Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1894-10-03
SCIENTISTS MYSTIFIED.
Mrs. Annie Abbott Gives an Exhi-
bition of Her Mysterious Power
in New York.

Mrs. Annie Abbott. the Georgia mag
net, is creating 4 sensation in New York
city by battling the strength of strong
men by some power which if it is not
out-and-out trickery. may be something
akin to hypnotism. The New York Her
aid gives an interesting account of a re-
cent exhibition of her marvellous power
! at the Sturtevant house.
When the walters had cleared the dim
ing room of the hotel they put a large
board platform. half a foot high, at the
further end Of the room. arranged the
chairs and began to bow in the investi-
gators, every one of whom felt the inn
portance of his mission.
Then, presently, Mrs Abbott, who is
Il tiny little woman, with u sunken face.
but big bright eyes, came IN. She looks
anaemic-like a woman who lives on
strong tea and keeps alive by sheer grit.
There were fat diamonds in her hair
and in rings on her fingers. She wore
an evening dress, with pretty pink ostrich
| feathers hanging to IT. In her hands
We're handkercniefS. on which American
| flags were embroidered.
| With her came her pretty daughter of
| II, Il slim child. very sweet, in Il green
| ish yellow dress. Mrs. Abbott said that
she was going to give an exhibition of
her strange force or power. She had
! no name Tor II. II JIl6 spectators Jn0uHllJ
| that what she did was a trick they would
| have full opportunity to ferret it out.
| She added that German doctors had
| made a great row over her. lasting three
| years, during which they called each 9th
| er names three feet long. but in spite of
! that she was still the great Georgia mys-
| terry.
Prof Charcot had tackled the problem
of her powers and had added experiments
to her repertoire. but even he died with
| out guessing that such things as she did
We're so.
I'm not magnet she insisted; Tn
not that kind, though | may draw spec
tatOrS. I'm just an ignorant little country
girl who was married when she was Ii
years old and didn't have d chance to
| complete her education.
! Then her little daughter came upon the
! platform. The magnet laid one hand
upon the girls neck, near the top Of the
| spine. A heavily built physician then
grabbed the girl under the armpits. Mrs.
| Abbott placed one of her hands upon one
! of his, but without eXerting any pressure.
| He tried to lift the child, but apparently
| something had occurred to her that made
| her weigh a ton, and he couldn't do it.
! 1t was only when the contact of hands
was broken that he was able TO get her
/ off her feet.
Then a very big English physician
| dressed in q bread and butter cOIOred suit
of clothes, three sizes too large for him,
tackled the problem, but failed as utterly.
One of the walters acting on the lines
| of previously arranged plan, now drove
six little street urchins into the room
Three were put on the stage with the lit
| tie girl and made to join hands. The
! boys pants all had the regulation layers
| of dirt, proving that they were genuine
! boys and not limitations.
Now, boys" said Mrs. Abbott, 'don't
look at the little girl. Fix your eyes on
| your feet and see that no one raises them
above the ground. Keep your toes right
| down..
Four heavy men, one of them with gray
| side whiskers, looking as Chauncey De
| pew might if scissors were abolished.
| tried to raise the four Youngsters off the
j ground. The magnet formed part Of the
| circle, though, and they couldn't They
struggled and fought and squirmed like
a lot of cells, but the children's feet only
! left the ground when the contact Of hands
! was broken, the current or whatever it
was penetrating even the dirt Of the street
| urchins.
Then a gray-haired gentleman had A
sort of GraecO-ROman wrestling match
| with himself in trying to raise Mrs. Alb
bott from the ground. He knelt down
IN very odd positions and threw her over
| his shoulder at the start, when the mag
netic current or hypnotic flow, or what
| ever it was, wasn't going. But when
| the magnet clinched her teeth, trembled
violently and seemed to have a sort Of
| SpaSm and the current was on, the
| gray athlete couldn't move her an inch.
| He returned to his seat thoroughly
| crushed, only to find his hat in a similar
| condition, newspaper man having sat
| on it.
Then twenty of the latest, strongest
/ and healthiest doctors were asked to come
| New York doctors look well fed The
| average weight of the fifteen men who
responded must have been 175 pounds.
| They were all ranged in single line, with
their hands on each others necks an at
| titude similar to that of policeman with
a prisoner preceding him. and not unlike
| the line in which cOnVictS march. They
are formed into battering ram, the head
of the line being eighteen inches from
the wall They We're told that on the
word of command they were to press
| onward like wild, untamed creatures, and
! try to push Mrs Abbott. who placed her
self between the head man of the line and
the wall, right through the masonry.
The magnet put her hands against
the hands of the two men that they placed
on the wall to test the pressure. The
man at the head Of the line had his hands
on her neck. She quivered, trembled
violently, and gave the word.
The rush line pushed onward, but Mrs
Abbott stood unmoved. The battering
ram sWayed, and then burst in the center
| from the pressure. The men against
whose hands the magnet was leaning
said that they had felt no pressure what
ever.
Next a big pair of scales was brought
| in and Mrs. Abbott stood upon them
| A man who said he knew all about weigh
ing machines tried to weigh her. but
| found that she varied her weight every
| few minutes by some device or other
| Finally he announced in despair: "She
| weighs anything from seventy pounds
| up" and retired from the field.
| Mrs. Abbott explained that her eXpe-
rements were hampered by the fact that
the platform Of the scales and the
| wheels on which it stood were of iron