The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-13
"A MAN OF NIGHTMARES.
Mr.. stump, Descendant of Mr.. Tree,
Makes "A Unique Collection.

mr. stump, Descendant of Mr.. Tree,
Makes "A Unique Collection.
From the New York Mail and Express.
There are collectors and collectors, but
Hebrides Stump OF Manchester, England,
is probably the queerest collector of them
alias queer. in fact, as his name, which
is not at all English. although he traces
his ancestry back for several hundred
years in Lincolnshire. His paternal great
grandfather was named Tree and was
an actor, circumstance which the sub
1ect OF this sketch says accounts for him
being nothing but Stump. However,
that's neither here nor there. Hebrides
Stump is now in New York, or rather was
until Thursday evening, when he took a
flying trip to Boston. Before he went
away he had chat with a Mall and E,x-
press reporter, and at that time disclosed
the fact that he was collector Of sui
generis.
Mr.. Stump Of Manchester, has devoted
twenty-five Of his sixty-fiVe years of life
to the corraling of nightmares. He will
pursue these horrid phantoms of uneasy
sleep with the eagerness Of an Alpine
hunter chasing the elusive channels from
crag to crag and rayine to ravine He
mas an assortment stored away in manu-
script and IN memory that would make
Edgar Allen Poe livid with envy; that
would supply the material for a more ter
rible Inferno to Dante; that would euR-
geSt novelty Of horrors to Gaboriau such
as he never dreamed Of but STUMP
doesn't give a snap OF his finger for any OF
these possibilities. All he cares about is
possession. He has no regard for gold
nor for silver at is to l or any other ra-
ito. Nightmares are his hobby, and night
mares he'll have, let the cost be what It
may
Every man has his 'obby. don't YOU
know" said he, land If it pleases him and
'urts nobody else ooze business is IL?
Blymee IL can see"
Mr.. Stump has habit Of dropping an h
at intervals and letting Il disappear into
the trough Of pathological oblivion, but the
fault is so infrequent as not to attract
more than passing notice.
We had many strange Dreams" he
continued, from the time 1 was quite a
youngster, and this put into my head ask
ing other people about their dreams l
used to write them all down, but after
awhile l found that in a collection of 4 900
there was great sameness in the ma
1ority There were a few odd ones, but not
enough of 'em-I mean not enough each
one absolutely unlike any one or all OF the
others so l dropped dreams and took TO
Nightmares.
eve been at this for years. and It's cap
ital sport. assure you. Whenever [ ears
of a man being found dead in bed makes
an inquiry. In nine cases out Of ten l find
he has had some sort Of a nightmare
which has been chasing him When he dies
him. regard this class as the most valua-
Bile in my collection. one Of the first | 'ad
was in Dondon-old Mr.. Barclay, who had
a vision about three times a year Of a red
hot vampire bat, which used to fan him
with her wings until the heated air began
to suffocate him. He drank hot gin and
sugar going to bed for a month or so every
four months, and this kept off the attack |
for a couple OF years; but one Christmas |
he substituted brandy for gin. and what |
was the result? The vampire famed him |
to death.
"There was Squire Tenny Of Hartford,
in Yorkshire. His nightmare was an odd /
one. He imagined he was eating blind |
thrushes, which had been boiled in vfne-
gar IL one of the birds happened to be |
able to see. he must dig out its eyes with |
a shoe string, else the trush would thrust |
its bill into his heart. He always had to
have a valet sleep in the same room with
him, and, when he groaned and called
"Shoestring! Shoestringr his servant lift
ed his head from the pillow, and he re-
covered his breath. The valet remember
ed that his master called for a bootiack
one night, but, as that wasn't the cue. he
paid no attention. Next morning the old
squire was found dead in bed.
I'm Cardiff there was a haberdasher
who dreamed, twice year, that he was