FATAL END TO DREAM.

Grey River Argus, 19 February 1927, Page 1 (Supplement)

FATAL END TO DREAM.

ACROBATICS WHILE ASLEEP. AGED MAN FALLS 50ft. ANKLES TIED WITH STRING. INSPIRED BY PHOTOGRAPH. To account for the strange death of a wealthy and lonely man who dropped from a window of his chambers in London, the Westminster coroner advanced the theory that the dead man was probably, in a drcam, trying to reenact the feat of a man who, suspended from a crane in Piccadilly, released himself from a straightjacket. The theory was advanced in respect of Henry Stovel, aged S 3, who had lived alone in his chambers for 30 years and who was found dead on the ground 50ft from his bedroom window. His ankles were tied with string. “This is a remarkable problem.’ 7 said the coroner. “This lonely old man had evidently lived a comfortable life. Surely he could not have tied his ankles with the intention of committing suicide? “If he had intended to commit suicide he would not have used a string 30ft long to operate on a 50ft distance. •The string was broken when the body was found. ONLY ONE EXPLANATION. “There seems to be only one explanation. and that is that he was a sleepwalker. It seems to mi' he had been dreaming. He may have been at the ciub, and have seen pictures of a man suspended from a crane head down-

wards, which I saw myself, and he may have dreamed about that, and in a muddle-headed kind of way got out of bed and automatically and unconsciously apparently reproduced this trick of the contortionist, and tied the string round his feet, seemingly meaning to suspend himself from the window. “If it had done that in his dreams, which is not at all impossible, his death would be accidental. ACTIONS OF SLEEP-WALKERS. “It seems a very fantastic theory, hut those who have any knowledge of sleep-walkers—and 1 have had personal knowledge of them—know that those people will do extraordinary things in their sleep. “They will get up out of bed, walk about from room to room, even goTiownstairs and out of doors, and do all Eaua-Tgzf kxffDOT T heux‘t ufioDylE kinds of things which one wiftiid think would arouse the sleeper, but which do not always do so. “1 cannot help feeling that this is the real explanation of this extraordinary set of facts. “There was found on a cnest of drawers m the bedroom an envelope containing written instructions in the case of his death. It was an old envelope, written years ago. coiitaining the superscription: ‘Directions how to act in ease of my death.’ MAN WITH NO TROUBLES. “The contents stated: ‘At my death you get the body removed at once to the mortuary, and then as soon as possible to the grave. Do not go to any more expense than is absolutely necessary. Ido not want anybody to attend the funeral or anyone to send flowers’—(a sensible man) ‘and no notice of my death in the Times or any other paper. ’ “Then follows the names of the executors and the date, March 1, 1919. It is the kind of letter a sensible oi l man would write in case he, might die suddenly. “Mr Stovel was a man who had h*d (Continued foot*'of next Column.)

no trouble. He was paid an ample allowance weekly by his relatives, and he had sufficient to spare to give expression to his generous instincts.” In returning a verdict of accidental death, the coroner said: “1 think the man has died accidentally. He fell from the window while walking in his sleep. ’ ’