Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1889-07-05
HE MESMERIZED THEM.
A NOVEL METHOD or A LONDONER
TO ROB sHOPKEEPERs.

~ ROB SHOih EEfEkS.
A cablegram from London to the
Baltimore american, June 2Slh,
says The crown prosecutor of the
city of Wolverhampton, in the
county of Stafford. is in guam
Diary. The police there have m
custody u young man who is an.
doubtedly worthy OF severe pun
ishment, and yet his crime ~ so
entirely novel that he probably
cannot be punished AZ all unless
the statutes against witchcrait are
revived, in which case he mi ght be
comfortably roasted before SLOW
fire. This young man, whose name
is Lewis Albert, is a graduate on
Oxford University. Soon after he
left college he became interested
in mesmersm. mind.Teadlng and
hypnOtism, and as "A result OF MT
ural gifts or close study, soon be-
came 80 expert that for time he
travelled about giving exhibitions
Of his powers. He acquired won
derful influence over the will-pOWer
OF certain classes OF people and cs.
tablished such a reputation that he
might have made his exhibitions
very profitable but fOT an unfortu-
nate penchant tor the flowing bowl.
This brought him so low that three
mouths ago he turned up ia VOL
verhampton in rags and without
money or friends. Then he began
to hypnotic with vengeance
Small shopkeepers, usually women,
began tc discover that the contents
of their tills very mysteriously
dwlndled after u visit from the
urbane stranger. Just what his
method of procedure was none
could tell, bnt when they found, on
comparing notes, that their losses
invariably followed the visits OF
the polite Albert, they set the pc
lice to watch him. Then some
startling discoveries were made
HIS custom was to enter a shop,
make a purchase of some trlhe and
put down copper in payment
Then the hypnotizing or mesmeriz-
ing process must have been
brought into requisitiOn, for the
shopkeeper III every case took mp
the copper and handed out the
change for a sovereign, which the
Young man promptly pOcketed. In
only one case while the police were
on his track was there failure TO
befOg his victim in this way. The
detective who followed HIM about
was mystifed for long time. being
utterly unable TO account for the
hallucination which invariably
seized Albert's victims and lei
them to mistake a copper CON for
a gold sovereign, and II was only
after discovering his professional
record that he began to understand
II. Albert's last victim was "A
Young man, aged nineteen, The at
tendant at the box Office of
theater in WolyerhamptOu. He
stepped to the window, boldly
asked for a shilling ticket, handed
the boy a dirty scrap Of newspaper,
and received as change without
the slightest hesitation on the part
of the boy four sovereigns and
nineteen shilliDgs. While walk
ing off with this he was arrested by
the officer, who had been shadow
ing him for two weeks. The boy
in the box.ofiice was dumbfounded
when his attention was called 10
the scrap Of newspaper IN his cash
box, and still stOutly insisted that
the gentleman had handed him a
fve.pOund note. He remembers,
however, that a peculiar sensation
came over him, which he describes
as a sort of numbness, when the
man first approached the window
of the office. The legal status Of
Albert's offence is very difficult 70
determine, az il is without a prece-
dent, and good lawyers say there
is now no law in England to punish
him. The case is exciting great
interest.