Morning journal and courier., 1884-02-14
Victims of Insomnfa. rE-or +bo Er va xuo-,s

tFrom the New York World
 Its one of those things I can't account for" said Brooklyn policeman a few nights ago. The officer was 8 tall, broad-shouldered man, perhaps little gruff in his manner. for he was patrolman in a ''bad" precinct, where voice and facial expression soft and gentle are not often needed. Yet withsl he was man for whom the expression. Be meath this rude exterior, :" etc., might well be suited. He had called the reporter's atten- tion to man closely muff1ed in heavy over- coat who was disappearing in the darkness down the street. The officer tried the knob of storedoor. and then, in answer to look of inquiry, continued:
 s1 was thinking when spoke of some thing that every policeman on night patrol must have noticed in Brooklyn. 1 refer to the number of people who are seen wander ing about the city at night. It has been study to me ever since came on the force, and as I said bsfors it's one of those things can't account for. I've been on duty in this i city for nearly seventeen years and in five | different precincts. During that time Eve 1 endeavored to solve the problem of night l walkers, but without success. Some pecu- | liarities of that class have come under my mo- | tice as policeman, and will tell you what l I've learned.
 Brooklyn, they say, is the bedroom of New York. We'll, to certain extent it is, but besides ie is a midnight promenade for I l 'When was on duty in the Fourth pre- cinct several years ago met man about thirty-five years old one morning. He was coming up Clinton avenue and I was stand ing on the corner of De Kalb. I paid no | particular attention to him, but do remem bsr, now I think of it. that his head was bent | forward so that his chin rested upon his breast. As he passed me very slowly I saw that he was worried. I said to myself he crossed the street: He's been caught in some game over in New York and the lads have soaked him. Two nights afterwards I met him again. He was coming down the l same street. He hadn't been drinking. | When I stopped him he looked up rather l suddenly and he gave me card. After had 1 read his name and found that he was one of | the partners in wholesale establishment on Broadway, over in the city, he said: My business OF something, don't know what it 1 is, keeps me awake nearly every night. When I go to bed early in the evening do nothing but roll and toss about. and when I retire at midnight or later it's just the same. I don't | sleep more than one night week on aver | age, and so come over to Brooklyn. where l very few people know me, and walk about until 1 think I'm tired enough to drop of1 through exhaustion. Some ghts I can go home after couple of hours walk and gc to sleep and other nights it is impossible tc get wink"
 ''That man who went around the corner, is
 
 | 'sYes, sir; but-let's see, four and five are nine-yes, I first saw him in 1875, and that's nine years ago. Changed /? Why I've never seen man grow old so fast in all my life 1 When I first met him he had been in business five years His hair was black and he could 1 not have been more than thirty-five years old. I remember that's what I thought he | was at the time. But now I shouldn't know him if I didn't meet him nearly every week His face has grown hsggard and his hair and beard are ss gray as rat.
 sNow from learning little of his history have made it point to look into thii subject of night walking, and it's astonishing the number of men who allow the cares oi 1 business to worry them so that sleep IS tht furthest thing from their minds at night. l could point out not less than forty men | some of lem are lawyers, others are in Wal street and still others merchants-n you | were only on post with me for week. The business they transact during the day is al gone over with again at night by those active 1 brains and insomnia is the result. There l was failure down in Wall street not long l ago, and I see by the papers that the mar ] who went under is suffering from menta strain. 1 might have given the reporters something about that case, for the man had | been night walker for nearly a year. He | aen't sleep, and on several occasions when l have met him at ?, or o'clock in the morning. he has complained about his head | and of the continual Wretchedness his busl ness, stocks, bonds and even his money caused him. When I heard it thanked my lucky stars that I was Brooklyn policeman at thousand year.
 'sI had talk with doctor about this mat ter a couple of months ago and he told mt that this insomnia I think he called it, wal getting to be a very common complaint. Ht was astonished when told him that me men on my post who had come from New York to find relief for their troubled brains Of course, there is nothing particular abou Brooklyn that makes 8 man feel better but you see, it's quiet over here, and man O business doesn't run the risk of meeting hii 1 of inhk