San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-11-04
HYPNorIsM OR wHAr9
1he Mysterious Influence That Makes Men
Lend Money Against Their WILL

away with the ten-dollar bill, and the
diiiident man from whom he had Dor
rowed it turned nervously to apologize
to his companions.
''He's friend of mine" he said. Il
I-er-rather like to lend money to
him. N-n-o-o, 1 don't really expect
him to pay back the money. But it's a
good investment, good investment"
NO." said one of his friends, sympa.
thizingly, ''it's not good investment.
Nothing of the kind. It's simply hyp-
notism. 1 was hypnotized the other
day just as you were. 1 had just a FIVE
dollar bill in my pocket, which was
saving to buy delicacies for my sick
wife. A man came along and says:
Lend me two dollars L amt got it,
says /. What have you got in your
pocket?' says he. a five-dollar bill to
buy delicacies for my sick wife,, says l.
Hand it OUT says he Hand it out at
cnce! Don't you see I'm waiting"
And, by George, the next moment l
found myself handing out that five-dol-
lar bill. It's hypnotism and nothing
else"
YES" said a third victim, its hyP-
notism and nothing else. I've been
hypnotized that way myself. 1 was
walking up Broadway the other day
when 1 met Smith. He looked at me
queerly and then said: Come along and
have a drink We went into belmont
co.'s and had a drink, and laid a two
dollar bill on the table to pay for it.
The waiter took out 40 cents and laid
down SLIGO. Quick as a flash Smith
grabbed the SLIGO, chucked ten cents to
the waiter, and showed the rest of the
money into his own pocket. Then he
looked at me as much as to say: just
you dare to say anything to me about
that money! And, do you know, l
didn't dare to say a word, but let him
carry off my own money without as
much as giving him the trouble to pull
gun on me and hold me up. 1 have
been told since that this is the way he
provides himself with pocket money.
He just picks up easy things like myself
and hypnotizes them and steals their
change"
"Hypnotism be hanged" exclaimed a
fourth member of the party. 1T isn't
hypnotism. It's downright robbery,
pure and simple. People have dis
covered nowadays that if they have
plenty of nerve they can do among their
friends things which would land them
in the penitentiary if they did to
strangers. The trouble is that the moral
sense of this community is altogether
too low. There's my Office boy, now.
He came around the other morning
with $50 fishing rod. 'Where'd you
get thatP' says 1. Bought it at church
fair says he. How much did you pay
for it?' says I. 4 got it at bargain, for
dollar 1t would have been bargain
at $25. Then cross-examined him. 1t
seems that somebody had presented the
rod to the fair and he wanted it badly.
His mother was superintendent of the
Sunday school, or something which gave
her authority, and she wanted her son
to have what he wanted, but wasn't go
ing to spend any considerable amount
of the family money for the PURPOSE
So she waited till there wasn't nobody
else around but her son and herself, and
then marked down the fishing rod
from $50 to one dollar, and her son
promptly bought it at the reduced price.
Isn't that nice way to treat the heather
they were having the fair for? asked
him, Gays 1: Won't the other church
people kick when they find out what
your mother did with that fishing rod
and how she worked it.? Lord bless
you, no. he says. They've been working
the same game, and there isn't one that
dare tell on the others This talk about
hypnotism is all tommyrot. It's just
concentrated nerve applied to highway
robbery committed upon ones friends"
Talking about fairs" said still an
other, 81 had something to do with a
national guard fair in an armory last
spring, and vote for the common dis.
honesty theory. We had dozen of lot
teries running, which you all know was
against the law in the first place, and
it was common talk that the officers in
charge had everything fixed up so that
they and their friends should win all |
the big prizes, and that the outsiders |
should be left. They had to leave an
dTIueu 3 udTu III Jue dTuOTy ali ulSuU W |
protect the articles in the booths, and |
every morning that guard would march |
out with a truckload of goods picked |
out during the night"
81 was down at Atlantic City with my |
wife last month" said another expert. |
among the people we met was one of
the sweetest shyest, loyeliest, most
timid, shrinking little beauties you ever
saw. She wasn't more than II, and was
so innocent and inexperienced in the
ways of the world that she blushed and |
trembled when she had to walk across
the hotel piazza without her mother.
Well, the day we got back my wife asked |
me for some money. She said that the
day before she left Atlantic City this
shy beauty had borrowed $11.2 from her.
Wasn't it a queer coincidence she
asked me, that she should have hap
pened to need the money just the day
y Y ~ L n