LOST HIS MEMORY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 233, 1 October 1910, Page 17

LOST HIS MEMORY.

*> i MYSTERY OF YOUNG AMERICAN'S IDENTITY. Mystery surrounds the identity of an American who, having lost his memory in London, is now (August 20, says a Home paper) in the union infirmary at Fulham. Early this month he was found wandering ii: Hyde Park in a weak condition. He was taken in hand by the police, who conveyed him on an ambulance to the workhouse inurinary. Here he has remained under treatment ever since. He is a young man, exceedingly well dressed, and 'his clothing and Jewellery gave the impression that he was well connected and of American nationality. The circumstances of his reported temporary return to consciousness were described to a London News Agency representative. His nurse was sitting by his bedside, reading a newspaper reference to a recent wedding of Lord Maidstone and Miss Drexel, the New York millionairess, when the young man's attention seemed to be arrested for the first time since 'his admittance. "Drexel!" he repeated in a dazed condition. "Why, my name's Drexel!" "Surely not," replied the nurse incredulously. "But it is," he insisted, "and my sister has just marsied Lord Maidstone." He is subsequently said to have declared himself to be related to Mr J. A. Drexel, of Grosvenor-square, W., and New York. Impressed by his insistence, a communication was made to the Drexel family, and the man was placed in a separate room. In response to the message. Lord Maidstone visited the infirmary, but could not identify he man, who by this time was again wandering in- his mind. Thinking that there might be a branch of the family which he had Dot heard of, Lord Maidstone cabled to New York, and is said to have received a reply that the young man was not known. His first appearance in London, so far as can be traced, appears to have been at a large hotel near Charing Cross, where he is stated to have taken a room on July -23. Iv the hotel book he is entered as "J. H. Drexel, of New York," and his luggage consists of two handbags. He is credited ■—ifli tli° statement that his er, a wealthy American, had gone to Berlin after having stayed at the Savoy Hotel. Between July 21 and 27, he was not seen at the hotel, but on the 27th he reappeared, and hooked a room for his father, who he alleged was on the point of returning from Berlin. He cashed a cheque with the cashier of the hotel—a cheque which is apparently a sound one—and he borrowed a little money also. At the time of his disappearance his account was unpaid, and his bags had bnen left behind. As nobody turned up to claim the additional rooms, and as he has not so far been identified, the young man's case is one of mystery.