, 1884-03-09
INsoMN1A's VICTIMS.
How the Busy Life on Wall Street
Murders Sleep
New York Lawyers. Brokers and
Merchants Who walk the streets
OF Brooklyn At Nixht--Remi-
OF n Failure.


~ in VI " N4AbRb CAuh
for said a Brooklyn policeman a few nights
ago. The officer was a tall, broad shouldered
man, perhaps a little grur In his manner, for
he was a ~patrolman in a "badn precinct,
where voice and facial expression soft and
gentle arc not often needed. Yet withal he
was a man for whom the expression, 1Be-
meath this rude exterior" etc, might well DO
suited. He called the reporters attention to
a man closely mnfied in a heavy overcoat
who was disappearing in the darkness down
the street. Tn officer tried the knob OF a
storo-dcor, and then, In answer TO a look Of
inquiry, continned:
II was thinking when l spoke of something
that every policeman on night patrol must
nave noticed In Brooklyn. / refer 10 the
number Of people who are seen wandering
about the city at night 1t has been a study
to me ever since | came ON the force, and as
l said before it's one OF those things / can't
account for. I've been on duty in this city
for nearly seventeen years, and in five differ
emit precincts. During that time I've en-
deavored to solve the problem Of night
walkers, but without success. Some peculi-
arities Of that class have come under my
notice as a policeman, and l will tell you
what I've learned.
Brooklyn, they say, is the bedroom of
New York. Well, to a certain extent 1t is,
but besides IL is a midnight promenade for
citizens who have little use for a bedroom
4When l was on duty in the Fourth pre-
cinct several years ago, / met a man about
IS years old one morning. He was coming
up Clinton avenue and l was standing on the
corner OF De-Kalb. / paid no particular at
tention to him, but 1 do remember, now l
think OF it, that his head was bent forward
so that his chin rested upon his breast As
he passed me very slowly / saw that he was
Wnfrfa1 Qaid tn rnvaalf m 10 ba Ho~oan.d tho
street: He's boon caught in some game over
in New York and tho lads have soaked him.
Two nights Afterwards / met him
again. He was coming down the same
street. He hadn't been drinking. When l
stopped him he looked up rather suddenly,
and he gave me a card. After 1 had read
his name and found that he was one OF the
partners in a wholesale establishment on
Broadway, over in the city, he said: MY
business or something, 1 don't know what 1t
is, keeps me awake nearly every night
When l go to bed early in the evening l do
nothing but roll and toss about, and when
1 retire at midnight or later it's just the
same. l don't sleep more than one night a
week on an average, and SO 1 come over to
Brooklyn, where very few people know me,
and walk about until / think I'm tired
enough to drop off through exhaustion Some
nights l can go home after a couple OF hours
walk and 60 to sleep and other nights 1t Is
impossible to get Il wink"
"rhat man who went around the corner, Ia
he the same manf" asked the reporter.
"Yes, sir; but-let's see, four and 1--WE are
nine-yes, 1 first saw him in 1875, and that's
nine years ago. Changedl Why I've never
seen a man grow old so fast in all my life.
Whom l first met him he had been in business
Eve years. His hair was black and he
couldn' have been more than IS years old. l
remember that's what 1 thought he was at
the time. But now / shouldn't know him IL
1 didn't meet him nearly every week. His
face has grown haggard and his hair and
beard are as gray as a rat
snow from learning a little Of his history l
have made It a point to look into this subject
of night-walking, and it's astonishing the
number of men VIII allow the cares Of bust
ness to worry them 30 that sleep Is the
furthest thing from their minds at night. l
could point out not less thnn forty men
some Of EN- are lawyers, others are In Wall
street and still others are merchandise you
were only on post with me for n week.
The business they transact during tho
day is all gone over with again at
night by those active brains and in.
somnia Is the result. There was a failure down
in Wall street not long ago, and l sec by the
papers that the man who went under is suf-
fering from mental strain. 1 might have
given the reporters something about that
case, for the man has been q night-walker
for nearly a year. He can't sleep, and en-
several occasions when / have met him at Q,
3 or 4 o'clock in the morning, he has com.
planned about his head and OF the continual
wIvtshS3gcSs biz hu-:.c=, =.cckl, bonds and
even his money caused him. When 1 heard
it l thanked my lucky stars that / was a
Brooklyn policeman at n thousand . year.
Al had a talk with a doctor about this mat
ter a couple OF months ago and he told mo
that this insomnia, l think he called 1t, was
getting TO be a very common complaint. He
was astonished when l told him that / met
men on my post who had come from New
York to find relief for their troubled brains.
or course, there is nothing particular about
Brooklyn that makes a man feel better: but,
you see, it's quiet over here, and a man OF
business doesn't run the risk OF meeting his
business friends at night.