The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-12-14
CLAIMED A CAT
HYPN)I|ZEO HER
Girl in New York Taken to
Hospital Twice in One Day,
DOCTORS SAY HYSTERlA
Can II be a Form of the New
AutohypriOtiSm?

Cats. like serpeats, have long been
known 10 possess the power Of hypnotic
ing their prey by glance from their
eyes, but the case of Mrs. elizabeth Cum
bingham. who went 70 Bellevue Hospital
recently. twice IN one DAY with her jaws
dxed and rigid and her mouth open be-
cause Of the effect OF cats eyes upon
her has caused much wonder among
laymen and medical authorities. says the
New oyrk Herald So wonderful is the
| case IN point that IL resembles in many
/ respects the story OF Du Maurier. in
| which Trilby was hypnotized by q glance
at photograph az her Svengah. for
Mrs Cunningham feels her jaw relax
and TX even AZ mention Of the word
| cat IN her presence. causing her TO
show signs Of mental uneasiness.
Many times while walking peacefully
along the street she has been suddenly
! confronted by a stray cat and been
/ obliged to walk home speech1ess. To her
"A cat is serious matter. She is not
| a young. nervous girl. for she has lived
in this world OF sorrow and of cats for
the last forty-eight years, 50 that her
peculiar misfortune cannot be attributed
70 q youthful nervousness
! when she was only sixteen years old,
! she says she first felt the hypnotic III
! auence hidden in the cats ye A pet
kitten with which she was playing sud
denly went mad in her arms. When she
/ threw it to the aoor in fear. the furry
| creature ran. writing. splitting and
scra tchng. through every room in the
house. The impression made AT the time
l
forgot it. She Ieaped 70 d table. scream
ing. Then her noise stopped. and she
found herself looking straight at the
infuriate animal with her mouth open
rs IF she were still shouting. bat not a
sound came from her lips.
Her jaws were tightly wedged and she
could neither open nor snut them. Every
body supposed she had 'IockJaw. but
gradually the phenomena went away o.
its own accord. leaving her again in her
normal condition But the fear Of a cat
would not go. Ever since she has been
annoyed repeatedly by a recurrence OF the !
maiady
Ii the cat goes about It's business and
pays no attention 70 Eer she viii pay
no attention TO the cat, but the moment
the creature faces her or the moment she /
comes face 70 face with the unexpected |
and gets d look into It's eyes she feels !
her jaws parting and shows all the out
ward symptoms Of being afflicted with te-
tanus
On the day that she wes conveyed 10 |
the hospital twice she exhibited all the
usual signs. When she awoke in the
morning like the hero in Edgar Allen
Poe's Black Cat" she found q cat in
her room. or course il threw her into a
spell and she was taken to the hos
pitaI in an ambulance. The cat was
driven from the house.
IN the afternoon. when she returned /
on foot. perfectly cured. to all intents /
and purposes. she found another stray /
cat in the back yard and back to the I
hospital she went in short order. In
an hour or SO she was well gain and 4
able to return home AT they did at /
the hospital was 10 iac- hand under 4
her opel Jaw ara tell heI that there were I
no cats il sial ard tilst sh had bette .
be calm. Thereupon her jaws clicked 4
back into place
In speaking Of the case. Or. EaliiwelI. +
Of the Bellevue Hospital and that. in i
his opinion the woman had no signs Of .
lockjaw He declared thar Il was moth /
ing more or less than an unusual nantes
tation or hysteria. on the other hand. /
Mrs Cunningham declares that she was .
hypnotized 10y the cat
~ always have peculiar feeling when
ever I see one-a sorJ Of sinking sensa-
ton at the heart and desire TO scream.
II the cat fixes me with his big green.
s-rains eyes I almost swO0n and 7 can
ro- run away. 1 seem 20 lose the use Of .
my limbs and am robbed OF an power and +
action. I have never been hypnotized. /
hut know that Il / should ne tine sem
sstion would he the sarne. When / open
my mouth ard why j cannnot close II
again is as much a mystery 20 me as il
seems II everybody else
OF. George F. Shrady- % No. East
Sixtg-sixth ~stree1. regarded the question
in the light OF auto- vpnotisra and
said that the woman was evidently a1uct-
I'd with the same mental hyhteria which
formed the controlling influence il the
lives ~ the Hindoo priests ard SO called f
miracle workers.
Many cases SAID the uoctor. are
oureco-d where men have aeen able u
control the Involuntary muscles II the
body Tor 2 period. ana have been able
81 rroduee some curious results Oae
man stepped the beating ~ his own heart
for a period n sixty seconds. srd another
threV himself into deep sleep Tor thirty
90 sixty DAYS.
-Auto-hyp norsm is the name Il this
curious disease E Il ezn b. 80 called
In The case CT the yoang E-l .NeHie
t-rre--lr who attracted much attention