The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1898-03-11
BEATEN BY SINNER.
THE PROFESSOR A RUINED MAN oW-
ING TO THE HOTEL CLERK.
A Novel Use of Hypnotism That Earned
Him a Comfortable Living Until lie I'm
dertook to Flash a Paste Diamond on
the Dapper Night Clerk.

dertook to Flash Paste Diamond on
the Dapper Night Clerk.
II IL mad not been Tor one OF you lei
lows, L might now be supporting myself
comfortably by my hypnotic powers m
stead of playing the piano and doing
vaudeville turns, said the professor after
be had finished his stunt at the Friday
nl2ht smoker OF the notel clerks 1Ale
Saving, Social and outing club.
IL was Tour years ago, ne continued,
when landed III New ork with enough
money to run me Tor two weeks and no
prospect of an engagement 1t was purely
by chance one morning after had paid
my last dollar for room rent that discov-
cred way to utilize my hypnotic powers
with profit. L am tho inventor OF 1t, ana
If it 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 IEls
notice caught my eye:
Found, sum of money in pocket
book on Broadway. Owner may get 1t by
proving property and paying Tor adVertls-
ing Mary *. IT,, 100 West - street
1t occurred to me that Mary was very
honest woman, ana wondered II
couldn't guess description OF the pocket
book ana the amount OF money ana SO get
1t to tide me over. L speculated on what
sort of woman Mary was and then came
the thought, Why not hypnotize her and
get her to tell about the pocketbook! The
more l thought 1t over the better l liked
1t, and went to Mary's address to see
what l could accomplish. You know that
it IS an easy matter to hypnotic the aver
age woman. l have done it easily many a
time. For ordinary cases l wear large
paste diamond IN my scarf, and ask the
subject to look at 1t closely. In nall
minute sho Is under the influence. When
the maid answered my ring at the ADDRESS
given in the advertisement, told her that
had como to claim the purse. She shout
cd up stairs:
Mrs. Green, here is the gent what
lost the money ana MIS-. Green came
down, evidently very much disturbed by
her maid awkwardness.
Before say anything about the pock-
etbook, madam, SAID, won't you be
good enough to look into this diamond IN
my scarfpin and sec II 1t is cracked: A
boy threw stone at me as L entered the
house and it struck this pin. am afraid
that ho injured it,.
stepped to the light she locked at the pin.
Sho brought her eyes close to it and mt my
request stared at it steadily until l said:
Now, Mrs. Green, that Is not pin.
1t is pccketbcok. Can you see it"
Eyes it is pocketbook, she answered
in mechanical voice.
1t Is the pocketbook which you found
on Broadway
Yes she answered.
Describe it in detail, I commanded.
" 1T is a black pocketbook,' she said,
with n silver monogram, ~. T. IS. on
the back. 1t contained three $50 bills and
one So bill That is all
"'Thank you, Mrs. Green said l, pass
ing my hand across her forehead, and as
she gave a little start on coming back to
her normal self l continued L am glad
that YOU didn't find any flaw in that dia-
mond.'
No. IL seems to be all right she said
naturally. She had come out of the trance
without susuecting ANYTHING.
81 came, 1 said, TO see if by chance it
was nv purse which YOU found
:. .If Won will describe il. she said pIeas-
an+1v 4 con toll If il is yours. I shall
he nle9sed tn return il.
II described the nurse as she described
81 70 me. and when had finished she said:
.s.It is undoubtedly YOUR nurse, sir, and
I will get it for YOU ct once
"Wasn't that easy? got the money all
right. and saw that had strucI, it rich
Each dav locked over the papers for such
advertisements. You would be surprised
to find how many honest people there are
in this town. Nearly every week two or
throe pocketbooks are picked up by people
who arc anxious to return them. Then
there is jcwelry, and between tho two l
managed to make very good income.
Occasionally would find that the adHer-
tiscr was person whom l couldn't hyp-
notiZe, and then backed out as gracious
~ as could.
"Well, sir, it so happened in the course
of business that l investigated an adver-
tisement which ran as follows:
Found, in tho hall OF the Hyphen
hotel pocketbook containing money ana
papers. INQUIRE OIL Shlher' hlsh' clerh aV
| hotel, after p. IN.
Il ought to have known better, but
didn't. That evening went to tho hotel
and inquired for Sinner. lie was very
dapper little man, and as soon as saw
| lTp,NT I'll r.