The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1904-10-20
CHAPTER Ky

MT montgomery " as particularly 1Onu
of telling stories of his own adventures.
de was never known. however. at such
times TO give any clue to his family or
connections. All the stories were con-
fined to his vagabond days. He never
allowed any person to interrupt his mar
ratives by remarks; any such must be
reserved until they were concluded.
'Of all the vagabond specs l ever
launched into, none ever brought me in
so much cash as the mesmerism dodge"
he began.
/ started at those words. and from
that moment became an eager and at
tentive listener.
when | first started in it, / thought
it was all Rumbug. 1 got hold of a sharp.
clever girl, who pretended to mesmerize
the accomplices l carried about with me. :
Well, one fine morning, this girl bolted
off with one of the accomplices, and /
was left in the lurch, with my bills out,
announcing a performance for the Lsxt
night. L walked gloomily about the
town. Turning down a back street, |
went into a public house. There vas
Only one other person in the room besides
myself-a scottish looking fellow, who
bore upon him the unmistakable marks
of follower of st. Crispin. He was in
clined TO be talkative. At first | was
too moody to bestow upon MIN any reply.
But he was not TO be snubbed; and, at
last, the low cunning, and coarse. hui
morous shrewdness of his remarks, be-
gan to amrse me. He invited me home
to dinner with him. / accepted his in
vitation.
HE lived in a squalid court, hid
1r<.l bQ cd
me into was in keeping with its sur
roundings. / began to wish myself out
of the adventure; with all my love of
vagabondism, this was a little beyond
me. Crouching over a handful of fire
was a girl about thirteen or fourteen
years of age, with fiery red hair and a
pale, sullen face, every bone of her thin,
angular body showing through the rag
ged, scanty clothing that barely covered
hire. She rose from her seat with a
scowling look of disdain, which changed
to one OF establishment at the sight of
q well-dressed stranger. She fixed her
eyes upon me with an inquiring stare.
There was something in those eyes that
strangely affected me.
"Her father ordered her about with
threats, and would have used blows, l
believe. had l not been there. The girl
regarded him much in the manner of a
Gagged tigress. who would like TO fasten
upon her keeper, but dare not. l kept
watching her as she moved about, and
suddenly a strange idea struck me. Could
/ get this girl to play the clairvoyant the
next night? 1 at once put it to her
father. Selling upon the dilemma in
which I was placed. and which l had
somewhat incautiously laid bare to Kim.
he tried to drive an extortionate bargain.
While we were speaking, the girl stop
ped her work and leaning over the back
of a chair facing us, listened eagerly to
my proposition
do you think you can do it?'' l said,
turning to her.
81 can do anything that you show me
and teach me-" she answered confidently.
'.The night came, and when she was
clean. her hair dressed and she was
clothed in the black velvet dress that l
carried about with me, she had a for
more sybilline appearance than her pred
= ece>sor. j had drilled her we'll into her
task, at which l found her wonderfully
apt; and, although / anticipated few
blunders. I had every hope of success.
although she had never faced an au-
dience before; and we had large one
that night, she was as fearless and self
possessed as though she had been used
to it for years.
'One of the principal points of the
performance was. to select a man from
the crowd, bring him on to the platform,
put him into a mesmeric sleep. and then
cause him to answer any questions that
the clairvoyant might choose to put TO
him; added to which, he was made to
promise to do certain things when he
awoke. Hitherto we had used an ac-
ccmplice for the purpose. Whether she
was confused by the sight of So many
faces. or deceived by a resemblance. /
do not know; but what was my dismay
to see her select an entire stranger for
the experiment. In sheer desperation /
tried to cover the blunder by saying that
the party selected was not a fit SUBJ
ject. from a certain similarity in the
color of the hair and eyes TO those of
the girl. The audience grew suspicious,
and insisted that there should be no
change.
with the perspiration starting from
every pore, l waited for what trnly
believed would be an ignomin;, pos
ure- Conceive my astonishInei then.
when, after being submitted to the mes
meric influence of her eyes for three
minutes, 1 saw him grow rigid. his eyes
fixed, and his whole body drawn irresist-
ibly towards her, just as l had so often
seen feigned by my assistants Not only
that, but he answered every question put
to him. some Of a very awkward nature.
with the air OF man irresistibly COM
PEELED against his will. She then de-
sired that as soon as she should take The
influence off him. he should go to the
chandelier in the middle Of the room.
and burn his hat And he lid do it; and
had to buy him new me. but what
did l care for that? l had discovered
q fortunei
At last, l was half-inclined to believe
that she had planted some friend OF her
own to humbug me- and raise the terms;
but was soon convinced that such sus-
picions were groundless: and, indeed.
from the first. the whole thing was too
real to be doubted.
Everywhere our success was enormous
crowded houses, no more accompIices,
all genuine, except the clairvoyance, in
which there was still u good deal of
humbug; but that humbug she and
could manage together without other as
sistance than that of a pianist.
Never was such a change seen as
wrought in less than week in both
father and daughter. good suit of
clothes gave him quite an air OF respec-