The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1888-01-25
STUDY OF MESMERTSM.
SOME VERY CURIOUS EXPERIMENTS
MADE AT THE CAPITAL.

Journalist Cronut's Exhibition of skill in
Hypnotism-suggest burglary Com
mitted by "Sensitive"-Sot So Sue
cessfuI with Another Subject.
W. A. Crofrut has recently taken upthc
study of mcsmerism, or hypnotism as the
scientists prefer to call il. Mr.. Croffut
has developed considerable skill in this
direction, and the other night gave an ex-
hibition at his house before n noteworthy
audience. Among others present were
Postmaster General Villas and his family,
Senator ingalls,, Senator Plat, of Con
necticut; Gen A W. Greedy and Rs wife,
Admiral and Mrs. Russell, Mr.. Coleman,
the commissioner of agriculture; Col.
Nicolay marshal of the United States SUI
prcme court; Gen. Bryant assistant at
torncy general: Professor Thompson, OF
the geological survey, and number OF
other scientific gentlemen aud physicians.
Before beginning his experiments Mr..
CrofIut explained that he had been very
much interested in reading. in Paris let
tiers, Of the experiments conducted by Drs.
Chareot and Luys in Europe.
vIcAR1oUs CRIMINALITY.
Mr.. Croffut remarked that the expert
mcntation with dangerous drugs and
medieatcd compounds under scientific
conditions would be postponed to another
evening. but he would Immediately make
tests as to the vicarious commission Of
crime. After performing some minor eX-
periments and getting his subjects into n
good condition, Mr.. Croffut attempted the
feat Of compelling fellow being to COM
nit n crime by the force of his own will,
acting upon the will of that fellow being.
One of the subjects, young woman EN-
ployed in the government printing Office,
was told to 90 into the audience and pick
the ladies' pockets She manifested great
horror of the act and refused, but by an
imperative command the mesmerizer in
duced her to comply, and without much
display of ingenuity she got II phantom
purse, not a real one, from Mrs. John G..
Fremont. The experiment was not salts
factory as to the prac teal employment OF
an agent.
Another sensitive, clerk in depart
mcnt was mesmerized, and Mr.. Croflut
explained to him that in house OF one
of the neighbors, in an upper chamber, in
a certain corner and certain drawer in
| the dressing case was n pOcketbOOk which
contained 5000 lie described the stu
l
go there, the arrangement of the Dirt ssng
case and so on, repeating it over several
times until the subject had the geography
impressed upon his mind. Then handing
him two keys he said:
The larger key Will open the front
door of the house and the smaller key will
open the drawer of the dressing case in
which the pocketbook will be found.
lie told the young man that il he would
steal that pockctbook he would give him
| the money. There was n good deal of dis
cuSsion between the mesmerist and his
subject concerning the liability of discOv-
cry and arrest, but when assured that
| there was not the slightest possibility Of
anybody interfering with him, and that
| there were no dogs about the place, he
consented to undertake the burglary.
| Four or five gentlemen in the room were
asked to follow the subject on his trip,
| Due arrangements had previously been
made with eLhbor to place the pocket
| book in the situation described. The
young man ran out into the street, turned
| the corner, and when he came to the
house described by Mr. Croffnt recognized
it mt once by the description. He then
| began to show the greatest degree of ag.-
tation, looking nervously behind all the
tree boxes and around the corners, and
finally jumped over the fence, saying to
those who accompanied him Us pals -
of whose presence he seemed only hall
conscious-that he did SO lest the gate
should make n noise.
NERVOUS AND CAUTIOUS.
When he reached the porch his nervous
ness seemed to increase, rs well rs his
caution; but he unlocked and opened the
door quietly, erept into the hallway
looked round all the corners and into al
the rooms, found his way up stairs into
the apartment described, drew out the
key. unlocked the drawer indicated ant
found the pocket book. He was starting
away with it, when one OF those who nc
compancd him called his attention to the
fact that he had left the drawer open, ant
that he had better restore things as ht
found them. He replied that that was
good idea, and doing so, put the key il
his pocket. He then crept around thu
room, looking into other places, and whel
asked why he did so, replied that he wa
looking for something else he could steal
One of the party suggested to him that il
was bad place to steal anything bu
money for jcwelry could be traced whil(
money could not This seemed to strike
him as sensible, and be remarked that the
pocket book was full of bills, and he hat
better be satisfied with what he had got
Then he crcpt down stairs with great
caution, shut and locked the front dool
carefully after him, and reaching the
street. started to run like n frightened
deer One of his attendants caught him
by the arm and asked him where he was
going. He said he was going home, but
the attendant suggested he must return
to Mr.. Croffut's house and give him his
share of the money. The mesmerized
thief stopped moment and said: ayes,
it would be mean not to give him his
share; he put us on to the job; we will sc
back and deal square with him"
lie returned to Mr.. CrofIut's house,
handed that gentleman the pocket book
and counting out $4,000 in imaginary
money, divided it equally between the
| two.
This experiment seemed to demonstrate
| that, proper conditions existing, crime
may be committed second hand through
mCSmeric influences.
With another subject Mr.. Croffut was
not so successful. lie convinced young
man that his brother had been Killed by
an Indian, whom he was advised to muir
der in revenge, and was told that he could
| Hnu MIN Oh the tdpllti SttIS. i uc acilol'
tive. though generally obedicnt under
mesmeric influences, refused to believe
such an absurd story and after n long
argument with Mr.. CrofTut, in which the
subject showed ms much shrewdness as
| the operator, declined to attempt the deed
he was urged to commit. New York
Tribune.
GENERAL.