The Benson signal., 1920-02-21
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nightmare. Some of us walk or have walked In
our sleep; most of us know people who do And
few OF us have Lad experiences similar to
that of James Sapienza that we shiver at the
remembrance of them.
Those of us who have had such experiences can
readily understand why J. S. Plumb, a manufac-
turing chemist of Jersey City, was impelled to
write the following letter to the prosecutor of
Newark:
Il am strikingls reminded of painful expe-
rlence OF mine many years ago, and | relate it
to you for what it may be worth as bearing some
what corrobOratiyely upon the Sapienza case
EARLY in my married life was in the habit of
sleeping with revolver under the mattress at
the head of my bed. 1 kept it there because it
was equally accessible but much less in danger
of accidental discharge as when under my pillow.
Zone night | had a wild dream of graphing
with burglar, and was awakened by my wifes
scream, or by my action, both, to find to
my horror, that had my wife's head under my
left arm while was digging for my revolver with
my right.
''It was all over in minute, with no serious
damage being committed, but it was a dreadful
thing as. had naturally grabbed my wife rough
ly 1t made me realize that might have killed
my beloved wife had l secured the weapon before
fully awaking, as would have been quite probable
had it been little handler under the pillow
Never again, said, and the revolver has been
banished to an even less accessible place"
The literature of dreams is vouninous, as is
to be expected from mans interest in these mys-
teries of that mystery call sleep. Science
attempting to classify dreams, has set aside a
class which it calls nightmares or incubuses
TO those which go beyond the limits of the ordi-
nary nightmare it has applied the "som-
nambulistic autOmatiSm" In this class are in
cluded the nocturnal adventures in which persons
commit violent acts of which they retain wax
ing knowledge Apparently the person is sleep
ing He appears to have entered a state which
is short of total oblivion yet beyond the dividing
line of consciousness. Evidently to them the
real and the unreal confused the unreal
is to them as real as real itself. Dream re-
suits in physical action.
Certain it is that have little exact knowl-
edge of the essential nature of consciousness
in waking hours We do know how
ever, that merely portion of the mental life is
represented in clear consciousness. Many COM
plex brain processes carried in the pres
ence of consciousness so slight as to be prac-
tically absent, and the organic functions of the
human machine are performed without any con
sciousness whatever,
There is theory that dreams are frequently
merely the working out of suppressed DESIRES I"
Several of the crimnolOgists, somewhat in cor
roboration of this theory, hold that the commits
sion of crimes during sleep is entirely possible
under certain conditions. They express the be-
lief that the power of suggestion is strong that
in some cases of SOmnambustic autOmatism the
sleeper is the victim of selfhypnosis and carries
out the idea which in his waking moments had
ObS4sSed him.
Says DR.. Smith Ely Jelffe of New York au-
thor of work which devotes considerable space
to disOrdered dreams: without in any way
judging the facts in the Sapienza case, it must
be admitted that crime like his under such cir
cumstances alleged by the defendant is entirely
possible"
Assuming that James Sapienza has told the
whole truth. is the unfortunate man answerable
to the law for killing his wife?