"The Man Who Forgot His
Name Escapes with Tremens Patient"
(San Francisco Chronicle, January 5, 1902*)
On New Year’s
Eve in San Francisco, 1901, a man did not recall how to get home, his name, his
age, or what he did for a living. Knowing he was in need of help, he took
himself to a police station. Consequently, he was delivered to the insane ward
of the Receiving Hospital. The man eventually maintained that his name was
William Clark, but beyond that “his ideas were disconnected.” As of January 5th, Clark was at
large, having joined forces and escaped with a fellow patient, Robert Paul, who
was suffering a bout of delirium tremens. The great escape took place when
Clark and the other poor wretch were amongst a group of patients being transferred
to the dreaded wards of the City and County Hospital. Taking advantage of the
general activity, having decided that they’d “had enough of strait-jackets and
bitter ‘D.T.’ medicine,” the men hot-footed it away from the crowd. They were
then seen “waving their hands in adieu
from across the street,” which was taken as a greeting of friends from those
who noticed. The article pithily ends with this summation of Clark and his
travails:
“He is now trying to find his way home in company with Paul, who was partially recovered from an attack of an overwrought imagination brought on by a protracted celebration of the Christmas Season. It is argued that possibly what Clark forgets Paul may imagine, and thus succeed in finding Clark’s home.”
It could also be argued that waking up in the New Year with no specific memories of what came before is not such a bad thing, and is maybe even a merciful, blissful tonic—depending on the New Year’s Eve in question. Or, for that matter, not such a bad thing depending on the nature of whatever might have come before. I am inclined to take that view on this disconcertingly bright and sunny San Francisco January 1st.
“He is now trying to find his way home in company with Paul, who was partially recovered from an attack of an overwrought imagination brought on by a protracted celebration of the Christmas Season. It is argued that possibly what Clark forgets Paul may imagine, and thus succeed in finding Clark’s home.”
It could also be argued that waking up in the New Year with no specific memories of what came before is not such a bad thing, and is maybe even a merciful, blissful tonic—depending on the New Year’s Eve in question. Or, for that matter, not such a bad thing depending on the nature of whatever might have come before. I am inclined to take that view on this disconcertingly bright and sunny San Francisco January 1st.
* San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File); Jan 5, 1902; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: San Francisco Chronicle (1865-1922) p. 22; through www.sfpl.org.
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