The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-06-27
A DETECTIVE BY MESMERISM.

New York Sun.
The narrative here presented is ia
miliafsto many who have heard it from
the lips Of the gentleman who asserts
that no played the most conspicuous
part in it. He is a man more than sixty
years Of age, active in business, and Of
u~nblemished reputation wherever he is
known.
1T was in 1547 that my attention
was first attracted to the subject of ami
NAL magnetism, by the appearance in
the Western town in which I then lived
of a man named Keely, who advertised
to give public exhibitions. His meth
cd was to select ten or fifteen persons,
males and females, from the audience,
seat them in a half circle on the stage,
and placing a piece Of coin or metal in
the palm of the hand of each, request
them to look steadily at it. While
their attention was thus concentrated
he made q few passes over each one,
seeming to obtain control over more or
less of the group, causing them to
aid him in what is now the ia
miliar performance of a mes
merist. -Four of us Young
fellows waited on Professor Keeiy and
requested him to teach us his tricks
for our own amusement, he replied
that he knew very little of this strange
power; he only knew that some persons
possess a larger amount of personal
magnetism than others, and, where one
had a superabundance and another very
little, the one with the larger supply.
after gaining the attention, often could
control the mind and will of the other.
He showed us how he magnetized his
subjects, selecting those of negative
passive, temperament, and explained
that, after having magnetized then once
or twice, he had no difficulty in gaining
entire control by simply looking at them.
In u experiments it soon became APP
parent that / possessed a larger amount
of this mysterious magnetic power than
any of the others, and l used it in
many cases to such effect that I began
to notice that / was being avoided by
many ofmy old friends among the strict
church people, and whispers of our em-
ploying supernatural agencies and ex-
perimenting in the black art were
abroad. More than one old acquaint-
ance whom | saw approaching turned a
convenient corner before we met. / be-
gan to learn how difficult it was to stem
the superstitieas current.
"One evening my friend Wells-my
principal assistant-and myself were sit
ting in my room. Al tap came at the
door and there entered a man about
fifty years old. He said he had heard
about our having . strange power oyer
the minds and senses of many persons,
and had called to ask our assistance in
detecting a thief. He was the owner of
a line of packet boats running between
Cincinnati and Toledo on the canal
which passed through our town. One
of his captains on his return trip had
spent the night at a tavern on the OPP
posite side of the canal much frequented
by boatmen, had slept with a roll of
money under his pillow, had forgotten
it and left without removing it from his
bed next morning, had returned for it
within an hour, but it was gone, and
nothing had been seen or heard of it at
the hotel. Such crimes were rare in
those days, and detectives were not at
hand ON all occasions as now. This
would be a novel experiment, and at
least prove interesting. Hitherto the
minds of our subjects had simply fol-
lowed ours. Here WINS the opportunity of
ascertaining if the mind of the subject
could lead.
1T had just been a week since the
theft was committed, which put us to
great disadvantage in point of time. /
had often seer the old tavern, but had
never entered it. / requested the pack
ct owner, Mr.. Miller to give me q de-
scription Of the interior and of the room
the captain occupied, which was situ-
ated, he said, at the extreme end of the
long hall, into which all The bedrooms
opened on the second floor, and close to
the stairs leading to the third floor. A
person passing up o down must of ne-
pass this door.
I'VE pledged ourselves to strict Sc
crecy. Only Mr.. Miller, my friend
Wells, my subject and myself were to
be present at our seances. / sent for q
of the name Of Reeves, an honest,
good-natured countrvman, heavy and
dull almost to stupidity, but n of our
best subjects. OF course he knewnoth-
ing about the robbery, and it was not
known to q dozen persons in the place.
We snbdued the light in the room. drew
3 table up near the window, seated my
friend Wells. al one end with writing