The age-herald., 1902-01-31
Carl Atheno, HypnotiSt, Prepar- ing for an Exhibition
 in This City
STARVES FOR THE ORDEAL
VIII Be Inferred Under Six Feet of Earth While In a cataieptie
 State-Takes No Food or Water.

 on his advertising literature as the 'seien- tific marvel" is starving in Birmingham the city of thrift and plenty. Atheno is starving by degrees. Yesterday he left off taking anything in the way of solid food. He is now existing on liquid nour- ishment and Sunday noon he will take the last drop of nourishment of any kind until after he is resurrected from the grave where he proposes to remain six days and five nights.
 Atheno has spent several days in Birm- ingham preparing for the ordeal. The grave will be dug on the vacant lot, cor ner Second avenue and Eighteenth street. opposite the Jefferson Theatre. He pro- poses to remain inferred under six feet of earth for 12O hours. He says he will take no food or water during this time. and will be in a state of suspended ani- nation. Atheno has been around the world twice and says he learned how to relapse into a cataleptic state from the Hindoos of India.
 Atheno. who says he will be buried alive for the benefit of science, was a very hungry person today. He Is a man z7 years old and yesterday his three meals would have been barely enough for a child of two years.
 Must Diet Himself.
 He always begins to diet himself week before the burial. On the first day of preparation he ate a small quantity of oyster soup without oysters for breakfast and very small piece of fish for lunch con. Last night his muscles were twitch- ing, and he was very nervous. It Is the stomach calling for food, he explained The supremacy of mind over matter, which people who hold his views lay great stress on. did not prevent him from wanting a porterhouse steak with rnush- rooms and French fried potatoes on the side.
 The worst bangs of starvation are avoided by not denying ones self nourish- ment all at once He begins by eating sparingiy three times a day and gradu- ally takes less and less nourishment. Last night he ate a little beef tea and milk Sometimes he takes a small quan- tity of claret or port wine.
 He contends that alcoholic stimulants would interfere with a man undertaking such an experiment, but he takes the wine in the beginning to slave off ghaw- ing hunger. Today, perhaps, his stomach will realize that objections are overruled without mercy and be less stubborn in it's demands. By the end of the week 1t will have become accustomed to conditions and will no longer annoy him. It would be impossible for him to work himself into the cataleptic state with a full stomach. He must go to sleep with 1t empty.
 Long Sleep Fatiguing.
 Atheno says the long sleep in the con dition he will be in, with the heart and lungs working very slowly, is fatiguing. but when he wakes up he has to stay awake at least 24 hours. He does not want to sleep for a day or two and has to take time to get back in normal con- dition. He, however. has no difficulty in times a day. Unknowingly he walked in the vicinity of the market house yes- terday and the big bundles of raw meat hanging on the stalls looked very at- tractive. Atheno said he thought at that 1 time that raw meat was good enough | for him.
 Atheno will give the experiment. he | says, in order to organize O society for | psychological research. He is a. boyish | looking young man, with smooth face, | wears glasses and is of small stature. l By the way he says his beard grows | much faster while in the cataleptic state. He will go into the coffin clean shaven and will come out with nearly half an inch of beard. Ordinarily he can go three days without but little show of beard. He attributes the quick growth of beard while buried to the dampness of the earth. It has been suggested that this is ar emedy for bald heads, but 1t is not likely that any one will try the ex- pertinent.
 No Fake About It.
 There Is no fake about my exhibition" said Atheno. T will be placed in a pine coffin feet inches long, feet 1 inches deep and feet 4 inches wide contain ing IA cubic feet of air Just before am placed in the coffin, I will go into cataleptic state and will not regain | consciousness for six days and five | nights. At the end of that time. the cof- | fin will be taken out and the striking of | an alarm clock will restore me to con- | sciousness.
 '"To prove that my demonstration is | not a fake, I will have a committee of | physicians place me in the coffin and | bury me. Tn order that the interior of the 1 coffin may be> seen at any time. tube | reaching from the coffin to the ground | will be placed just over my face, over which a brilliant electric light will shine. | As the coffin will have a glass top. there | will be no air admitted from the tube, |