The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1894-08-22
THE SLEEPWALKER.
THERE ARE SAID TO BE FOUR KINDS
OF SOMNAMBULISM.

Stories of Curious Things Done by Those
Addicted to the Habit-The Boy Who
Went Fishing-Cases of S1eepwalking
Which Had Fatal Results.
According to scientists, there are four
kinds Of somnam bullsm:
Those who talk while sleeping, but
do not walk or otherwise act.
Those who walk or otherwise act while
sleeping, but do not talk.
Those who both act and talk while
sleeping
Those who act and talk and have the
senses of touch, sight and hearing, and
it is alleged, in some instances, the
senses of taste and smell.
This fourth kind is never found ex-
cept when induced by mesmeric or hyp-
motto influences.
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, III
some cases, on steep roofs, where he
would not dare go when awake. Ere
ouently he will leave the house and
walk through street or field and will
return and go to bed without knowl-
edge of anything having TRANSFERRED.
The celebrated French physician, Bern
helm, tells in his work on Suggestive
Therapeutics, of q 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 it 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 same way.
A young countryman related an incl
dent occurring in his own family. His
brother was a sleepwalker and also fond
Of fishing. For a number Of nights III
succession he would get up and go down
through long meadow to a creek and
seize the root of walnut tree growing
on the bank and pull and tug with ali
his might and at the same time calling
for the hired man to help him land
big fish. II had heard" said his broth
er, "that it would break a sleepwalker
Of the habit to wake him suddenly when
he was out rambling about, and de-
cided to try its efficacy on my brother
One night [ followed him when he left
the house. AS 1 passed by the woodward
| picked up the ak, and when we got TO
the creek and he began tugglng at his
imaginary fish I cut the root and let
him fall backward into about two feet
of not very warm water. He came out
badly disorganized and somewhat fright
ened boy. l have never heard OF him
going fishing or otherwise walking IN
his sleep since his ducking. "
Sometimes sleepwalkers go over places
where they would not dare go when
awake, and the fact that such things are
frequently done with safety has led
many to believe that they never hurt
themselves. Ordinarily that may be
true, but there is at least one authentic
record of one death resulting in that
way The sleepwalker walked Oft high
portico and died from the fall.
One of the most singular and at the
same time sad cases of sleepwall1ing oc-
Cured near Bakersville, N. c., few
years ago. A young man of the name
Of Garland had been a sleepwalker from
childhood His ramblings had always
ended without harm to himself or others,
and for that reason his wife usually
paid little attention to his nocturnal &C.
centricities But a new phase presented
itself when he began to stay away longer
at time and always return ''wrlnglng
wet, as the washerwomen say. his
wife determined to follow him and ex-
plore the mystery When he left MS
house, he followed the road to Tow nv
er and then took rough, narrow pig
trail leading up the river.
He picked his way through the tan
gIed hemlock and laurel and over stones
and fallen trees and along the SUBMITS
of precipitous cliffs. His wife kept IN
sight by means of the moonlight waver-
ing through the trees. For more than
mile the sleeper trudged on until ne
came to large poplar tree which had
fallen with its topmost limbs far out IN
the river. He walked the log till he
came to large limb extending from 1t
over the water; then he got down and
began crawling out on the limb. The
now thorouohlv fri0htened wife scream.