The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1920-02-20

Is there such a thing as "sonlnambuIistic autOm-
atism" which relieves the person committing
such an act from responsibility under the law?
ANYWAY James Sapienza of Irvington, N. j.,
well-todo manufacturer, shot his wife as she lay
beside him in bed at six o'clock in the morning
He told the police when arrested that he saw in
q dream two "BIack Handlers" kidnapping his sew
en-year-old son. Taking his revolver from I'M
der his pillow he shot at one OF the kldnapers
He walked to find that he had fired the bullet into
the head of his wife, He insisted that he had no
farther knowledge of the act. Here is his story
told in detail to a reporter for the New YORK
Tribune:
"If seemed to me that two men had come
through the window of my home; that one had
tied a handkerchief about my boys eyes and had
then placed him in large sack 1t was so very
+, real that, even now, swear to you on the holy
name of the Virgin Mother, Il can hardly believe
1t was not so.
81 had never been q man to dream l never
walked in my sleep. But for several weeks l
had been very nervous over the Black Hand let
fers You know, among my people it is COM
mon practice for certain class of men to try to
Drey on others who have been successful and have
made a little money. Well, had determined not
TO permit myself to be robbed in that way, and
had provided myself with a revolver. This re-
volver an old one had been in the house before
that time but had always kept it wrapped In
u handkerchief and on high shelf, because
was afraid one of the children might find it and
hurt himself.
'.Well, when the letters kept coming, 1 got
this revolver and | placed it under my pillow,
thinking to defend my child. l was not afraid
for myself but the letters made me very nervous,
and | kept thinking all the time of the men who
had been writing me the letters.
II want to say, as / have said to the police
that loved my wife For the ten years while
we were married she had been good wife to me-
II was through her, perhaps, more than anyone
else that l was able to improve our condition
little bit and get ahead. Before taking up the
manufacture Of concrete building blocks I had
store and my wife in addition to her other duties
used to help me there. l always left her in
charge when was called away on other business,
and / always knew that things would go right.
She was a good woman, who always worked hard,
and we never had quarrel that people could call
serious There was no other woman for me after
we were married.
We'll as I say, on this particular night, or
morning, I dreamed that the two men had come
through the window of my home and were car
rying off my boy. Then, though was never a
man to KILL decided to kill. 1 saw my boy in
the hands of those devils as plainly as see you
and the blood rushed to my head. All the fear
and the suspense that l had felt in the past
months overwhelmed me, as well a terrible
hatred of the who as thought, were before
me, and I grabbed my revolver which had under
the pillow.
although terribly excited acted cooIy as
| act now. pointed the revolver at the near
est man and took good aim that / would not
miss 4 will kill this beast told myself, and
then-suddenly 1 was awake.
81 was sitting up in bed with the revolver in
my hand and my wife, who was lying beside me,
said Jimmy That was all she said, just