Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-10-02

leSbiy upon nlb Deu, taihluB eAClteuly
In his dreams. but recognizing no one.
Meanwhile DE-. sQuires was lodged
In prison, and thither I went to see
him. He was totally subdued now and
resigned to his position. Luck had
turned against him, and he was not
averse to confessing everything. In
rnct, he prided himself upon the smart
game he had played.
He made his confession first to me,
which he afterward submitted in
writing and signed in the presence of
three witnesses. In his own spoken
words, however, it sounded more in
teresting than when he wrote 1t out,
and as such I will repeat the essential
parts Of 1t.
"You were smart to catch me-" he
said, land l admire you for 1t.
thought I was alert enough to throw
everybody OF the track. In fact, you
were the only one who ever suspected
me. Now, be fair and tell me how you
got your first clew."
"I visited your house some time ago
and discovered the collection Of stolen
goods" replied, land neither you nor
your servant was wise enough to find
1t out"
"He was always n fool" he ejacu-
lated. But when did you first realize
that was hypnotizing Charles and
using him as tool for my purpose"
l flushed a little, but answered
truthfully
81 never suspected until that night
in the office when you hypnotized him
right before u.s.
"Ha ha! Then had one point ahead
of your he laughed.
Eyes. l never suspected it."
"Well, it's all over now, and I've had
lots of excitement out of it. l wish
Charles no evil and hope he will soon
recover. l Will explain everything so
that he will be exonerated from blame.
He is perfectly innocent of any crime.
at was three years ago when l first
met him in Paris. 1t was at the time
when hypnotism was fashionable
rage. Everybody was talking about it
and experimenting with it. | wanted
to be fashionable, too and I soon found
that direction. had been studying
medicine and occult sciences with pas
sionate interest for years and it was
natural that | should take up with
hypnotism.
while | was at the height OF my
studies | met Charles, and we struck
up an intimate friendship. He talked
to me freely then about the fear he had
of inheriting phthisis from his father
and said that it had been the means Of
his not marrying the girl he loved.
gradually got the whole story out of him.
Now | wanted somebody for my hyp-
motto experiments, and / found that
could easily influence Charles. Conse-
quently concocted n story about being
able to eradicate the germs of phthisis
from any human system through the
aid Of hypnotic therapeutics. He read
lily entered into my little scheme and
willingly submitted to my experiments.
"Thereafter | regularly hypnotized
him at his own volition and tried all
manner Of experiments with him.
would get him to do the strangest
things and enjoy them hugely. | had
no thought of crime then. But | would
send him forth at night to do absurd
things for me and then tell him to for
get them all when he passed into his
natural condition again, | found that
| could control him in everything when
hypnotized and completely change his
nature, but he would remember moth
ing when he awakened.
when he returned home, | accom-
panied him as a medical adviser. He
had complete faith in me and promised
to pay me literally If l would con-
tinue my treatments. He imagined by
this time that was really helping him.
Well, when / arrived here and saw
Miss Stetson and realized what a
princely fortune she possessed my ma
ture changed. l envied Charles his
prospects. l was poor and friendless;
he was rich and had the love Of beau
tiful woman. Why could not possess
some of these good things of life?
at was while in this mood that 7
planned the scheme which you have
succeeded In baking. While in his
hypnotic state l made Charles rob
house after house in the neighborhood.
He brought all the silver plate, jewels
and money to me. He was so shrewd
when hypnotized that l had little fear
Of his ever being caught. His faculties
were almost supernatural In their sen
sitiveness. When he woke up again
the next morning, he never remember
ed anything Of the preceding nights
work.
when I had collected a small for
tune in stolen goods. l determined to
ship them off to some foreign country
and then go there and dispose of them,
giving as an excuse for my absence
that a distant relative had died and
left me his wealth and that my pres
ence was required to settle up the es-
tate Then ! meant to return and mar
ry Miss Stetson il possible. l believe
that l was learning to love her for her
own sake. l certainly thought more of
her than Of any other woman | ever
met. To gain her hand | told her that
Charles was suffering from the incipi-
ent form OF leprosy and that l was de-
voting my time to curing him. This /
knew would turn her from him in hor-
ror and that she would never dare mar.
~ him.
"But you can tell Miss Stetson that
there is no more leprosy In his system