Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 August 1881 — Belshazzar Smith and His Brother William. [ARTICLE]

Belshazzar Smith and His B r other William.

Belshazzar Smith had a ve>y bad and very dangerous habit of walking in ibis sleep. 'His family-feared that during one of his . somnambulistic saamtenngs he would charge out of the window and kill himself, so they peruaded him to sleep with his* little brother William, and" to tie qne end of /a rope around his body and the other around little William. The very first night after this arrangement was made, Belshazzar dreamed that a burglar was pursuing him with a dagger. So he crept over to William’s side of the bed, stepping over William’s slumbering form, jumped out on the floor and slid under the, bed. He staid there awhile and then, his nightmare having changed, he emerged upon the other side of the bed and got under the cover in his old place. The rope, it will be observed, was beneath 'the bed, and it- was {killed taut, too. Early in the morning Belshazzar, about half awake, scrouged over against William. To his surprise the movement jerked William clear out of bed. Belshazzar leaped out to ascertain the cause of the phenomenon and at the same -time his brother disappeared under the bed. Belshazzar, hardly awake, was scared, and he dived beneath the bedstead. As he did so he heard William skirmishiag across the blankets, above his head. Once more he rushed out, just in time to see William glide over on the other side. ’ Belshazzar just then became sufficiently conscious to feel the rope pulling on him. He comprehended the situation at once and disengaged himself. Perhaps little Wiliiam was not mad. He was in the hospital Undergoing repairs for about three weeks, and when he came out he had a strange desire to sleep tdone. Belshazzar anchors himself to an anyil now.