts are being made to under
stand and to explain the strange type
of mental phenomena exhibited in these
cases; but no one has ever yet given a
clear and comprehensive explanation
Of them. Such cases are by no means
always connected with disappearances,
and exhaustive studies have been made
of types of alternating personality that
have from first to last been carefully
watched by scientists of the first rank.
The variety known as the ambulatory
type, where the patient suddenly loses
all knowledge Of his own identity and
of his past and taken himself off. leav-
ing no trace or clew, is the variety
which the present case calls to popular
interest.
DR.. H. G. Leigh, ST., of Petersburg,
Va, has recorded the case of a mys-
terious disappearance that excited the
popular attention and baffied the police
some twenty years ago. The subject
was a Mr.. K, of q small town in Vir-
gina. At the time of his disappearance
he was so years old, of splendid ply
siaue, in good health and in fairly pros
porous circumstances. He was known
to be a sober, moral and industrious
man, happy and contented in his do
nestle relations. Born and reared in
Virginia, he had conducted business for
twenty years in the town where he re-
sided. Coming north on business trip
to purchase goods for his store in this
city, he remained here for two days,
during which time he transacted a good
deal of business, met his friends and
showed no indication of alteration of
mind.
Starting home by steamship line on
which he was accustomed to travel and
on which he was a well-known passen-
ger he registered and retired to his
stateroom. When the tickets were COL
lected he was missing. He had sudden
ly and mysteriously disappeared. No
one had seen him leave the boat. jump,
or fall overheard. His open valse and
all his clothes were found in his state
room. The room door was open. but
the key had been taken away.
Police ard press looked for him in
vain. Finally investigation was aban-
doned the theory that he was dead was
accepted. and the courts appointed an
administrator for his estate and n
guardian for his children. Six months