The Portland daily press., 1895-04-20
COULD KILL BY WILL.

N0ColJ upon eluOtlleI; SelAu nAdJof oeluc0b
grandiloquently at the club one night, sis
immense and undeniable." He was lit
tie taken aback when he saw DIR. Mao
pherson had quietly entered the room as he
spoke for the great brain specialist gener-
ally manages to take considerable discount
off the worth of the superstitious majors
scientific assertions. On this occasion,
however, Macpherson happened to agree
with him to some extent.
''Tbe direct power of the brain is sub
,Sect rshicl needs investigating, " he said.
1.-THE pity is that the science is at present
almost in TIE hands Of charlatans. Now,
met a man once who could kill person
simply by willing it, his own brain con-
trolling and paralyzing that Of his victim.
At any rate that is the power he claimed
for himself Unfortunately he was killed
before 1 had an opportunity of verifying
his claim to any extent. But I am inter
rupting you, major"
bennett was more anxious than any of
us to hs;st of case which seemed to illus
trate what he had been saying. and very
remarkable story the doctor told us.
at met Professor Lyas,' as 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 were all going across to the States. I
had been wanting holiday, and Robin,
nv brother, was anxious that I should
officiate as best man, SO managed to join
the party going across. Tt was on the sec
ond day Gus that this Lyas began talking
at dinner " his wonderful power of will,
and he offered to convince any skeptical
persons by operating upon them. He
would not kill them outright, he said
kindly, but if the proper conditions were
observed he would, by simply looking into
the subjects eyes, suspend for moment
the action of the heart and take them as
near.deatn as was expedient for an expert
ment. volunteered instantly, and the
professor was making preparations for the
public display Of his power when, to ev
erybody's surprise, a lady also expressed
her willingness to undergo the expert
ment. She was quiet looking little
woman of 80 or SO, who was travelling
alone, I was told afterward to join her
husband in the States, and her offer sur
prised me all the more when I observed
from her face that she was evidently of a
highly exci5sble and hysterical nature.
"The passengers generally seemed in IA
vor 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 eA-
pertinent. Unfortunately it YVES decided
to take Mrs. Maple, the quiet lit5lo lady
first. The professor sat in d deck chair,
facing her, at the distance of a few feet
and fixsa his remarkably piercing eyes
on her face, We gathered round III quite
a state IL excitement, which became indie
scribable when in les than five minutes
the lady turned white and tainted. hur-
ried up at once to attend her and applied
the usual restorative IS, but it was quite a
long time before she regained conscious
ness. She seemed to be in state of catta-
1epsy, and the passengers were in a fearful
state, thinking that they had helped to
kill her. They were relieved when came
up from her cabin to which the professor
had helped me to carry her. with the an
nouncement that she was well on the way
to recovery, but when [ expressed my will
ingness to subject myself to the experiment
they rose in a body to protest against it,
and the captain put an end to the matter
by absolutely refusing to let another trial
of the kind take place on his vessel. I
was amused to see how thoroughly the
professors feat had impressed everybody
on board, aE.a noticed general inclina-
ton among the passengers to give him
wide berth and avoid his eye. For my
own part should have been more salts
fled with his performance if had been the
subject, and since there was no chance Of
another public trial of his power deter
mined to ask Lyas to give me private one
in my cabin. Before l had an opportu-
nifty Of asking him, however, my views
with regard to the professor underwent IL
change. 1 had been considering him sim
ply charlatan. My brother informed me
he was BLACKBOARD. It seemed that he
had been prosecuting Miss Gavin, my sis
ter-in-law elect, with unpleasant atten-
tions. They had met casually year be-
fore in New York, and the fellow was pre-
Stunning now on 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 broth
er. Robin was furious, Of course, and ask
ed me to be present at the interview he
was intending to have with his fiancee's
prosecutor. was quite willing.
I will run up on deck and fetch him
down now, if you will wait here I said,
'And we can have him all to ourselves
while we give him a bit of our minds
IT strolled up on deck to look for the
professor, but as it was pretty dark had
some difficulty in finding him. At last,
however, caught sight of him, leaning
over the taffrail talking to lady. When
found that the lady was Miss Gavin, I
felt no hesitation in interrupting the con
versation, which knew must be distaste-
full to her. AS I was about to do so, how
ever, my attention was arrested by some
thing the villain was saying, and I am not
In the least ashamed to confess that |
waited without disturbing him to hear a
little more Of it. The professors chief at
traction was a singularly clear voice, and
although he was speaking almost in a
whisper L could catch everything he said.
He was threatening to kill her lover b.
J. his will power of his unless she promised
hi. N to break off the engagement. My
bloc, boiled when poor Katie Gavin an
sweret l, and her voice told me how fright
ened al d impressed she was. Of course it
sounds strange to you, gentlemen, that a
sensible Dung lady could be alarmed by
such thft mt, but you must remember that
AIo ayperllnp1at of tho ~, frri,,, H. Il ,,oo4 al