Huntsville gazette., 1889-08-17
MONEY IN HYPNOTISM.
How Young Englishman Made the Occult
Spience Paw.

Science Pay.
A Young man is now in custody IN
an English town detained till the
authorities can find what to charge
him with. He is in the happy position
of having committed an otfense which
as yet has no name, and it is therefore
difficult to see how he can be indicted.
This individual after a study of mes
merism, mind reading, hypnctism, and
similar phenomena for his amusement,
being exceedingly hard up, began to
utilize them This was his method:
He dropped into a store, bought some
(. petty article, and paid for it with q
4 copper. Then the shopkeeper yielding
to an uncomfortable impulse, handed
over the change for five dollar bill.
When the dav was at an end and he
came to count up his cash he dis
covered a shortage that he was unable
to explain. He had no recollection OF
the mysterious stranger and his deal
ings with him. Thus the hypnotizer
went to the box-office of a theater,
asked for a twenty-five cent ticket,
handed a scrap torn from newspaper,
and got back in change about twenty
dollars. Later in the day there was
an uproar in the box-office, and an
innocent boy would have become the
victim of natural suspicion if the
police had not by that time gotten
on the trail of the operator.
Of 10
town, being perplexed by their con-
stant shortages, and thinking they
must be the victims Of adroit till-tap-
pers, called in the help Of the police.
did some watching, and discovered
that when this particular young man
made a purchase he always got too
much change back, and that the man
who gave it was oblivious Of the fact
that he had acted in such an unbusi-
nesslike way. SO they took in the fell
low, looked up his record, found that
he was hypnotizer, and have him now
on their hands meditating what they
shall do with him. If the old laws
against sorcerers and magicians had
not been repealed he could easily be
indicted ''for practicing certain dia-
bolical and wicked arts whereby the
minds of her Majesty's subjects are
distraught and led astray." But those
laws are no more. To try him for get
ting money under false pretenses will
hardly do, for there were none. He
deceived no one. He just took moro
change than he should, and if asked
for it would doubtless have refund
ed it.
Judging from the small amounts col
lected by this English hypnotizer he
is probably man Of limited powers.
He could not influence man to give
him more than $40. But supposing
the science were SO developed that one
Of its adopts could strike a man for
$4,000 or $4,000, what business could
be more profitable? The expert would
go to a bank, hand in bit Of dirty pa
per to the paying teller, and the lat
ter would give him all the cash he
had. The man would depart saying
nothing. The paying teller, having
no recollection at all Of the affair,
would be in a most unpleasant predic-
ament. The bank officers would send
for the police, and the teller would be
removed to the Jail to figure as the
principal in a mysterious case of de-
falcation Or robbery. A still more
powerful operator could attack the
president Of the bank, not with pis-
tol but his cultivated will power. and
force him to hand over every cent in
the bank. Then there would be an
other bank president with no charac-
ter left.
What shall be done to protect the
financial institutions? Shall the teach
ing and learning Of hypnotism be for
bidden, or can some way be discovered
by which man can be made hypnot-
ism-proof? Can not a person be vac
cinated for it as for smallpox? When
that is done no one need be employed
as cashier or teller until he has pre-
sented his certificates, or proved by
examination that he is himself hyp-
. notiser of tho first class, and can not
be thrown into that unconscious state
in which he will give more than the
proper change. In the meantime the
banks are at the mercy of the profess
ors of the new art, and it is hard to
see what precautions they can take. =
Chicago Tribune,