San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-04-28
A STARTLING ASSERTION.
BY HERBERT FLowERDEw.

| TCCOlN upOn dhOIuCEg bdlh bCh-
nett, grandiloquently, at the club one
night, sis immense and undeniable. 4"
He was a little taken aback when he
saw that DR.. Macpherson had quietly
entered the room as he spoke, for the
great brain specialist generally man
ages to take a considerable discount
off the worth of the superstitious ma
ior's scientific assertions. On this oc-
casion, however, Macpherson happened
to agree with him to some extent.
1.-THE direct power of the brain is a
subject which needs investigating"
he said. THE pity is that the science
IS at present almost entirely in the
hands of charlatans Now, / met a
man once who could kill a person
simply by willing it, his own brain
controlling and paralyzing that of his
victim; at any rate, that is the power
he claimed for himself. Unfortunately,
he was killed before had an oppor-
tunity of verifying his claim to any ex-
tent. But 1 am interrupting. you, ma
jor."
bennett was more anxious than any
of us to hear of case which seemed to
illustrate what he had been saying,
and very remarkable story the doc
tor told us.
IT met Prof. Lyas1as he called
himself-on board an. American liner"
he began my brother had become
engaged to New York lady travelling
in Europe, and as her people were
anxious that the wedding should take
place at her home, we We're all going
across to the states. had been want
ing holiday, and Robin, my brother,
was anxious that l should officiate as
his best man, 50 managed to join the
party going across. 1t was on the Sec
ond day out that this Lyas began talk
ing at dinner of his wonderful power
OF will, and he offered to convince any
skeptical persons by operating upon
them He would not kill them out
right, he said, kindly, but if the proper
conditions were observed he would,
by simply looking into the sub
ject's eyes, suspend for a moment the
action of the heart, and take them
as near death as was expedient for an
experiment. l volunteered instantly,
and the professor was making arrange
ments for the public display of his
power when, to everybody's surprise, q
lady also expressed her willingness to
undergo the experiment. She was
quiet-looking little woman of thirty
or 50, who was travelling alone, was
told afterwards, to join her hus-
band in the states, and her offer
surprised me all the more when 1
observed from her face that she was
evidently of a highly excitable and
hysterical nature. The passengers
generally seemed in favor of the lady
undergoing the test instead of me.
Finally the professor decided to try his
will-power upon US both in turn, and
we adjourned to the deck for the ex-
pertinent Unfortunately it was de-
cided to take Mrs. Maple, the quiet
little lady, first. The professor sat in
a deck-chair facing her, at the distance
of few feet, and fixed his remarkably
piercing little black eyes on her face.
We gathered round in quite a state of
excitement, which became indescrib-
dDbS WHICH, III 1CSo IildD 1--we
the lady turned white and tainted. /
hurried up at once to attend to her,
and applied the usual restoratives, but
it was quite long time before she re-
gained consciousness. She seemed to
be in state of catalepsy, and the pas
sengers were in fearful state, think
ing that they had helped to kill her.
They were relieved when l came up
from her cabin, to which the professor
had helped me to carry har, with the
announcement that she was we'll on
the way to recovery; but when 1 ex-
pressed my willingness to subject my
self to the experiment they rose in a
body to protest against it, and the cap
tain put an end to the matter by abSo-
lutely refusing to let another trial of
the kind take place on his vessel was
amused to see how thoroughly the pro-
fessor's feat had impressed everybody
on board, and noticed a general inclina-
ton among the passengers to give him
wide berth and avoid his eye. For my
own part should have been more sat
isfied with his performance if 1 had
been the subject, and, since there was
no chance of another public trial of
his power, l determined to ask Lyas to
give me private one in my cabin. Be
fore l had an opportunity of asking
him, however, my views with re-
gard to the professor underwent a
change. l had been considering him
simply a charlatan. My brother in
formed me that he was blackguard.
1t seemed that he had been prosecuting
Miss Gavin, my sister-in-law elect,
with unpleasant attentions They had
met casually a year before in New
York, and the fellow was presuming
now upon their slight acquaintance to
make violent love to the lady, in spite
of her unconcealed dislike for him, and
the fact that she was about to marry
my brother. Robin was furious, of
course, and asked me to be present at
the interview he was intending to have
with his fiancee's prosecutor.
81 was quite willing.
"'G will run up on deck and fetch
him down now, if you will wait here
said, and we can have him all to oIlr-