Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1923-04-05
E. R. Nash, Modern
rip Van Wrinkle"
Former Rebecca Citizen After 4 Years
of Lapse of Memory Finds His
Property Gone

ATHENS, Ga.-Georgia can boast
OF her own rip Van Wrinkle" in E.
Nash, now of Athens formerly OF
Rebecca, Ga, who has suffered a
lapse OF memory lasting over period
of four years during which time he
alleges that he has been robbed OF an
estate worth more than $4,000.
Mr.. Nash has employed an attorney
in Athens, who with the aid of govern
ment authorities will make an attempt
to recover the property. A prominent
citizen of Commerce has been named
by the plaintiff as one of the persons
kuilty of squandering his fortune dur
ing the four wears that "he slept"
A very interesting story has been
unearthed in connection with the Geor-
gia Rip Van Wrinkle, and the spell,
which has held him for the past four
years, during which time Mr.. Nash
himself declares that he was dead
to the world
Mr.. Nash has been living with his
sister, Mrs. Joe Little since last June
according to her husband. His lapse
OF memory occurred in August in
NV lolloWHlS oil lillleSS Will typnOlu
fever at his home in Rebecca, a small
town in Turner county.
Since that time Mr.. Nash has been
an inmate in hospitals in Moultrie and
Fitzgerald, Ga, Orlando, White
Springs and Madison, Fla. During
his illness at these hospitals Mr.. Nashs
only son, H. B. Nash, Jr., of Miami,
Fla, acted as his guardian When
he was removed from the hospital, and
as he expressed it, his estate already
gobbled up, his brother-in-law Joe
Little of Athens, was made his guard
ian.
Mr., Nash is a middle-aged man of
stout build, with heavy gray mus
tache and iron gray hair. Considerable
interest has been manifested in his
case around Athens, and it has caused
much talk among all circles of city
life. DR.. A. S Edwards. professor of
OF psychology at the University of
Georgia has become especially inter
eStcd in the case DR.. Edwards says
that the man is suffering from amnesia
which somcti mcs follows serious i'll
ness
With reference to the loss of his
property, variouslv estimated in the
ncighborhood of $4,000, Mr.. Nash
SAID, q have beer told that some of
my property was sold in order to pay
SOME debts that I owed, and the bal
ance vent for 'reinvestment' I made
enough i'll 1o!S to pay off my debts
without having my estate sold while
| was in hospitals"
ITa coil @I.+ 1n1o
about $1,000 and was taken over in
addition to that, all his property, with
the exception of one house in Reb~cca,
Ga, was sold He said that $1,000
insurance policy was collected on the
claim that he had died. and that for
mer bookkeeDer of his I. H. Evans of
Rebecca collected $1,000 from his es-
tate after claiming that he had sold
MIR. Nash so bales of cotton.
Mr. Nash produced an old note book
which showed that before his illness
with the fever he had purchased some
real estate in Commerce from his ia
tier ]. R. Nash, which transaction
he declares, he remembers nothing
about. He said that he purchased this
property since he took notes recorded
IN the little booklet from the. Court
House records.
The property that Mr.. Nash bought
from his father was sold during the
formers illness for $4,000 and Mr..
Nash said, 81 haven't been able to
find the money or where it was re-
invested"
According to Mr. Nash's brother
in..law, Joe Little, of Athens, he was
calm and easy to manage during the
period of his mental oblivion. Gle
could go to places and return with