El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-06-25
SINGULAR DREAMING
TWO PECULIAR CASES OF BRAIN AC-
TIVITY IN SLEEP.

A Lawyer Who Solved n Knotty
| Problem He Could Not Master
| While A,vake-An Exciting and Al
most Tragic Railway Journey.
An Edinburgh lawyer, n confirmed
somnambulist, went through a pecul-
lar experience some little time ago.
| One evening, after dinner, he told his
| wife that he had a most difficult law
case which would occupy him half the
| night to study out. For hours there
after he grappled with it's intricacies,
| but finally dessted, saying it would
| be impossible to make his brief until
morning, since the case presented some
| difficulties that he had been unable to
master.
| He fell asleep from exhaustion al
most as soon as he went to bed, but in
| q few minutes rose, and, seating him
| self at his desk, wrote furiously for an
hour or more. Then, carefully folding
and indorsing the sheets he had writ
ten upon, he put them away in a pi-
geonhole Of his desk, after which, with
| out speaking, he returned to his bed
and slept soundly till late in the morn
ing.
| At breakfast he expressed some I'M
certainty as to his finding a solution"
His wife told him to look through his
| DESK which he did, discovering the
paper he had written in the pigeon
hole where he had hidden it. AS he
read it joy mingled with amazement
showed plainly in his face, for the pa
| per was clearly reasoned, correctly
| phrased brief on the intricate case,
with all the obscure points smoothed
out! He had not the slightest recol-
| lection of having written the docu-
| ment.
| Another extraordinary case is that Of
| a young man who, an hour or so be-
| fore starting on a railway journey, paid
| q visit to q steamer in which his par
| ents were financially interested. In
| the course of the inspection he entered
| the little chamber in the bow of the
vessel where the anchor chain is coiled
and was impressed by the chambers
| smallness and the cramped quarters it
would afford a man sent down there to
| superintend the paying out Of the chain.
| In due course the traveller went to the
railway station and engaged a snug
seat in the corner of a first class corri-
| dor and sleeping carriage. He had the
| compartment to himself. The train
had not been long on its journey before
| the young man was sound asleep. But
| he imagined that he was awake and,
J moreover, that he was imprisoned in
the little anchor chain compartment of
the steamer The vessel was under
way. he thought, and moving more rap
idly than he had ever known steamer
to move before.
His first idea was to go on deck at
hI1f no Of ha
cell-like chamber. He could not stand
erect even, the compartment was so
little, as he found out at the cost of an
imaginary bumped head when he at
tempted to rise. Then, to his surprise,
he found that the room had window,
evidently a dead light but square and
unusually large. This he tried to raise,
but, failing, determined to break it,
thinking that he could seize the anchor
chain and by its aid reach the deck.
There was only one way to smash the
glass, and that was by striking it with
his clinched fist. He knew that this
would result in a cut hand probably,
but he risked it all the same, for he felt
certain DOW that the vessel was in q
storm and likely to go down any mo-
ment, in which case he would be
drowned like a rat in a trap.
Having smashed the glass, he found
that the window was double, and he
distinctly remembers breaking the out
side pane, after which, with profusely
bleeding hands, he carefully picked out
the bits Of glass remaining in the
sashes, so that he could climb out.
After removing the last remaining
fragment of glass from the sash he
carefully thrust his head and arms out
and began to feel for the chain. 1t was
nowhere to be found. Then he pulled |
himself half way out of the window
and reached upward.
TO his great joy, he found he could |
reach over the edge Of the deck; but, to |
his dismay, it was curved and smooth |
Offering no projection whatever by |
which he might pull himself up. That |
being the case, and not wishing to fall |
into the water and be drowned, he |
painfully drew back into the little |
chamber. However, he must certainly |
escape or be drowned, and after get |
ting his breath he would make another |
attempt to reach the deck.
AS he lay painting and frightened he |
accidentally reached in the direction |
away from the headlight. To his sur |
prise, he touched a swaying window |
blind, and the next moment he found |
himself lying on the floor of the covri- |
dor of the onruShing train, with a win
dow down, through which he had evil |
IDENTITY been trying to reach the deck of |
the imaginary steamer. The wonder
was he did not lose his grip and fall on
the line. 1t was his fear Of being |
drowned that prevented him from be-
ing killed on the railway The yOuno