The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-10-23

the Greater of Svengali had something Of
power behind those shining black eye
balls.
course. I believe in hypnotism-
While I was in 'Trilby'' I was the center
| Of the shafts Of ridicule and disbelief in
the phenomenon, which came from all d.
r%ections Of the compass. At that time I
studied the proposition from a scientific
viewpoint and. In fact. became an opera
tor myself to q small extent. We had
with US on a trip to California a Little
R,llie" who scoffed at the idea that he
could be put under the spell Of hypnosis.
We made a wager that 1 could place him
in a hypnotic condition, and at the club
one night I caught his glance and for a
half hour he did stunts as l desired and
suggested. went upstairs after a book.
played a game of Billiards. though a
mighty poor one. and when I snapped
him out Of It he said: well. you didn't
do it. did your" The laugh OF the as
sembled bystanders convinced him that he
had lost his bet.
II am reminded by this Of a tragedy
which is recorded in Washington. which
demonstrates the absolute power Of the
skilled hypnotic operator. There was a
~well-known man engaged professionally
in the gentle art Of giving hypnotic ex-
hibitions for the percentage thereby OBJ
tanned. In his audiences q frequent figure
was a retired merchant of the city. who
was very well known. but possessed GER
tain i~diosyncrasies OF character which did
not make him the most popular man in
Washington, and he came to scon and to
-; .,t tLo tt1~S u-tfoh tho hun.
notist made. The professional saw him
down near the front with half laugh. half
sneer on his c~ountenance, and, stopping In
the middle of a demonstration. he snapped
his fingers at the retired merchant. say
ing. Well. 1 guess I'll take you next and
in half a minute the well-known citizen
was standing on a table in the center Of
the stage. one foot glued to the pedestal.
the other extended at right angles with
his body. As he stood thus he came put
of it at the ~instigation OF the
The result was a $4,000 damage suit and
the hypnotist. with his show, went the
way of all earth.
NO, it was not this experience which
has ended my experiments in the field Of
hypnotism, but it is too risky a PROPOSE
ton. 1t is barely possible that your sub
ject might not awaken at the desired mo-
-.n R,,. whom II ,e.s down To busj.
. ,hora 4. mr. discount rnon either the
noss;hiIitv ar the nrohahi,itv of there be-
~ s,,.b , thing ~ bvnnotic mower
81 r,ow that over here in Missouri YOU
how. , nbr,se wb;ch have been told
e. ;n.or;had ,nor tho Goa. of arms Of the
go. .yo,,.u b.ra 70 chow mo-. II was
no a.. non,,,ar idea that the anborism
oonr.vsd The ;mnress;on that these Mis-
so,,ri.n. vere a sunerior grade Of the
80, -,no .ra thot ,bev occ,n,sa n
49, ,;ahor n;.h. I, ,ha racoraod s,ens
=, ~, arass That ,ds, has hea, dissi-
mated the country over. and the man from
S;ssour; wso cries show me, is hut re-
n.at,nr tho Macedonian CRY which comes
go oil oror the st,tc for some kinder
ssr.an ;,s.r,,c.ion !, how 70 RIM a great
GommonvooI,h md do =, s,ccessfu,ly
.sn.srine =. ,b;, h,n,ot;s. and his
,-eedy 7 too bav. bss nv rayedv as
far nc INV stage career is concerned. Dur
ing its early law / became associated