Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1897-12-01
NOT IN SCHOOL HOURS.
Prof. Ferguson of Sheboygan
Schools Makes a Statement
About Charges.

Sheboygan, Wis, Nov. 29.-[Special.
| The extent to which hypnotism has
| been practiced upon pupils of the pubic
| schools will be investigated at a special
| meeting of the school board this evening.
| The subject will be brought up when the
| complaint against George w. Ferguson,
| the director of drawing, is laid before
! the board.
| Prof. Ferguson has refused to make
any statement for publication regarding
| the complaint against him until today.
II have never allowed myself" he said,
''t0 hypnotic any pupil in school buildings
or on school premises. | did ask the eighth
grade boys of the Fourth ward school on
Monday morning if they were interested
in the study Of magnetism; if so 10 ask
their parents at noon if they would per
nit them to meet that evening to witness
or take part in a parlor hypnotic eXhlbl-
ton, and to let me know at noon. At L
p. m. | asked the boys if their parents
were willing. Some said they might GO
but not take part; others said they might
take part | distinctly told them and
emphasized the fact that l never allowed
anyone to take part if their parents said
not to do so. 1t was under these con-
ditions that the exhibition was given
and it was wholly disconnected from the
school as were various other parlor eX-
hibitions at my home and elsewhere
From this on" said Mr.. Ferguson,
''no minor will be allowed to witness or
take part in any exhibition or to receive
instructions from me unless he present
written permit from his parents"
The complaint against Prof. Ferguson
has caused a profound sensation. 1t is
rot believed, however, that the school
board or Supt. Heller will do more than
repFinand Mr.. Ferguson and order him
to discontinue hypnotic experiments on
school children.
Adolph kaufman, superintendent of
the Mattoon Manufacturing company,
was the first to discover the situation, it
is said. He has daughter who attends
the Fourth ward school. He became sus-
picious that something unusual was going
on and began an investigation. The re-
suit was that he went to the school board
and preferred the charges against Prof.
Ferguson.
Just what these charges are will not be
known until the meeting of the school
board tonight. Mr.. Kuhlman, however,
claims that his daughter has been under
Prof. FergusOn,s control, more or less, for
several weeks. He expresses alarm at
the professors CONTROL over the girl and
declares that her health is suffering from
the repeated experiments to which she
has been subjected at his hands. 1t is
understood that the girl is one of a num-
Der of Fourth ward school pupils who
have been taken to, tine residence of Mr..
and Mrs. Bowman for Che purpose of ex-
pertinent and used as; subjects to dem
onstrate the professors power
But if the parents were slow to dis
cover Prof. Ferguson's hypnotic prac-
tees, his pupils were nCe- Many of the
older boys in the schools found out early
what was going on. Their instructors
mysterious power eScitedl their uubounded
admiration, and it was not long before
they were endeavoring To- initiate him.
They operated on younger pupils, and
some of these youthful SvengaIis are I'M
derstood to have developed considerable
ability in the direction of influencing sub
iectS.