The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-26
(The End)
HYPNOTIsM AND ROULETTE.
How the Man at the Wheel Lost
$1,000 MysteriOusIy.
From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat


From the st. Louis Globe-Democrat.
"Hypnotism is mysterious thing that is
now claimed to be used by swindlers and
charlatans in their devilish work, as well
as by reputable men of science; but have
| often wondered why some shrewd gambler
has not turned his attention to hypnotism
and used it as a means of making easy
winnings" said M. o. Burrill of Chicago,
VINO was discussing ways that are dark
ana tricks that are vain" with party of
travelling men al the Planters
THE nearest thing to hypnotism in gam
bling that ever saw was five or six years
ago at Grand Forks, n. D. Quite COM
motion was caused by stranger, dressed
IN the garb of country merchant, win
nlng at single sitting $1,000 in Charlie
Martins gambling rooms. This stranger
IN the gulse of country merchant, drop
ped into Martins place and gazed around
at the gamblers He appeared to be
greatly surprised at the extent of the gam
bling that was going on. I remember him
well. He was slim, of medium hight, hie
forehead and bald head. He was smooth
shaver, with eyes deeply set, and which
shone with wondrous brightness. He tried
MS luck at various games with varying
success. Finally he stopped at the roulette
table and placed 81 on SIT. The little ivory
ball spun arond a few times and dropped
into IS. He did not appear to care about
gambling any more, and went into the sa-
loon adjoining. Soon the gamblers began
to go out for lunch and he returned to
the wheel, where he sat down and begain
TO play light. The room was soon cleared
OF all gamblers except the man at the
wheel. The player glanced into the mans
lace, and his eyes fairly glistencd as mean
While ne placed money on different num-
pers A few men who had either gam bled
their money away or were out of luck
came in and gathered around the player
seeing that he was beginning to play high
All noticed that the man at the wheel
seemed to be under some strange influence
ana appeared to be acting contrary to his
desire. He would whrI the little ivory
marble, and, regardless of the fact that the
player was losing, he would pay the bet
IN the same ratio as if he had won The
onlookers, of course, had no sympathy with
the gambler, and they watched in silence
When the last dollar had been taken from
the drawer the player thrust the money
before him into his pockets, never taking
his eyes from the wheeman's face, ana,
vanished through the door. That was
the last seen of the supposedly country
merchant.
The instant the stranger was out of the
room the man who manipulated the wheel
reached his hands to his head and shud-
| dered. When he discovered that the til
was empty he swore that he had been
Knocked down and robbed; but he was in
| formed by the bystanders, among whom
were several well-known citizens of the
| town, that such was not the case. He was
told that he had been paying off bets for
| twenty minutes in a reckless manner and
| that he had not been robbed, but cheated.
| don't know how it was done! was
| hypnotized! exclaimed the man at the
wheel.
HE could not be made to believe that he
was so careless as to give up about 81, 300
unless he had been put under some magic
| spell, and many of those present were firm
| IN the belief that the man at the wheel
had really been hypnotized. Anyhow, the
| wheelman declared he would thereafter
be chary of all men with bright eyes"
Every land owner with cedar among his
timber would do well to see that none of
| IL IS cut down to waste, for it is a wood
that Is in great demand and the price is
likely to advance steadily" said B. Arthur
Johnson, OF Chicago, at the Planters. Mr..
Johnson is chief shark, or some sort of
officer with an outlandish name, in the
Concatenated Order of Hoo Hoos.
Florida has made millions of dollars out
| OF its cedar, and other states can and will
follow suit. for the number of pencils man
| fractured is getting greater every year.
and this is the only kind of wood that can
| De used with any prospect of success. in
| Ihe process More than half the wood cut
! Ior pencils is shipped to Germany. where
more than half the worlds supply is act
ually turned out, and both France and
England also take large quantities. The
| pencil manufacturing interest is easy to
| control there being less than thirty manu-
1acturers in the entire world Four or five
/ years ago there was lead pencil trust.
put finally one member broke away. and
enen prices were slashed in competition.
more cedar wood is being expofted each
| year, however,
Ialk about ghosts and haunted hotels
had an experience in the Phoenix house.
IN little town in Indiana" said r. c.
| Nell. at the st. James
Inc room isn't number 10, either" con-
| tinued Mr.. Nell, as he summoned his cour-
age and nerve at the very Remembrance
OF a horrible experience. "A man was he
headed in room T. in this hotel. several
years ago; that is, he committed s,,icide bv
simply cutting his throat from > r. 10 ear
with razor. Soon after that strange
noises We're heard in that room at nioht
In the small hours of the night many a
man who had been assigned TO room 7
would rush frantically downstairs and tel
/ the sleepy night clerk that somebody had
| been Shaping him in the face with a wet
towel, and that the coal oil lamp wouldn't
burn, and the room was cursed with
| strange noises that made ones blood run
| cod. So it finally came to be considered
a haunted room, and nobody was assign
ell to No. Z. Well stopped at the hotel
when 1t was crowded, and the clerk said:
Only one room left, and that is No. 7
and know you don't want it., because
a man cut off his head in there and ii Is
| haunted
I poohpoohed the idea, and said was
| glad to get the room. But was sorry for
it. I am not superstitious, but blamed Il
| l didn't have rooms to rent in the upper
story that night. had no more than
turned out the light and fallen into a
sound sleep than was awakened by what
l thought was q slap in the face with a
wet towel. Then the water pitcher began
20 rattle on the table, and the transom
made noise, As / lay there perfectly
quiet in the black darkness, 1 imagined
that shower Of blood was falling In the
room. could sec plainly the horrible face
OF a man whose throat was cut from ear
to ear. / couldn't stand II any longer. 7
summoned up courage to jump out of he'd
light the coal oil lamp, which only smut,
tered stubbornly, and I dressed and Law
on couch in the Office and snoozed until
morning Can this a ghost, or imaeine-
| ton, or what not, ! couldn't sleop in tbat
I'M hon N