Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-08-11
BEATEN BY SINNER.
THE PROFESSOR A RUINED MAN OW.
ING TO THE HOTEL CLERK.

A Novel Use of Hypnotism That Earned
Him Comfortable Living Until He Tn
dertooIS to Flash n Paste Diamond on
the Dapper Night Clerk.
"If it had not been for one of you fell |
lows, l might now DO supporting myself |
comfortably by my hypnotic powers in.
stoad of playing tho piano and doing |
vaudeville turns" said the professor after
no had finished his stunt at the Friday |
night smoker of the Hotel Clerks Life |
Saving, Social and Outing club.
at was four years ago" he continued, |
"whcn landed in New York with enough !
money to run me for two weeks and no
prospect of an engagement IL was purely
by chance one morning aftor l had paid
my last dollar for room rent that discov-
cred way to utilize my hypnotic power
with profit. 1 am the inventor OF 1t, and
IL II hadn't been for hotel clerk / might
now be working it. l was down on my
luck, and l began looking through the
personals and lost and found notices hop
ing that something would turn up. This
notice caught my eye:
Found, q sum of money in pocket
book on Broadway. Owner may get 1t by
proving property and paying for ndvertis-
| ing. Mary X. g., 100 West -- street.
at occurred to me that Mary was q very
honest woman, and / wondered II
couldn't guess description of the pocket
| book and the amount OF money and so get
| 1t to tide me over. / speculatcd on what
sort Of woman Mary was and then camo
tho thought, why not hypnotic her and
get bor to tell about the pocketbook?' Tho
moro thought it over the better l liked
It, and l went to Mary's address to see
what l could accomplish. You know that
1t Is an easy matter to hypnotic the aver
ago woman. l have done IL easily many "a
time. For ordinary cases l wear large
paste diamond in my scarf and ask the
jcct to look Mt 1t closely. In half
minute she is under the influence. When
the maid answered my ring at the address
given in tho advertisement, ! told her that
! had come to claim tho purse. She shout
cd up stairs:
Mrs. Green, hero is the gent what
lost tho money and Mrs Green came
down, evidently very much disturbed by
her maids awkwardncss.
"Bcforc l say anything about the peck
etbook, madam, | snid, won't you he
good enough to look into this diamond in
my scarfpin and SEQ il 1t is cracked? A
boy threw stone at me as 1 entered the
house. and 1t struck this pin. l am afraid
that he injured IT..
Mrs. Green was sympathetic and rs
stepped to the light she locked at the pin.
She brought her eyes close to 1t and at my
request stared at it steadily until l said;
Now, Mrs Green, that is not pin.
1t is o pocketbook. Can you see it,
"'Ycs, 1t is pockotbook, sho answered
in n mechanical voice.
to bo l.nt IL hitch
on Broadway
Yes, she answered.
Describe 1t in detail, commanded.
/, 1t is black pocketbook, she said,
with o silver monogram, ~. T. B, =" on
the back. 1t contained three $50 bills and
one Is bill. That is al.
"'Thnnk you, Mrs. Green, said I, pass.
ing my hand across her forehead, and as
she gave little start on coming back tc
her normal self l continued, / am glad
that you didn't find any flaw in that dia
mond.'
: Z" No, 1t seems to be all right, she said
naturally. She had come out OF the trance
without suspectng anything.
{" L came, said, to 500 II by chance il
was my purse which you found
, If you will describc.t, she said pleas
unity, I can tell. If it is yours, l shall
be pleased to return it..
5 ~ described the purse as she described
1t to me, and when had finished she said
1T is undoubtedly your purse, sir, ant
; / will get it for you at once.
Wasn't that easy? / got the money al
D right, and l saw that 1 had struck il rich
e Each day looked over the papers for sucl
1 advertisements You would be surprised
| to find how many honest people there ar
49, b ~
three pocketbooks arc picked up by pcop
, who are anxious to return them. Thcl
there is jewclry, and between tho two
managed TO mako a very good income
I Occasionally would find that the adycr
a tiscr was n person whom I couldn't hyp
notze, and then backed out as gracious
ly as | could.
well, sir, it so happened in the cours
of business that Investigated an adyer
tisemcnt which ran as follows;
;, - Found, in the hall of the Hyphol
u hotel, q pocketbooll containing money ant
S papers. Inquire OF Sinner, night clerk u
= hotel, after Z p. IN.
Z II ought to have known better, but
V didn't. That evening went to tho hotc
:. and inquired for Sinner He was YER
. dapper little man, and as soon as say
= him had my doubts. didn't intend
. back down until | was forced to, however
4" and, telling him that l came to recover
II pocketbook l asked him to step into tn
;, inside Office with me and incidentally tol
Il me what he thought of my diamond pin
t "The pin Interested Sinner, and AS 500
IS as we got under the light he began to eS
4 amino 1t. | saw from tho expression o
" his face that had made mistake.
y "'Why, it's simply imitation. It's nc
" the real thing, he exclaimed. Just loo
II at minc by way Of comparison. And b
n unbuttoned his coat and displayed stu
e as big as a walnut. 1t radiated light /
If many colors. | turned my eyes toward i
If and, although / was nearly blinded,
4 couldn't take them away. 1t was real an
!, dazzling
:, "As looked 1t seemed to Re winking q
u me, and then il told mo to tell why Ia
u come to the hotel. l told the whole stor
10 from tho beginning and suddenly wa
IS aroused by slap on the back, was i
4. the Office Sinner was looking at me wit
:. grin.
70 "'Wcll, you are a smooth article, b
=; said, but you should not attempt to hyI
notze n hotel clerk, and above all TO iias
J. a paste diamond OH him, Did you kno'
that my stone hypnotized you and that 20
have given your snap away Well 1t dix
know your little gamo. am not goin
TO EXPOSE you unless hear Of your worl
W ing it again. Let mo tell you, howcve
IN that your neryo Is gone You can { hyl
T. notize again because your nerve is gon'
al Now GET out Of here, quick.