Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1883-05-05
Wonderful MesmerIc Powers.

at least what passed for that, took place
yesterday afternoon at General Sheri-
dams headquarters. A number of officers,
a Herald reporter and several friends
were present, and they were all
astounded at what they saw. A young
man, apparently twenty-five years Of
age, who had nothing in particular to
distinguish him from any other human
biped of that age, was the mesmerist.
He rejoiced in the name of johnson, and
was very weak about the eyes. Two
other gentlemen assisted him in the
manifestations. Several medical men
were on hand, and the room was COM
fortably filled when he began opera
tons. His first attempt was in the form
of speech, in which he declared he
could mesmerize himself. He said that
anyone Guild cut his flesh, stick needles
in him, or sew him up, and he would
not feel it in the slightest degree. He
claimed to be the only man living who
could do this.
He then stood out in the center of the
room and commenced rubbing his eyes.
In a few minutes he fell limp, with
closed eyes, into his assistants arms.
He was then laid out on the floor and his
arms rubbed violently into a state of
rigidity and placed at his side. His legs
were treated the same. He was lifted
and his neck placed on the back of
chair and his feet an another, thus sus-
pending the rigid form in mid-air on two
chairs. He remained thus for two min
utes, and was then piled on the floor and
rubbed back into animation. He took a
young colored boy and put him into q
mesmerized state.
Now" said he, ''you will observe,
gentlemen, that l have this boy COM
pletely under control, and l will. make
him do whatever Iwant. Twill ask him
if he desires glass of wine and he will
say he does. have here a very rank
sort of cod liver oil, which l shall make
him drink, and he will think he's drink
ing the finest Catawba. Will any gen.
tleman please take this oil to see that
am not fooling them. All good. That's
right. Now George, doyou want glass
of winep Of course you do. Here
George" And he made the negro toss
off the glass of cod liver oil as airily as
though it were the most pleasant drink
imaginable. He then rubbed his hands
across his eyes and brought him to. when
the negro had become rather unwell and
evinced desire to throw up his job.
"Now, then, I'll take that taste away"
said the mesmerist, and he passed both
hands tenderly across the boys black
visage. He made him eat portion of a
tallow candle, under the impression that
it was stick of candy, and swallow a
few tablespoonful of cayenne pepper,
telling him it was sugar. Then came a
truly wonderful performance. He put
the negro boy into state of unconscious
ness, and taking common needle and
thread, sewed up the boys tongue, lips,
cheek and ear in onetweb, never bring
ing a culver to the lad or causing drop
of blood to flow. He pulled the thread
through time and again and did some
very fine tailoring on the black hide.
When through he woke him up. Then
put him to sleep again and asked him if
he should repeat this performance, when
the ''coon' delightedly cried out Eyes,
massa." elbow many stitches shall I
useP" asked the mesmerist. -Four"
The audience was satisfied, however,
and requested that he "spare the hide"
One old army officer declared that he
had had occasion one time to examine
the stomach of an ostrich and found
powders, pieces of stone, metal and
other queer substances therein, and had
often heard of the digestive faculties of
the billy goat, with its surprising fond
ness for tin cans and hoopskrts; but he
had never seen such organs as those pos
sessed by this negro lad. An attempt
was made to have the mesmerist put the
"coon'' under his influence again and
feed him with few Patent Office reports,
but it fell through.
After this show johnson went into q
comatose state bent in semi-circular
position on the floor, and then gently
rocked back and forth like cradle. His
ear was pierced with needle and sewed
through and through. The thread was
drawn out, but not drop of blood
flowed. 1t seemed impossible to cause q
tremor to pass over his form by any act
of torture they could devise. When he
was brought out of this state, which was
always done by quick passes over the
limbs, throwing off the current by snap
ping the fingers, then by repeating this
on the face, he informed those present
that he had mesmerized patient at the
Bellevue Hospital in New York, when
a surgeon amputated finger for man
and the latter felt no pain whatever.
He offered to cause any one to be in q
perfectly mesmerized state, but no one
accepted the offer.
There was something decidedly won
derful in all he did and it puzzled those
present. One declared it simply great
control of the powers of the body, and
that he was not mesmerized at all; while
again, one of the veterans present
thought it the fairest case of actual mes
merism that he had ever seen. During
all the performance the Young man