People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1896 — HIS NINE YEAR SLEEP [ARTICLE]

HIS NINE YEAR SLEEP

THE RIP VAN WINKLE SLUMBER OF A PENNSYLVANIA MAN. His Wife and Three Children Have Passed Away While He Slept On—Wife Saved Him Prom the Knife—Long Delayed Operation May Now Be Performed. In a little farmhouse at Nicholson tunnel lies a man who bids fair to outrival Rip Van Winkle as a sleeper. This man’s sleep has already lasted more than nine years, and if, Michael Feruan ever awakens it will only be to find that his wife and children have succumbed to the care aud anxiety incident to his continuous and extended slumber. As Mr. Fernan appears to be as rugged and strong as he did ou the morning that he began his long sleep he may surpass Rip Van Winkle’s record unless the mystifiod physicians perform an operation that will awaken him at the risk of transforming him into a raving maniac or hastening his death. Had it not been for the touching dovotion of his wife the operation would have been performed several years ago. Nino years ago last July Michael Fernan was employed as a watnhtuan at the Nioholson tunnel, on the Delaware, Laokawanna and Western railroad. He was of robust health aud very industrious, and during the alternate Weeks when he watched the railroad tunnol by night he was in the habit of spending several hours eaoh day in cultivating the little farm that surrounded his home. One morning Fernan returned from his work and told his wife that ho was feeling well, but very sleepy. Ho went to bed without eating any breakfast. At noon one of the children oame down, stairs aud said, “Father won’t wake up for dinner. ” But the slooper was not disturbed. When, however, Fernau did not appear at supper, his wife went to his room, whore she found him stretched across the bed still dressed in his working olothes and in what appeared to be a sound and natural slumber. Her efforts to awukon him were unsuccessful, and as he was still sleeping heavily the following morning a physician waH summoned, but his attempts to awaken the sleeping man were equally fruitless. In the course of several days other physicians were called in, und after a consultation eleotrio shooks, ice cold water baths and the trioklitig of ice water down the patient’s spinal column were resorted to as well as the piercing of sensitive portions of his body with pins and needles in the hope that his sleep might be broken. But the slooper never wiuoed, and every shook was followed with equally barren results. Tho physioians were mystified, and the uneasiness of the family increased as he slept on week ufter week and month after month.

Every morningSnd evening Fernnn’s wife would prop' him up in bed and plaoe foods that (Rd not require mastication within his mouth. These were swallowed passively. During this time the sleeper increased in size, and in order to give him more attention bis wife had him removed to a room whioh measured about 12 feet square, adjoining the kitohen. More than 12 months passed before bis wife and children were made happy by one day finding that the sleeper's eyes were again open. He conversed rationally of things that bad ooourred prior to the beginning of his long slumber and expressed amazement when acquainted with the facts of his sleep. He said that everything was a blank to him during his year’s nap. Eight hoars after awakening Fernan again oomplained of feeling drowsy, and a few moments later he was again asleep and had to be removed to his bed- He was allowed to slumber in his trousers, flannel shirt and stockings, and when the weather was pleasant Mrs. Fernan would lift him to his feet and lead his halting steps through the kitchen to the side porch, where she would seat him in a big rocker while she cultivated their small farm, gathered the fruit, harvested the bay crop or dug potatoes. Although he had no way bf showing his appreciation of her kindness, Mrs. Fernan insisted that “Mike liked to sit on the porch when the sun was shining. ’* In addition to caring for her husband and attending to tho household duties, Mrs. Fernan performed the work of a farmer with suoh success as to be able to provide a comfortable living. Fourteen weary months passed before the sleeper again opened his eyes, with his mind apparently unclouded, but four hours later he again succumbed to drowsiness, althongh he battled desperately against it. Another year passed before he reopened his eyes and asked for his wife, who had just stepped over to a neighbor’s, but when she entered the house, breathless aud excited, her husband was again sleeping. Mrs. Fernan begau to fail rapidly after the sixth year’s strain. Nor did her misfortunes come singly, for two of her children died. Several months ago she succumbed and died. Since then another of her children has been taken away, but Fernan sleeps on, oblivious of his great loss. It has now become necessary to find another home for the sleeper, and a medical commission appointed by the courts has adjudged him a lunatic Id ttrder to gain his admission to an asylum, and it is probable that an operation will now be performed upon him. The doctors disagree in their diagnoses of his trouble, but the most probable explanation seems to be that it is a dropsical affection that has caused water on the brain. An operation was begun during the early stages of his sleep, but as the patient showed marked signs of becoming violently iusane his faithful wife objected, saying, “I’d rathei have Mike with me asleep and helpless as a child than to see him a raving ma niacin an asylum. ” —New York Journal.