The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-07-27
Hyprlotisrn i'm Its
Relation to Crime.
A Question Upon Which Our Courts Must
Soon Take Decisive Stand.

a. a condition Of crime, must ana VIII
be recognized by the courts. MT. Beii
is an authority on the science OF hypno-
tism. He has given years of his live TO
the study of the mystical. Some re-
cent crimes in which hypnotism Is saio
to play a part would seem to bear Wr'
Bell out in his promises. Five cases
have lately come before the courts IN
which the criminals have alleged that
they committed their crimes while un-
der hypnotic influence. The most not
able of these are the Pickins case, In
Eau Claire, Wis. and the Tom '.'.ac-
Donald case of Kansas City.
Tom Macdonald was recently acquit-
ted for the murder of a man named
Thomas Patten, after ne had confessed
to the Jury THAT he had killed his VIC
tim. His lawyer did not plead insanity,
but made a direct statement that MAC
Donald was under the hypnotic infiu'
ence Of his employer. Anderson Gray.
The jury convicted Gray of murder In
the first degree and acquitted nlacDon-
aid. thus making the first precedent OF
hypnotism I'm crime and in law. The
press dispatches say that Gray was a
man Of commanding presence and dicta-
torial manner, ard that Macdonald,
while perfectly sane. was of weak
and vlcilhting disposition. MacDon-
aid was induced by Gray to lie In wait
for his victim and shoot him down from
ambush.
The Fan Claire Case.
The other case which lately attracted
a great dell of attention In the west Is
the Pickins case. The story goes that
Dr.. w, @. Pickins and his son, Asagali
Pickins, hypnotized two young girls,
one 16 years old. named Edna Mabel
Briggs, and another. IA. named Alma
Leonard, and compelled them to leave
uheir homes IN Eau Claire and to go to
Chippewa Falls, in Wisconsin. alone
and there awtaht the doctor and his son,
who followed on the next train. At
Chippewa Falls the two men accom-
plished the ruin OF the young girls. The
girls were away from home thirty-six
hours. and when they returned eithe:
could nst, or would not, tell their fran
tic parents where they had been or
what they had been doing. Their ac-
tons were 20 queer that the father Of
The Briggs girl suspected she was un'
der some strange influence and sent to
Chicago for DR.. Herbert Flint, noted
hypnotic doctor. who came and placed
Edna Briggs in a som:ambulistic state
and, while she was in that condition,
discovered what had happened.
This testimony was not brought out In
the trial, because the presiding judge,
William F. Bailey. would not allow It,
He says that hypnotism is an absurdity
A great many of the brightest minds in
the west who have read the case take
sides with the Judge, claiming that the
district attorneys case was a manufac-
tured one, and that there is no such
power as hyppotdsm. The two girls are
very pretty and attractive, and are
daughters Of wealthy parents.
An Example from Paris.
Another case, not so recent, Is the
famous Eyraud-Bompard case. Of
Paris. Eyraud compelled Madeline
Bompard to murder and rob under his
direction. She claimed while on trial
at the Cour d'Assizes de la Senie that
Eyraud had hypnotized her and made
her commit these crimes. In France
there are two schools Of hypnotism. one
at Nancy the other at La Salpetrierie,
and both widely divergent. The prin-
cipals Of each school were called in.
Bronardel and his disciples of La Sal
pietrierie testified that q subject was
thrown into three states by the ope-
rator-first, a caAaleptic; second, a
a ~ q
state, in which latter the subject could
be made to Do anything without know
ing 1t, at the will Of the operator. Bor-
nardel claimed a subject in this condi-
tion was diseased and the hypnotic con-
dition could not exist In persons Of
normal and healthy conditions. The
famous Professor Charcot Of Paris was
one Of <hose who leaned to the La Sal
petrierie view.
On the other side the school of Nancy,
represented in court by Professor Lie
geIos, declared that hypnotism was not
. pathological state, but a psychology
cal condition, that 80 per cent. Of the
human race could be hypnotized and
fully so per cent. be placed in the SOM
fambulistic state, and in that condi-
tion would commit crime. Professor
IAegeios utterly discarded the theory
that a subject that was hypnotized was
necessarily In a hysterical or weak con-
dition, and averred that hypnotism was
clearly a manifestation of natural phe-
nomena. According to Professor Lie
geios Crime could be committed by sug-
gestion. and the hypnouzer was re-
with the exception that he said the SUBJ
5ect being willing one was equally re-
sp0nsfble. The Cour d'Assizes de la
Seine did not settle the question. for 1t
throw out all the hypnotic expert evil
denoe on the ground that Madeline
B0mpard was such liar that no court
could beissve her tale. Since that time
-1S90-Trench courts have shun ted
hypnotic evidence to one side, although
It is an unquestioned fact that at least
76 per cent. Of beth legal and medical
talent in France believe thoroughly in
hypnotism az a factor In crime and a
pathological condition.
Hypuotism IN America.
In America IRE belief in hypnotism Is
slowly growing. Mr.. Bell, who has the
literature Of the subject at his fingers
ends. says that today about 30 per cent.
Of the medical men believe in the occult
ecfence and about 10 per cent. of the
lawyers hold similar beliefs. In Amer
sca, as abroad, there are two schools Of
belsef-sthe pathological and psycholog.
scal-but both schools believe that the
operator 10 in the end the guilty party.
As far back as 1891 the question as to
whether we needed a revision OF the
laws Of evidence in view Of hypnotic
conditions was seriously discussed by
some Of the eminent lawyers. scientists,
phytcians and literary men Of this coun-
try. The question Of whether there
should be legal surveillance over public
or private experiments was also dis