The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-01-23

Somebody Else for Two Months-when
Eypnotized He Could Recall Every De-
tail of His Experience.
Professor William James describes a
case of double personality of the so called
ambulatory type, the investigation OF
which he has Just concluded.
The subject is a man, now about 60 years
of age, residing in a small place near Paw
tucket, r. l. This person was a carpenter
until 1857, when, by a strange visitation of
Providence, he was induced TO adopt alto
gether different habits Of life. He had been
an atheist. One day, while walking in the
open country, he thought he heard voice
saying:
$50 to the chapel, go to the chapel"
"To what chapel?' ne inquired of his in
visible monitor.
ITO the Christian chapel" was the reply
Now the carpenter was on unfriendly
terms with the minister of the Christian
chapel, and he exclaimed aloud:
Before l go to that place 1 hope God
may strike me deaf, dumb and blind"
Instantly he fell to the earth, enveloped
in darkness and silence, and without the
power of speech.
James said in telling This part of the story
were such as generally occur in cases of
the same sort, which are frequent in re-
ligious history. Suffice it to say that the
events eliminated in the mans restoration
to his senses, in his conversion and in his
adoption of the vocation of an itinerant
preacher
For thirty years he followed this calling
doing great deal of missionary work, and
becoming well known over large area Of
New York state and western New England
Early in 1887 he had abandoned his
preaching, being advanced in years and de-
sirous of living more quietly, and had
taken up again his old trade of carpenter
ing. His health was still good, and he
worked twelve or thirteen hours a day in
preference to nine or ten.
In what follows it is well TO remember
Professor James assurance of his couvic-
ton that the man in question is sincere,
free from deception and genuine subject
of strange physical phenomena.
THE CANDY MERCHANT.
One day. while living at Greene, r. l., he
suddenly disappeared from home. Every f
fort was made to find him, but TO no avail
He was completely lost.
Two months later, in NorristOwn, Pa, a
man named Brown. who kept little candy
store, woke up in the middle Of the night
and found himself in a strange place His
bed WAS strange, the room in which he lay
was strange, and the shop into which he
CROPPED his way was so unfamiliar that he
became thoroughly alarmed Fearing he
would be taken for a burglar he cried FER
help. The neighbors rushed out in the
night and discovered Brown, the candy
merchant, in an unaccOuntable state
Where am II Who am /? Who are
youi" be cried, in great perturbation.
They thought their neigbbor must have
suddenly gone crazy. When told that his
name was Brown he denied it, and gave as
his name that of the erstwhile preacher and
carpenter of Rhode Island.
The village doctor was called upon for
advice. He saw in the case something diff
ferent from ordinary mania, but still he
thought it was mania However, he com
municated with Browns alleged relatives
in Rhode Island. and. to be sure. Browns
assertions concerning himself were foupi
to be true
But Brown COW had no recollection Of
his experience in the candy store, nor did
be know how he got there or how he left
Rhode Island
The case became noised abroad and was
investigated by Philadelphia physician,
but with no results.
All that was known was that the man
had been away from home two months,
six weeks Of which he had spent AZ Norris
town, but the remaining fortnight was
blank 20 him and could be explained b.
nobody else.
In the course Of time the circumstances
reached the notice Of Professor james The
man was now again AZ home, peaceabiy
pursuing his trade Of carpenter. The pro
fessor visited him and found him 20 b
hard headed, mstter-of-fact Yankee After
considerable persuasion be was induced
20 come 20 Cambridge and be hypnotized-
The professor thought that IN hypnotic
trance the man might remember bis Brown
experience. And % he did THIS Il the
most valu&ble phase Of the phenonsnon
from physical point Of view
WIEN HTPsoTIZED.
He was very readily hypnotized, and an
soon as be passed into TIE trance began 20
talk Of NOrristozn and tie candy store
He also explained those two WEEKS that
had been up TO This time mystery 70
everybody. While p-osasc enough, his 1c-
count was perfectly circunstantiAL HAv-
ing conceived = notion that some troubls
vas IN store for him ~ home, be got on a
horse car one day and rode 20 Pswtueke;,
proceeded thence 20 Se7 York. stopped
one night a. the Grand Cnior ho.el. vent
OF 70 PhilAdel phia. put up q couple q
nights AZ hotel AID taen took room a.
khnA-Ginx hc1ka