The times., 1897-04-25


Ararahoe county hospital III Denver,
who has broken the record IN Sonlnalipu-
usm. Her name is Annie Russman, and
during her excursions while asleep she mas
been rescued from INJURY or death by the
police more than $50 times. Bolts, harS,
bandcuffs, and chains all failed TO keep
her within her room, anu clad IN her hlghV
robe. Sue has roamed the stree0s of Denver
night after night.
Everytt,ing possible was done to cure the
Young woman of her strange mania hut TO
no purpose until she was placed in the
hospital where she has been cafeinnS
watched bv an attendant, and cold water
thrownin her face every time she Sought TO
leave her bed OF escape. This plan seems
TO bc proving efficacious and for the present
at least. her sleep-walking career has been
brought to a close The story OF her eA-
periences is marvellous, and there is no rec
ord of any man OF woman somnamoullSt
who has undergone the perils that have
fallen to her lot and escaped fatallty'
For eight years Miss Rossnlan has been
q sleepwalker, ever since She was eighteen
wears old She is a stenographer at pres
ent, but her afficuon has forced her to
abandon her chosen plan, and work as
=
she seems to he possessed OF unusual in
teIigence. and her education is excellent
In appearance she is remarkably pretty,
a perfect specimen of the blonde. She is
both striking in physique and comely in
feature.
1t is almost marvellous 10 consider the
methods that have been unsuccesSfully
adopted to restrain her from her nocturnal
exCgrsions The windows of her room
have teee locked and the key TO the door
hidden. but to 20 purpose. SO Far as the
hiding place OF tiiSs key is concerned, she
has always seemed possessed of almost
supernatural powers, for :f the key was
hidden in her own room she has invariably
found it, When the door was locked from
the outside she managed to cleverly pick
the lock. ana make her way 10 the street.
At other times she has Eeen tied in her
bed so securely that il seemed as If In no
WAY would she be able to release herself
In this regard she has exhibited the skill
OF the cunjurer, for no knot couldfbe tied
that she was unable TO loosen, and no mat
ter how the ropes were arranged she al
ways found a way to release herself
Handouts have been attached to her
wrists and then chained to the bed, but
her hands slipped through the rings in her
sleep in q fashion that she could not OK
nlain when she awoke in a waking CON
1irion she could never perform the feat
AT another time the key TO her loom was
placed in the bottom of faI1el Of water
thatrested i'm one corner of her apartment.
But she secured the key, and tie contact
with the chilled fluid did not awaken her.
There has been no partiC ular method
which size has followed in her walks about
the city, and con ntrary TO the general
idea regarding somnambulists, she has
rarely seemed to have a definite idea OF
doing any particular thing on any ocea-
sion.
About th4 only instance when she dis
tinotly remembered having a purpose in
view. was the time when she was found
seated on letter box with her arm around
the lamp-post. wien she declared she had
believed herself to be seated on rail at
the theater with her arm about one of the
sunuortlng pillars This fact of general
lack of intention is all the more
singular because Of the accepted BELIEF
that the actions OF sleepwalkers are merely
the fulfillmCnt Of dreams that have seized
upon them.
one Of the most narrow escapes she has
had. ifrot Ia, narrowest of all, was on The
occasion Of trip she is supposed to have
started on to North Denver. She reached
the bridge which crosses Cherry Greek,
close hy the Old City Hall, but instead OF
crossing the structure, made her way
down by its side, ana apparently started
for a walk through the water. 1t so
hapDened that the creek was not boom
ing" to any great extent just then, and
policeman happened to see 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 ROSsuan left her room and home
at night on one of these sleep walking
trips, she has never stopped to don any
clothing beside the night robe, and has
been guiltless Of shoes or stockings. Just
how She could so often make her way
about Dcnver'S streets in this costume
unobservcd is matter Of almost as much
mystery as the real cause OF the afflic-
ton which has rendered her miserable for
eight years
One night few months go, when she
was living at Twenty-first and California
streets she left her home about midnight
and wandered down Twenty-first to Cur
tis street When in front of the Curtis
street hoSchouse Twenty-second street
cable car came upon her Unexpectedly,
and she was knocked down and to one
side entirely escaping injury except a
few slight bruises As usual, she was
clad only in her nightrohe. She was picked
ND and taken into the hosehouse and re-
turned TO her home in the ambulance.
one night not long ago she walked from
her homo clear down to the Union railway
station. This time. however. she had lain
down without removing her clothing and
so attracted less attention. She sat in the
station awhile, where her peculiar actions
were noted. but there was no suspicion
that she was asleep. Finally she went to
the ticket agents window and bought
ticket for Cheyenne. Then she left the
station, made her way to the railroad
tracks, Invested herself of most OF her
clothing and walked up the track toward
the approaching train Fortunately the
engineer saw her in time to stop before
he reached her, although she was walking
toward the locomotive all the time.
Again she made her way down to Six
teenth street one evening, or rather early
in the morning, when there were quite a
number of heavy wagons passing up the
street an calmly walked in front of one of
the largest that was going west at a lively
gait. The driver saw her and pulled up his
horses. but she certainly would have been
badly IN jured had not a policeman seen her
Just In time and pulled her fairly from be-
meath the horses feet. She was not even
scratched.