The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1894-11-29
SHE WAS HYPNoT1zED.
A Sensational Case Comes to Light
at Eau Clare.

at Eau Glare.
Eau Claire, Wis, Nov. 27.-Dr. e.
w. Pickin aud his son, Asigal Fickin,
have been arrested on the charge of
assault. DR.. Pickin is out on $500
bonds, but his son is in jail. The
prosecution is the result OF an in
vestigation which began Sept. 4 last,
when girl of seventeen, named
Emma Mabel Briggs, daughter Of
Joseph NJ, Briggs, was found at the
house of DR.. Pickin by her father and
an officer after she had been missing
two days. The case of the prosecu-
ton is that the girl had been hypno-
tized and was crllninally assaulted
repeatedly by both pickin and his
son. The defendants have pleaded
not guilty and waived examination.
While the state expects to prove the
crime on evidence of the ordinary ma
ture, a large mass of evidence will be
rrod,iced on the hypnotic feat Ires of
the case. rhe facts are stated to be
that the girl, when found by her
father, was under hypnotic contlol;
that she remained so for long time
afterward, and owing to the control
exercised over her by young Pickin
she was unable to reveal the truth;
that she was constantly in the care Of
a prominent physician of this city;
that the authorities summoned to their
aid well known professional hyp1
notiSt physician who placed her under
hypnotic control superior to the 9TH
er influence; that by this means the
main facts were gained, though the
girl relapsed again into the control of
young Pickin's influence for a time;
that young Pickin was finally COM
PEELED by persuasion to practically re-
lease the girl from his hypnotic con-
troll, though he continued to impart
suggestions to the girl, duplicating
other parties, and for time battling
the authorities and the physicians in
spite of the fact that she was all this
time in their custody and that of her
parents; that by careful treatment her
mental freedom has finally been re-
stored, and that when the arrest of the
Pickins was announced to her she
threw off the last vestiges of their in
fuence and is prepared to tell her
story on the witness stand.
Interesting to Scientists.
One Of the extraordinary features
Of the case, SAYS the district attorney
ami the physicians, is that It was
demonstrated beyond the shadow of a
doubt that while the investigation
was going on Mabel Briggs and young
Pickin were in mental communication
to such an extent that, though sep
arated by distance Of two or three
miles, she described with perfect ac-
curacy on several occasions exactly
What Pickin was doing at time when
c0llnsion was absolutely impossible.
The physicians say that the phenome-
non of mental telegraphy or thought
transfcrence is by this case. estab-
lished firmly as scientific fact, and
that it opens new era. The girl is
of much more than ordinary intelli-
gence.
The story is terrible in its details.
One of the things she tells the district
attorney is that on the night she vas
taken to Pickin's house she read the
mind Of the doctor through that af his
son, and she claims to have received
some mysterious revelations. There
Is growing excitement over the affair.
Citizens of station and wealth are
interesting themselves in the girls
case DR.. Pickin and his son say
nothing, except that they are innocent.
DR.. Pickin has lived here many years
and has so-called vitapathic insti-
tute In an obscure part of the West
side. The Briggs family are of un-
exceptional social standing, and Ma
bel was always in good society until
this affair occurred