The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-06-29
a Man Who Could Control the Will Of Certain
People, and Who Used His Power to En-
rich Himself at Their Expense.
How an Englishman Would Relieve the
People Of Princely Marriage bowers.
The British Government Asked to Lssist the
Owners Of the DelagOa Bay Railway
in Their Trouble with Portugal.
A UNIQUE CASE.
The Novel Method by Which Lewis Albert
Swindled English Tradesmen.


The Novel Method by Which Lewis Albert
swindled English Tradesmen.
Special to the Indiansoolis Journal
LONDON, June 2S.-The crown prosecutor
of the city of Wolverhampton, in the coun-
ty of Stafford, is in quandary. The police
there have in custody young man who is
undoubtedly worthy of severe punishment,
and yet his crime is so entirely novel that
he probably cannot be punished at all, un-
less the old statutes against witchcraft are
revived, in which case he might be comfort
ably roasted before slow fire. This young
man, whose name is Lewis Albert. is a
graduate of Oxford University. Soon after
he left college lie became interested i'll
mesmerism, mind-reading and hypnotism.
and as a result of natural gifts OF close study
soon became so expert that for time
he travelled about giving exhibitions of his
iiuence over the will power of certain
classes of people, and established such a
reputation that he might have made his
exhibitions very profitable but for an un
fortunate penchant for the flowing bowl.
This brought him so low that three months
ago he turned up in WOlverhampton in rags
and without money or friends. Then he
began to hypnOtIZe with a vengeance.
Small shop-keepers, usually women. began
10 discover that the contents of their tills
very mysteriously dwindled after a visit
from the urbane stranger Just what his
method of procedure was none could tell,
but when they found, on comparing notes,
that their losses invariably followed the
visits Of the polite Albert, they set the
police to watch him., Then some startling
enter shop, make purchase Of some tritle
and put downs d copper In pay ment Then
the hypnotiZing or mesmerising process
must have been brought into reQuisition,
the copper and handed out change for a
sovereign, which the young man promptly
pOcketed. In only one case while the pO-
lice were on his track was there failure
to befOg his victim in this way. The de-
tective who followed him about was mys-
titled for long time. being utterly unable
to account for the hallucination which in
variably seized Albert's victims and led
them to mistake n copper coin for gold
sovereign. and 1t was only after discover
ing his professional record that he began TO
understand it.
Albert's last victim was youth of nine
teen, the attendant at the box-office of
theater in Wolverhampton. He stepped up
to the window, boldly asked for a shilling
ticket, handed the boy dirty scrap of
without the slightest hesitation ON
this part of the boy. fOnr sovereigns
and nineteen shillings. While walking
off with this he was arrested by the officer.
who had been shadOwing him for two
weeks. The boy in the box-office was dunn
founded when his attention was called to
the scrap of newspaper in his cash-box,
and still stoutly insisted that the gentle
man mad handed him tive-pound note.
He remembered, however, that peculiar
sensation came over him, which he de-
scribes as, a sort of numbness, when the
man first approached the window of the
office. The legal status of Albert's Offense
is very difficult to determine. as it is with
out a precedent, and good lawyers say
there is now no law in England to punish
him. The case is exciting great interest.