The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1912-04-12

ed II take a job of fixing over Elder
Courtwright's barn cheaper than any
body else. | had TO use old boards to
make a Scaffold. ! hadn't more'n got
up on that scafrold when the burned
thing came down with kerwosh."
"She did. Joe; she did,"
"And l broke my leg
"Breke it like a stick"
"And suffered for two months. and
nobody cared a cent. They went right
on and had a camp meeting and cir
Gus same as If hadn't been hurt"
That's what they did. Joe"
"And now jest because can limp
about ag'in they dun me for old debts"
"'Pears that way
"But | have II. They shan't keep
me down. I'm going to make living
right here in this town. and l hain't
going to work for it either"
A few days after the above CONVEX
sation Mr. Taylor announced to certain
idlers of his acquaintance that he had
become sleepwalker. That broken
leg had brought 1t about. On two diff
ferent nights he had left his bed and
gone prowling about and was so fast
asleep that he would hardly credit his
wife's statement that he had entered
the garden Of Elder Bliss and picked
and brought home a basket Of veg
etables There was the plumber. how
ever, to prove that he had walked.
1t was soon known all over the VII
lage that Joe Taylor walked in his
sleep and that it would be dangerous
for anybody to suddenly wake him up.
That broken leg had left him with -
weak heart. and rude awakening
might finish him. In his nightly wan
behring's Mrs. Taylor followed him
about. but was careful not even to
whisper to him. She returned home
with him. saw him back TO his he'd
and then let him wake UP naturally.
For a time the village was rather
proud Of its novelty. 1t could lNast OF
the only sonna mbuliSt for tifty miles
around. Various people interviewed
Joe as to how he felt when asleep.
what he thought when he. woke up.
II he had any perception at all when
sloshing around. and the local weekly
paper wrote him up to the extent Of
column. However. as time passed
the novelty Of the thing wore OFF. and.
too. the sleepwalker became holder
There wasn't field or garden or
smokehouse he didn't plumber. He,pn-
tered cellars. and he stripped clothes
lines. Sometimes he was seen at his
work aud sometimes not. His wife
was always with him. and when
caught red handed II was for her to
say:
Hush. hush. You know how he Ia.
A sudden shock may mean death"
That went for Il time. but one night
when he was caught with fifty pounds
OF pork on his shoulder he was ar
rested and taken to the village lookup.
When arraigned before justice Of
the peace point of law came UP. A
sleepwaIker was II person acting I'M.
consciously. He knew not what he
did. There was no criminal intent. and
therefore there was no crime.
| This decision settled matters as far
as the law was concerned but there
were cerfnin citizens that believed they
had another remedy. No one now he
lieved that Joe Taylor was Il sleep
walker That excuse was played out.
In deciding for Joe the court had
decided for others. If 1t was no crime
for him to sleepwalk then 1t wasn't
| for any citizen of the village. One
evening fourteen men. all SIeepwalk-
ers, ca lied at the Taylor house. Their
eyes stared Their lips We're tightly
/ drawn They shook their heads rs II
their dream were bad. There was a
fifteenth who was wide awake. He
eXpa inpd To Joe and his wife that
seepwall1iny had become catching and
1 that whatever the fourteen Somnam-
bulists did they could nor be held re-
sponsib!e for.
was asked.
The question was answered D.! ZOE
and his wife being picked MP like bags
of oats and carried to the mill pond
/ Not word from one of the fourteen
/ Some sighed and moanrd in their sleep
but no talking.
"Al have weak hearts and must moi
be awakened too suddenly" whispered
the fifteenth.
/ Mr.. and Mrs. Taylor were Fitted UP
and flung into the water. THEY were
hauled out and flung in again. ,shey
were toyed with until they choke1 snd
4 gasped and coughed and strnngled and
4 were half drowned Then the four.
teen silently disappeared, and the ff'
4 tenth whispered:
i you'll get this every time there II
any further sleepwalking. It's sure
4 cure
Il And so it was. Next morning Joe
Taylor limped to work. and thence on
to the day OF his death brass band
might have played in his bedroom