Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-30
S L E E p w AKIN
There Are Said to Be Four Kinds of Som.
nambulism
Some Stories Of Curious Things Donu
by Those Addicted DO the Habit
One Game That Didn,t Work.

Written for The Evening Star
According TO scientists there are fouP
| kinds OF somnambulism:
| 1. Those who talk while sleeping, but
do not walk or otherwise act
2. Those who walk or otherwise act while
sleeping. but do not talk
3. Those who both act and talk while
sleeping.
4. Those who act and talk ana have the
senses Of touch. sight and hearing-and &c
is alleged. in some instances. the senses Of
taste and smell.
This fourth kind is never found except
when induced by mesmeric or hypnotic In
| fuences.
1t is OF the third kind that there are
most queer developments. independent Of
voluntary external influences Often the
somnambulist will rise In the night and
walk through the various rooms OF the
/ house. go out on porticos and in some
cases. on steep roofs. when he would not
dare go when awake: frequently he VIII
leave the house and walk through street
or field and will return and go TO bed with
out knowledge of anything having trans
pired. The celebrated French physician.
| Bernheim, tells. in his work on 'Sugges-
tive Therapeutics" of a photographer OF
his acquaintance. who rose in the night and
| finished the work on which he had been
| engaged during the previous day and was
astonished on finding IL finished when he
went to work on the following morning.
Painters have been known TO do superior
work while asleep and essays have been
written and poems composed In the sams
| way.
| Fishing In His sleep.
young countryman related an incident
occurring in his own family. His brother
was a sleepwaiker. and also fond Of fish,
ing. For a number OF nights In succession
he would get up and 60 down through q
long meadow to a creek and seize the root
| OF walnut tree growing on the bank and
pun ana tug with all his might anc at
| the same time calling for the hired man
10 he!p him land big fish. Il had heard"
| said his brother. that IL would break q
sleepwalker Of the habit to wake him sud-
| ~enly when he was out rambling about aal
| 1 decided 10 try It's efficacy on my brother.
One night followed him when he left the
| house. As l passed by the wood yard. I
| picked up the AK and when We got 70 the
| creek and he began tugging at his inn
| aginary nsh, L cut the root and let him fan
| backwards into about two feet of not very
| warm water. He came out a badly dis
| organized and somewhat frightened boy.
have never heard OF him going fishing or
| ducking.
Sometimes sleepwaIkers 60 over places
where they would not dare go when awake,
and the fact that such things are freQuent-
| ly done with safety has led many to be-
| lieve that they never hurt themselves. Or
| dinarily that may be true, but there IL az
least one authentic record Of one death re-
| sulting IN that way. The sleepwaiker
walked on OF high portico and died from
| the fall
A Singular Case. -
One OF the most singular and at ths
same time. sad cases OF sleepwalking oc-
CURED near Bakersville. n. c.. few yesn
ago. A young man by the name OF Gar
land had been a sleepwaIker from child
hood. His rankings had always ended
| without harm to himself or others and for
that reason his wife usually laid little at
tention TO his nocturnal eccentricities. But
| a new phase presented itself when he began
to stay away longer at a time and always
! return 'wringing Wet" the washerwo-
| men say. His wife determined TO follow
him and explore the mystery. When he
left his house he followed the road TO Tow
| river and then took a rough. narrow pig
trail leading up the river. He picked his
way through the tangled hemlock and
laurel and over stones and fallen trees and
along the SUBMITS Of PERCEPTIONS cliffs. His
wife kept In sight by means OF the moon
| light wavering through the trees. For
more than a mile the sleeper trudged on
until ne came TO a large poplar tree which
| had fallen with its topmost limbs far out
| in the river. He walked the log TIL he
came TO q large limb extending from IL over
the water, then he got down and began
! crawling out on the limb The now thor
oughly frightened wife screamed and called
! TO him TO wake up and come back. He
was awakened by the cries. and. doubtless
startled and confused by the situation, fell
| into the river and was drowned. He had
| been getting up I'm his sleep. going up the
| river, crawling out on that limb. jumping
| from there into the river. swimming 20 the
bank and returning home unconscious OF
anything that passed.
These facts are well known TO a number
| OF people now in Washington.
Somna mn bultsm of Another Sort.
A different phase of somnambulism is told
CT the son OF a Baptist preacher residing In
a southern state. The preacher rises to his
highest flights Of eloquence when inveighing
against the sin of dancing; he likewise iu-
dorses the proverb Spare the rod and spoil
the child Just much as IL IL were In fact
an utterance OF solomon instead of the New
England almanac The son was. after the
tradition OF preachers sons the worst 10y
in the country. He would swear, and night
and FISH on Sunday. and go 10 hoe-down
dances when the elite OF the neighbcrhood
by no means predominated. The preacher
regiously whipped him from seven 10 four
teen times a week for various attractions OF
parental authority. For his last attendance
at hoe-down he had been given a lose Of
, the buggy whip. with the advice that it
would be doubled In case he repeated the
offense. A big candy pulling and dance was
set for a night In the near future. He
swore he would go, but just how TO escape
the whip was a problem OF Archimedesn
proportions. He had heard the irresponsi-
bility Of sleep walkers discussed and he hit
on the bright scheme of working that racket
in the event OF discovery. On the night OF
the candy pulling and hoe-down he retired
early and listened till he heard his father
snoring. Feeling that all was quiet along
the Potomac he crawled out on top OF the
portico and slid down post and hurried to
the hoe-down, where he did valiant service
TO make up for the lateness Of his arrival
When the dance was over he hied himself
homeward and was soon shining I'D the
post Of the portico. exulting in the hope OF
having worked the rabbit foot on the old
man and avoided the buggy whip. His heart
sunk within him when he heard the stern
Come here, Louis" but he climbed on, az
though he did not hear. A second stern
command fell from parental lips unheeded
He was ruthlessly yanked down and saw
agely shaken and asked IL he was deaf He
seemed to come 20 himself, shake himself
together, as IL were, and asked in mild sur
prise. Where am L? Why. i must have
come out here In my sleep"
You think you've been sleep walking do
your asked his father. as he grasped the
buggy whip little more firmly.