The age-herald., 1897-09-21
Tries the Powers of His Occult
 Art.
PROVES A GRAND FAILURE
Private Exhibition Given at the Morris Hotel in the Presence of Select
 Audience

eclipsed any exhibition of similar char acter that has yet bekn given in Bir- mingham.
 For the past week a handsome young faker with poetic locks, dreamy eyes that haunt me still" and pair of pat ent leather dancing pumps, has been generously advertised as Pro Fonda, the hypnotic wonder of the world and has been demonstrating the power of mind over matter" by imposing upon the credullty of that large class of peo- pie who stand ever ready to accept any kind of ssong and dance" which smooth tongued "professors'' of the occult sci- ences are willing to exchange for Uncle Sam's samoleonS
 This musical-voice scientist with the unamputated tress;s and decolette foot gear found such a "puddin' in the peo- pie of Birmingham that he was 10th to leave when his engagement was fin- ished at East Lake, and after much de- liberation finally persuaded himseT to cruelty allow the balance of the world to go unenlightened in the mysteries O. the occult ant and yield to the fnpor- tunities of a number of swell young gentle men whom he had "hypnotized into believing that he could teach them hypnotlSm, and whose wish 1t was to become masters of the science. Accord ingly, a. class was formed, and it has
 
 bedroom at the Morris. Last night was the fou1th lesson, and the professor hal everything in readiness to demonstrate hls ability as teacher He had sub ect' OH hand, and Otto Marx, one of the class, was invited to exert his newly &C., quired power He was astonished at the result for the Subject of course yielded readily to the power of the anna teur SvengalpS magnetic gaze and per formed all sorts of antics, such as mak- inc tn of xaTaa told was the prenreur danseuse of an after circus concert. Of course the sub ject was entranced by the voluptuous. beauty whom he was supposed he was fon1ling, bIt the am.6teur hypnotistS may feel thankful that he did not em- ploy this particular subject to demon strate the "art" of hypnotic loys-mak- ing to a company of ladies
 The class was so delighted at the ap- parent success of the novice that they failed to notic= incidents which were widely at varience with the theory of hypnotism. The reporter who had been there many @ time before noticed that the subject" forgot th4 "spell' which he was supposed to be laboring under, eveTytime anyone entered the room and looked up to see who was en- tering and when he was commanded to save the life of a drowning child he walked slowly entirely across the room to where he could dive into the laps Of SO11e Ol Ifle cldSc5. III OIuci lo put lahS professor to further test the reporter concluded to offer himself as subject, as the members of the class were too modest to perform in his presence. Ac- cordingly he agreed that if tha class would keep tab on his actions while he was under the "speep he would play subject.
 The professor, after expressing a doubt as to his ability to do su, proceeded to make his passes and glue his glistenng eyes upon the mildewed orbs of the reporter who after waiting patiently Tor some time for the hypnotic effect which refused to materialize, decided 10 hu- nor tine professor and do his own writ ing.
 After arriving at the decision-it took about fifty-nine seconds for the repoitST to become the most wonderful subject the class had ever seen. He was tax en on a trip to Mobile and made to write up a sensational account of the yellow fever epidemic. besides which the re- ports of the plague Of '1S paled inu9 in- be gained by the following headlines which sgt the article off:
 s.DBATH RULES THE BOOST.
 Six Thousand Souls Gone to Their Eternal Reet in Single Day.
 The Owls and Bats Are Having a Picnic in the Mansions of the Plutocrats While Mice Make Merry in the Skuils of the Unburied Dead.
 Doctors Have Deserted Their Posts and Fled Like Cowards.
 But One Man Left and He ProWls Among the Victims Like Hyena Seek ing Whom He May Despon.
 The class was now convinced mere could be no doubt of the power or hyp. ndtlsm when such an arucle as than could be written by a man wno InS hsss unable to open his eyes. Hhe crowd however, mdstook the nervous tWttcn- iners of the subjects eyes for hypnotlc influence when in reality 1t afforded an opportunity for very rap1o giahces at
 The subject was then instructed to wire the story in to the New orK World, and he immedi ately knocked ou, even the professor by taking pencil from the table and checking off the en- fire story without errors. In this eff fort the reporter was saved by shgnt knowledge of telegraphy picked up when boy.
 tion as managing editor of the New York World, which he accepted. He was given $50 to make the trip to New York on Tine professor in order to show that the subject was entirely irresponsible, told him that the money was only worth less paper and the subject humored the joke by tearing the money up before anyone could interfere. If there had | been alny dloubting Thomases before there were none after that.
 Tthe reporter was next put on the train for New York Sol Caheen soon introduced himself as Marion Stewart Cam, of 'S.lent Eye' fame, and the sub- ject very properly made a slap at the alleged Cam thak would, If 1t had reached the home plate, scored home run for the ''Stlalnh Eye" Otto Marx also had to exhibit his agility and dex- 'terfty in the art of self-defense when impersonaltlng the mythical conductor of the train when he attempted to inter- fere with the liberties of inc subject, who was a scrapper under hypnotic in fuence, if at no other time.
 The trip was finished without further inicident of note, and the subject was finally brought into the presence of Jo- seph Pulitzer, who got a roasting, but the reporter demonstrated his cRarac- 'teristic nerve by striking the great edf- tor for $20,000 a year. and was accepted. MAY HAVE TO EL0PE.