Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1899-12-01
HYpNoT1sM AT PUGET SOUND.
sions in an Out-of-the-Wny
Community.

His name was not Roberts which is
good enough reason for calling him
that here. There was nothing strange
or weird in his appearance or general
behavior, but he did one hypnotic turn,
us the musical hall phrase is, that mys-
tilted his fellow ranchers to the verge
of lunacy until they got used to it.
Roberts was one of q group of college
bred men who, some from choice and
some from example, have located claims
in Mason county, Wash. There is n
post Office at Lake Cushman and tri-
weekly mail by stage from the sound,
nine miles distant. Put" is the post
master. His name was Putnam orig
inally, and he is q Trinity man. lie has
u large ranch at the lake and summer
hotel where people come for the fishing.
Here the men gather for their mail,
usually lingering for n smoke and u
yarn, and it was here that Roberts be-
gan his mysterious performances.
One day when the men met at the
post office the conversation turned to
spirituulism, mind reading, thought
transference and the like. 1t was
agreed that the whole thing was rub
bish-flubdub as they say in Georgia.
If there was anything in it, why didn't
spiritualists make millions in wheat
and stocks? Why did secrs invariably
live in cheap lodgings which smeled of
boiled cabbage? Not one of them ever
made q cent except what their weak
minded dupes paid them.
Roberts slid off the table and said
he'd be going.
"By the way" he remarked II got
n $40 gold piece in Hoodsport yesterday
that looks funny. I'm afraid it's coun-
terfeit."
lie handed n small, round object to
the man nearest him. Several heads
bent over it, and it passed from one
hand TO another.
ITS all right. Nothing the matter
with that" was the verdict.
Thanks" said Roberts, taking it
back and throwing it on the table. The
men then saw that what they had taken
for ten-dollar gold piece was COM
mon iron washer off wagon wheel. 1t
was rusty and battered, and it had a
hole in the middle. OF course they de-
carcd with one voice that they had
been flim-hammed.
at was mere sleight-of-hand," they
said
mo, it was flubdub," answered Rob-
crts.
The door opened and two other ranch
ers came in.
"Hello," cried Roberts. "NNhat do
you fellows think of this ten-dollar
piece? Is it queer?"
lie handed them the washer and they
examined it carefully, weighed it in
times.
Don't see anything queer about
that" they agreed.
The trick was repeated Il dozen times
with unfailing success. No one was de-
ceived second time, and most of them
declared that they weren't really in
earnest, or the light was bad, or some
thing of the sort. The average victim
always has an excuse to offer.
The affair was the sensa ton of the
winter, and then something else turned
up and it became n back number.
The next fall Roberts and two others
of the Lake Cushman fraternity ran over
to Victoria for little celebration. One
of the men returned from walk down.
town and told Roberts that he had been
"stringing old Williams, the tobacco
mist, about that act of yours with the
washer" The said Williams discredited
the story as absurd, and he had bet
two pounds of Hudson Bay mixture
against the retail price thereof that
the tobacconist himself would be fooled
by the identical washer before the week
was out.
Accordingly, the next morning Rob-
erts stralled into old Williams shop,
where he WAS not known, Ecugat box
of cigars for three dollars. handed over
the washer, took seven dollars in
change and walked out.
The British sense of humor. as every
one knows, is sadly deficient. and old
Williams, when he discovered the
washer in his till. was filled with wrath.
He promptly notified the police. and
Roberts friends had to bail him out
of Jail about II o'clock that night.
The courtroom rang with laughter
at the trial the next day, and the mag
istrate said that any man who couldn't
tell an iron washer from n gold piece
deserved to lose his money. However
1t was his duty TO discourage confidence
games, and he would have 10 fine the
gentleman ten dollars, the amount rep
resenting kind of poetic justice. The
line was paid at once, the magistrate
sarcastically warning the clerk not to
accept any old iron by mistake.
The Americans hurried out of the
courtroom amid smiles. After they had
gone the Mortified clerk picked up the
iron washer and gave it TO the judge
without a word. The police found then
that evening dining with some Eng.
lish friends at THE Poodle Dog" They
were allowed TO flush their dinner, but
were notified that the Charmer left for
Vancouver at half past ten and they