Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1884-09-06 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

CHRONICLE BUILDINGS, FLEET ST.,LONDON,E.C.  THE "NEWTOWN SLEEPER." One of the strangest of the many strange character, which this " land of steady habits " has given to the world, says the New lark Two, mm. resident in Newtown, in Fairfield county. His name was Sherman W. Platt, and he was known throughout the State as "The Newtown Sleeper.' He was a somnambulist of woman, =lien, and the pornlier form ...Mali hie mauled,' tonk made him an object of general curimity, ae well as one of special inter= to the medical experts of the manly. Young Platt lived with his father, a well-to-do fawner, In the little hamlet of Dodingtown, In the eouttpwestern part of this town. He was never a particularly brilliant ohild, but he was by no means a dullard, averaging in intelligence about with the ordinary farmer's boy. The etrange somnolent states which brought to him no unenviable notoriety were first noticeable men after he had passed into sin" teens,' and they continued nearly tip to the time of histudden and, as yet, explained death. When the disease for tle generally considered among physician.. that he wan the victim of some strange and hitherto unknown intermittent malady attacked Platt he won. 4 go to bed and be at once wrapped in the mandrel of slumbers Efforta to thoroughly arouse him by shaking,, dousing with baths of cold water, the application of elmtrinity, and treatment of a similar nature were always =availing. He would remain in hie trancelike condition sonotimes for only a few days, but oftener the :leen would lengthen out into week., and sometimes even int, months, his "beet record" in any one of them trances, according to a generally accepted report here, being within a few day. of five months. During this long period he seemed to have bat all power of intellem tail effort, and when he recovered from such an attain the period of his sleep was all a blank to him. Instinctively, it seemed to those who watched him, he would rise from his couch at irregular intervals and partake of the fool or drink that was comb-Patty kept in his room to supply his wants. When hunger and thirst were abated he wood at onee return to his bed and continue hit slumbers. When he arose at each times he would speak to snore, would answer no questions, ray no attention to any interference, and was seemingly oblivious of the fact that any One was near him A sing Mr fart in connecfiat with the case was that he did not seem to lose either health or strength during these prolonpd slumbers, which it was naturally expected would wear out his vitality. Physicians who were called in front Bridgeport first, then from New Haven, and finally from New York, could give no explanation as to the cause of the strange disease, nor could they suggest any remedy that was sil:cient to effect a cure, tho .gh many tried their skill. About • year ago, Platt having beg o to frighten his parenta by taking short walks out of doom while in this mmnambulistic state, his father applied to the Probate Court of thin district, and Platt was sent to the Asylum for the Insane at Middletown. Application and commitment were on the theory that his peculiar malady was some form of insanity. He remained in that institution, where there were a few but short rec rrences of his somnolency until the Seth of last month, when be was discharged and returned to his home. He seemed much depreased in spirits, and hie mind seemed to wander at time.. On the Monday following his return he wandered away from his father's house, and no trace of him could be had until the s .cceeding Saturday. On that day his body was found by one of a party of searchers in Sandford'. pond. It was perfectly nude, and this added to the myatery of his death. The theory was advanced that ha had been drowned while bathing, and this was very generally accepted at first as the solution to the way in which he met his death, on there were no marks of violence On ilid pereon. Search was made all along the hanks of the pond for his clothing, bat it could not be found, ast it waif ergued it certainly would have been had he been bathing In the pond. It is possible that the elothea had been found and appropriated by tramps, who sometimes frequent the shores of the pond. It is thought now that be committed suicide, becoming despondent hem soot the incurable maludy with which he was =Acted_ This theory is borne o t by the fact that come of the people living near the pond remember ban lug seen a man acting somewhat strangely new there on the day after his disappearan e.