ASLEEP, HE WALKED A BEAT.
Charge Made Against Policeman G.
L. Burton by His Captain.
Probably the most unusual case ever tried before the board of police commissioners is set for next Wednesday. A policeman, George L. Burton, by name, is to be tried for walking the beat in his sleep, so the report of his captain, Patrick Bray, charges. Briefly, the following is Captain Bray's report:
"While making my rounds on the afternoon of November 29, I found George L. Burton walking Beat 4, in Precinct 8, dead asleep. In a restaurant on the northwest corner of Nicholson and Monroe avenues, I had to shake him two or three times before I could awaken him. I asked him if that was the way he was doing police duty, and he replied that he had a sick headache. He acted like he had something. He missed his signal point at 2:10 p. m. and I found him at 2:20 p.m. He was walking about asleep then, and I told him I would report him."
"Now, the question is, Was he waking in his sleep, or was he asleep on his beat instead of walking it?" said a commissioner. "If we could find men who could walk a beat in their sleep, we could discharge half the force and let the remainder work day and night -- get in double time, you know."
Burton will be called upon to explain what ailed him on the day the captain found him.
