The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1895-01-10
HypnOtism Unsuccessful De-
fenSe in a Kansas Trial.
Anderson Grays Conspiracy to
Kill His Neighbor.

lie in Sumner county, Kansas.
A jury there acquitted the actual
murderer and convicted man who
had subjected the murderer to hyp.
motto Suggestions" of murder.
No case in Western courts has ex-
cited the interest Of the public and the
proiessions-legal and medical-as the
case of The State vs.. Tom Mac Donald.
Macdonald shot Tom Patton down in
cold blood. On the witness stand
Macdonald confessed the deed, but
not the guilt His defense was that
his employer, Anderson Gray, farm
er, used him as the hypnotic lnstru-
ment to put an enemy out Of the way.
The jury, comprising twelve as sensi-
BILE men as can be found in the State
of Kansas, acquitted Macdonald, the
murderer in deed, and convicted An.
derson Gray, the hypnotist, the MUIR
derer in fact.
The story of the crime with its mys-
terious and unusual circumstances is
this:
Tom Macdonald was a cook in q
restaurant in the city OF Wichita,
Kan, for come months previous to last
April. He was known as = man OF
ordinary capacity of mind, endowed
with no special or distinctive traits
other than an even, workaday temper.
ament, and lacking in any attribute
that might be spurred into vicious
ness.
Anderson Gray is wealthy farmer
in Sumner county. His farms and
his ranches reach from horizon to
horizon in the dead level of a Kansas
landscape. He is tall and powerful.
His fifty-seyen years have not bent his
form or touched his hair with silver.
His portiness is in marked contrast
with the appearance of his agricultu-
raj neighbors, and his hair still retains
the lustrous black quality Of youth.
Cousins and neighbors, in Sumner
county, near the little town of Con-
way Springs, lived Dave and Tom
Patton, dwelling in peace and amity.
HOW DIVORCES COME.
About year ago the wife OF one Of
Anderson Gray's neighbors began to
get Cranky" Her husband, expect
ing divorce, in order to avoid divi-
sion of property, transferred his prop
erty to Anderson Gray. There was
one witness to the transaction. This
was rom Patton.
The divorce came and the sharp
farmer prepared to ask Gray to trans
fer the property back to him.
Gray had been Conniving and con.
spring He had settled conviction
that his divorced neighbor should
never get that property back. There
was one stone in the otherwise smooth
path-the witness, Tom Patton.
Gray was man of superior mind.
He read great deal. He had heard
of "mesmerism" and later "hypno-
tism." He had seen no hypnotic per-
formances or demonstrations, but as
near as he could determine from read
ing, hypnotism could be exerted by
!, transferring motive to another aud
inferior mind by q suggestion, and
, that suggestion could be developed
into thought or desire, which the
hypnotizer could control as though it
were in his own mind.
Last fall Gray met Tom Patton, the
, witness to the transfer OF property.
, 1t was on quarter section of road.
+ He tried his theories on the new fam
gled hypnotism and found them
practicable. So far as the evidence
goes there is no indication that he
touched Tom Patton at all. But he
( gave him the suggestion" that his
cousin, "Dave" Patton, was his enemy
, and would kill him on sight
3 Tom T ton, with dilated pupils and
). poor, aJdled brain, wandered away to
/. wreak vengeance on his hitherto be.
loved cousin. The tall, sleek amateur
t in hypnotigm stood on the country
t road and laughed. 1t was working
:. we'll.
|, NOT SUCCESSFUL AT FIRST.
The imaginary quarrel with hi'
> cousin grew in the mind of Tom Pat
ton as the weeks went by, and it was
: time and time again augmented by
the presence and suggestions Of Gray
One day Dave Patton came to Wichita
Hynotist Gray found his time anC
" opportunity had arrived. He sent hi
q. Subject" Tom Patton, to Wichita af
ter his cousin with instructions OF