The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-12-20
nrxrrR,s -soMxAMnuLrsr.
She Has Beeu Reached More than 100
Ttmea-Oueer situations In which She
Wns Onen Found Herself on Watkins.

During her excursions while asleep sho has been
rescued from injury or death by tho police more
than 100 times. Bolts, bars. handcuns, and
chains have all failed TO keep her within her
room, and clad In n nightgown she has roamed
the streets OF Denver night after night. Every
thing possible was done to cure the young
woman, but to no purpose until she vas placed
in tho hospital. Hero she has been watched by
an attendant, and cold water has been thrown
in her face every timo she has sought to leave
her bed or escape. This plan seems to be prov
ing enicaclous, and for the present at least heR
sleep-walking career has been closed.
For eight years Miss Rossman has boon .
sleepwalker. ever since she was 1s years ola.
She ia q stenographcr, but her ~afliction has
forced her to abandon her calling and work as
a servant. Many methods have been unsuo-
c~essfully adopted to restrain her from her moo.
turnal excursions. The windows sof her room
have been locked. and tho kev to tho door hid
den. but to no purpose. When the door has
been locked from the outside, she has managed
to pick the lock and make her way to tho street.
At other times she has been tied In her bed.
In releasing herself she has exhibited the skill
of the c~onjurer, for no knot could be tied
that she was unable to loosen, and, no
matter how the ropes were arranged. che
always found q way to release herself. Hand
cuffs have been attached to her wrists and then
chained to the bed, but her hands slipped
through the rings in her sleep In n fashion that
she could not explain when she awokc. In .
waking condition she could never perform the
feat. At another time the key to her room was
placed at the bottom of a barrel of water that
rested In one corner OF her apartment, but she
secured the key. and tho contact with the
chilled fluid did not awaken her.
There has been no particular method which
she has followed in her walks about the city.
and. contrary to the general idea regarding
n H.. .r.n - a-A
definite idea Of doing any particular thing on
any occasion.
About the only instance when she distinctly
remembered having a purpose in view. was the
time when she was found seated on q letter box
with her arm around the lamp post, when. she
declared she had believed herself to DO seated
on @ rail ut the theatre with her arm about one
of the supporting pillars. This fact of general
lack of intention is all the more singular bo-
cause of the belief that the actions of sleep
walkers are merely the fulflment of dreams.
One of the most narrow escapes she has had
IL not the narrowest of all, was on the occasion
OF a trip on which she started to North Denver.
| She reached the bridge which crosses Cherry
Creek close by the old City Hall. but instead OF
crossing the structure, made her way down by
its side. and apparently was going to walk
through the water. 1t so happened that the
creek was not booming to any great extent just
then. and a policeman happened to zee her
action and rescued her from drowning. Even
| the shock of the water did not fairly waken her.
and it was several moments after her rescue
before she entirely regained consciousness.
1t has always happened that whenever Miss
Rossman has left her room and home at night
on one of these s~leep-walking trips she has never
stopped to don any clothing besides the night
go wn. and has been ~guiltless OF shoes or stock
ings. Just how she could so often make her
way about Denver's streets in this costume I'M
observed is n matter of almost as much mystery
as the real cause of the ~afiction which has
rendered her miserable for eight years. Ono
night n few months ago. VIII en- she was living at
Twenty-frst and California streets, she left her
home about midnight and wandered down
Twenty-frst to Curtis street. When IN front
of the Curtis street hose house a Twenty-secona
street cable car came upon her unexpectedly
and she was knocked down and to one side. en-
bruises. AZ usual. she was Fad only in her
night gown. She was picked W. and taken into
tho hose house and returned to her homo in the
one night not long ago she walked from her
This time. however, she had lain down without
removing her clothing. and so attracted less at
tention. She sat in the station awhile. where
no suspicion that she was asleep. Finally she
made her way TO the railway tracks. Invested
the track toward the approaching train. Fortu-
Inte!y the engineer say her in tune to stop be
toward tho locomotive ali the time.
Again she made her way down to Sixteenth
fh, tnyy % S!r;S Il" ps .na Ro up the street, wnsn and sndr ea MSis
walkrd In front OF one of the largest, that was
s s9s S1 Tsss at an a h Iirel Eo gaat: b Tho . driver wos srT cher her
tainly have been badly injured lad not q po-
itcsmnm seen her jTst in tim and pulled hsr
not even scratched.
once She attempted to leave her room, in the
| third story ny her home via the Nyin1nV ShA
crept through the window. having raised the
lower sab; and: grH;pimE the IN With both
have it. n policeman happened to be passing
almost a. the moment and saw what she had
up the stairs. broke in the door of her room.
end. seiz;ng her by the wrists. pulled her baG!S;
Not until she wasa gain in her own room did
she realize what had happened.
Another Of her experiences MAS the first and
only time she gave an exhibition of dancing
ArHpahoe street. between Twenty-third and
ner. to the Arrangement of several children and
two or three pedestrians. she began u series ot
negro minstrel. No officer CHANGED TO be near
and no one inierfered. The movements OF her
while her body swayed from side To side after
u. fashion OF a HHutch Rirl. Then, htnctnc
ter pting 10 leave the corner, until q patrol
toward the station. She did not awaken untii
almost at the station door.
oDCe. AFTER slo Hhu ielt ner nome on one OF
her trips she apparently imagined herself to be
a lineman, for she CHM bed n telegraph pole. and
had succeeded In making her way we'll toward
the top before she was discovered. She was
resting in this fashion near the top of the polo
when IA policeman happened to see her. Hero
was n cnandary. II any one shouted to her she
might awake and fall To the ground; The OH
Ger could not climb the pole. Finally II ladder
was procured from n nctghborinG tre.engino
house ana placed against the pole. A SSalwart
Miss Rossman in his arms. She awakened al
most instantly and IN a terrible fright. She
was taken home. and was Frustrated by the
shock for several days,
Miss nossman Is n native Of Pccoln, Kan.
When she first began to walk in her sleep 80
attacks were not frequent. and IL was nn!y after
she became n resident or Denver thar heF at!.c.
ton grew upon her. Physicians who hive
studied Miss Rossman's case say that ler
trouble Ia largely due 10 the sluggish condition
of her blood. During the time she il under ihs
influence OF solnnam bullsm her face j. hIinn,s
rs pale and cold as that OF n person who dead.