Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-31
SLEEPS FOR
Z 7WENTYYEARS
GERMAN GIRL HOLDS RECORD
FOR LONG sLuMRER
LOS ANGELES RELATIVE TELLS
OF ODD CASE
She Had but Two Days of Waking in
That Time-Aroused by
Confusion of
Fire

one of the most remarkable cases of
a lengthy sleep, which far surpasses
that of Mrs. Beulah Hawkins, who is
sleeping for over fifty days at the
County hospital, Los Angeles, was told
of Yesterday by Albert Helm, who
rooms at the Silver Star, 2451a EAST
First street.
This case of Mrs; HaWklns, Whlcn @
I read in The Herald" said Mr.. Helm
yesterday. reminded me of case
which occurred at Gramke, Germany
near the city of Bremen.
.I know the girl who slept there; in
fact she is a distant relative of mine.
I saw her while she was in the sleep
Instead of a few days, her sleep
has lasted twenty years with the eA-
ception OF but two days time.
Her name is Miss Geseme Maier,
daughter of John and Lena Maier, ma
lives of Gramke.
she first fell asleep when she was
a girl of but sixteen years of age, IN
1884. That was a pretty good nap Tor
she slept two years. One morning she
woke up, and dressed and took up
some needle work, which she complet-
ed at a neighbors house. She felt
droWsy, and told her parents not TO
let her go to sleep again. But de-
spite that, she did not wake up the
second night when she went to bed,
and slept for eighteen years, or from
1886 to 1904.
Gains Weight During Sleep
"She was a perfectly normal girl
Nothing strange about her whatever
And she was able to gain weight dur
ing this sleep. o,,
"She would not open her eyes even
as 1 read Mrs Hawkins did, and she
would not speak at all Mrs. HaW-
lkins has twice exclaimed when IN
jured during her sleep, 1 believe.
"But this girl slept as naturally as
anyone. During the first sleep. for
short time at first, they used to give
her solid food. She would chew 1t
and swallow it. Later they had TO
give her simply liquid food, since she
would not chew anything at all.
"She gained weight, however, weigh
ing 14O pounds when she woke up at
last.
II was at her parents house in
1896, and saw her sleeping, a perfect
ly healthy, strong looking girl. Thou
sands visited the home. Physicians
from all over Europe came to study
the case. They wanted to remove
her to some hospital where they might
carry on experiments. But the Maiers
are well-to-do people, and they could
do their own nursing for the girl, and
would not permit this.
cat the time l saw her she had been
sleeping for ten years, with the ex-
ception of those two days intermls-
sion.
Long Sleep Is Unbroken
"She never opened her eyes at all,
with the exception of those two days,
or even spoke to anyone.
1.-THE various doctors and famous
specialists who visited her and studied
the case. all declared they could waken
her, but they would not vouch for
her sanity if she were awakened, in
stead of being allowed to Waken up
naturally.
80 the Maiers let her sleep on un-
disturbed.
"Finally one night a great fire broke
out near Gramke. The fire engines rat
tied past the Maiers' house. and the
fire bells rang out loudly all over the
neighborhood. This unusual racket
aroused the sleeping girl She got up,
dressed. and has slept only normally
since then.
"And what did she tell us? She
said that at times, although asleep
she was conscious of the crowds in
the room and of the words being
sspoken-but at other times she was
too sound asleep to notice anything at
all.
Another peculiar thing. Anyone en-
tering the room with strong perfume
on their clothes or handkerchief would
cause the sleeping girl to roll away
from them. She would roll over so as
to get away from the scent of the
perfume.
Awakens Perfectly Sane
"She was perfectly sane, healthy and
vigorous after her long sleep, normal
and sound
81 should say. judging from her case,
that Mrs. Beulah Hawkins. if permit
ted to sleep on undisturbed, would
awake of her own accord by-and-b
perfectly sane and healthy. l would
like to see, however, if the placing of
strong perfume on her face would
arouse her by making her have a feel
ing of repugnance for the odor, as in