Fall has finally arrived here in the Washington, D.C. area. My work in litigation has kept me blessedly busy and entirely focused over the summer. I have never taken such pleasure in mundane tasks until now. Since the last disturbing email I received (see previous weblog entry), blessedly, I have heard no more of the strange and inexplicable activities around the Potomac area. Until now…
Yesterday, as is my habit every Sunday morning, weather permitting, I was drinking coffee on my patio and reading that weekly tittle-tattle rag, the Potomac Free Press. I consider the stories in it no more than local gossip and one could hardly consider these stories as real, fact based “journalism.” However, I enjoy the weekly crossword puzzle and as many of you have discovered in previous entries, it has exposed a notable event or two in its dubious pages. While reading this “newspaper” I discovered a very curious article about a recent mental health competency hearing in regards to a local prominent dowager. I present you the following article in its entirety:
Yesterday morning, at approximately 10 a.m. Alexandria police responded to a noise/disorderly conduct complaint in the 200 hundred block of South Washington Street, in Old Town. Pedestrians touring the Lyceum reported an older woman in her fifties arguing loudly with a younger man in his twenties, even hitting him with her purse at one point. The woman, who gave her name as Leslie Towner was heard exclaiming vociferously to the young man, “you are not my son, where is my son???” Responding patrol officers had to physically restrain the agitated woman. The young man who identified himself as Charles Towner, advised police that as of late, his mother had not been acting herself. Apparently, when Ms. Towner heard this statement, she flew into a rage and exclaimed, “I haven’t been acting myself?!? Explain to me how a college dropout, who never had ANY interest in academics, suddenly masters complex principles of physics and strange forms of geometry!”
At this point, due to her instability and at her son’s insistences for his mother’s mental health, Ms. Towner was taken into custody by Alexandria Police. Ms. Towner was taken before a local magistrate at the old Alexandria court house off of King Street. A competency hearing was held to determine whether Ms. Towner should be hospitalized involuntary. Ms. Towner is the widow of the late William E. Towner, the former owner of the hugely successful Chesapeake Clam Cake restaurant chain.
During this hearing, Ms. Towner and her son, Charles gave testimony before the court. Ms. Towner explicated:
I remember very vividly the change in my son occurred two months ago. You see my son has always been very social and outgoing, to the detriment of his academics. Scholastic pursuits just did not seem to interest him in the least; he preferred to search for the next thrill instead. Charles WAS always the life of the party, when his father was alive it drove him crazy. Charles would go out with his friends to various parties and not return until late in the morning, where he would then precede to spend all day in bed until sundown. However, since he was our only child we indulged him and allowed him his hedonistic pursuits, even when he was asked to leave American University after only two semesters.
Suddenly, everything changed, at first I thought it was wonderful that Charles had decided to mature and take up a more responsible hobby. Charles stopped spending time with friends, refused all party invitations; instead he would spend hours at the Library of Congress or the libraries of the various universities in the area. Charles became a complete introvert. He would shut himself up in his studio apartment above the carriage house garage at night. Once while he was out, I sneaked into his apartment, I still had a spare key you see. I couldn’t believe what I found inside!
Almost the entire floor and every available table space, just littered in various books, old texts and astrology maps. Some of these texts were very ancient, I think written in Latin? This explained all the packages we had been receiving from various antique book stores from around the area. Many of these packages were from a Mr. R. Corvino. In addition to the antique texts, Charles had purchased various modern text books on theoretical physics and non-Euclidean geometry. I found piles upon piles of notebooks written in Charles handwriting. The notebooks made no sense! One scrawled word, “Yig” was constantly repeated throughout these notes. Charles appeared to be critiquing these various books and making a record of what he considered the most relevant material and cataloging it for God knows what!
I confronted him that very evening when he returned home. He became enraged and snarled at me for invading his privacy and not to concern myself about “areas which my limited ape mind could never fathom!” Charles never talked like that to me…or anyone! Charles retreated to his apartment, buying and installing new dead bolt locks the very next day. Sometimes at night, if the wind was just right, I could hear something akin to chanting coming from the small apartment. This isn’t my lovely, playful son, this is some sort of monstrous doppelganger!!!!
At this point in the proceedings, Ms. Towner became so upset and emotional that she had to be taken out of the court room. The magistrate asked Charles Towner to testify as to his mother’s accusations.
Charles Towner was calm and reticent when he relayed his version of events. Mr. Towner advised that a few months ago, he had been involved in a car accident, while out with friends. Mr. Towner stated that during the accident he “blacked out and lost track of time for several minutes.” Once he had become re-oriented to time and place, he decided he needed to take life more seriously and pursue areas of knowledge that were vast and unsolved. Charles Towner advised that the chanting his mother heard was a form of Buddhist meditation he had decided to practice and his coolness towards her was simply part of his maturation process as an adult.
A forensic psychiatrist who had been tasked to conduct a clinical assessment of Ms. Towner state of mind by the court testified. It was of the professional opinion of Dr. Deidre Jenkins that Ms. Towner suffered from Delusional Disorder, most likely brought on by the stress of her husband’s recent death. Dr. Jenkins opined that Ms. Towner needed hospitalization in order to be treated properly. At that the magistrate had Ms. Towner involuntarily committed to the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute until she was deemed by staff as being healthy enough to live back in the community and not be a danger to herself or others. Calls by this newspaper to Mr. Charles Towner went unanswered and indeed no one has seen Mr. Towner since his mother was hospitalized. The old Towner manor near Del Ray appears to be abandoned and has now been taken over by Bank of America. Ms. Towner’s health has declined significantly and she is no longer capable of coherent speech…
I found this to be such a fascinating article, if not a bit lurid. It is not every day that an enormously wealthy widow is involuntarily committed and her former errant son goes missing. Of course what really drew my eye was the antique bookseller; it had to be the same Corvino, that peculiar antiquary who absconded in the middle of the night, not long after my visit during the winter. Out of morbid curiosity, I took a stroll down South Washington Street, near the intersection of Duke Street in Old Town Alexandria and took a few pictures of the Lyceum, apparently a favorite place for young Mr. Towner to ruminate. The Lyceum of Alexandria was built in 1839 as a sort of library, lecture hall and private study/reading room for the community. To this day, it still functions as a lecture hall and exhibition museum. More information about this fascinating structure can be found at the museum’s official website: http://oha.alexandriava.gov/lyceum
As always, I have placed some pictures of the exterior of the Lyceum at the beginning of this entry.
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