The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-04-14
wonderful Mesmeric Powers.

Yesterday dAICLnoOh op NOhch al houorl-
dam s headquarters. A number of officers,
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 mesmerst.
He reioiced 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 a 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 assistant arms.
He was then laid out on the floor and his
arms rubbed violently into 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 a
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 a
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 snd he will
say he does. have here a very rank
sort of cod liver oil, which ! 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 l
am not fooling them. All good, That S
right. Now George, do you want glass
of wine? 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 one web, 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 il
he should repeat this performance, when
the coon delightedly cried out Eyes,
massa.' chow many stitches shall
usop'' asked the Inesmerist -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 hoopskirts; 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 flew Patent Office reports,
but it fell through.
After this show johnson went into a
comatose state bent in semi-circular
position on the floor, and then gently
rocked back and forth like cradle. His
ear was pierced with a needle and sewed
through and through. The thread was
drawn out, but not drop of blood
flowed. 1t seemed impossible to cause
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 a 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. ua-. rtll g.
There was something decidedly won.
derful in all he did and it puzzled those
present. One declared it simply a 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
seemed cool and self-possessed, and wen,
at it in singularly business-like way
The part that most impressed the spec
tators was where he threw the negro int
trance and sewed his cheek, tongue
and lips without causing any twitchina
of the flesh while doing SO. If the affaf
was genuine, and there seems but littl,
show for doubling it, Johnson possesses
very wonderful mesmeric powers, a
there has never been any yet found WHIT
could mesmerize themselves. iol
Now and Then.
In 1916 one bushel of corn would Blu,
| one pound of nails. In 1883 one bushe