Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-25
PEST OF SVENGAL|S
Itincrant Hypnotists Are
Sweeping the Country.
"TRILBY" GAVE THE CUE
MEDICO-LEGAL AUTHORITIES
URGE PREVENTIVE LAWS.
Revolving Spectacles Presented at Re
cent observation-disclosures Effects
of Science in Skilled Hands.
"TRILBY" GAVE THE CUE

Special Correspondence Of The Star.
Laws regulating the practice and teach
ing of hypnotism are one of the gravest
needs of our states and territories, ac-
cording to the leading medico-legal spe-
cialists of the country. The hypnotic
craze which took it's cue from 'Trilby
has been steadily growing in recent years
until it has now become public danger.
Itinerant Svengalis are sweeping the
country, subjecting victims to all sorts
of cruelties to the amusement of the NOR
bidly curious for advertising purposes.
They are leaving behind them trail OF
MANNED bodies and weakened intellects.
These exhibitions are being protected by
municipal license while no end of fraudu-
lent or otherwise baneful correspondence
schools of hypnotism are flourishing under
federal copyright protection and by aid OF
the United States mail privileges
In France there is law forbiddlng the
practice or teaching of hypnotism by any
other than trained physicians. licensed by
the government. Exactly that is what our
medico- legal authorities are fighting TOT.
One of the most active advocates u LIS
reform is DIR. William Lee Howard, vice
president of the Medico-Legal Society
Since 95 per cent of mankind can pc hyp-
Noticed according to no less an authorlty
than the noted hypnoioglst l'lepeauit ~
Nancy. France the subject might be SAID
to be vital to every ireside in the lano.
Cruelty for Profit.
nh o.,or dav In the course of public
entertainment at Nicola, Iowa. travelling
s,eneali sewed together with big needles
and stout cords the wrists of hypnouzeo
subject who emerged from the trance pre-
maturely tearing his flesh to a painful de-
gree Through the legs OF another ny pho-
fixed subject long needles We're thrust uh-
I'll the blood flowed freely. panic en-
fai a
To tar and feather the professor "heh ne
was rescued by the authorities and carried
off to Jail charged with mayhem
Some time before this an 1tlnerant hypho-
fist giving a public exhibition in Washing
ton set a brawny man and a iran youth,
both hypnotiZed. to wrestling. Inc audi-
ence gaped with delight until the helpless
lad was carried off the stage with several
bones broken. During a course of similar
exhibitions in Cleveland boy was kept
asleep for week, during which ne was
given no food and lost nearly hfteen POUNDS
The father of the lad made frantic eH0r[s
to rescue him from the hypnotist. but with
out success, and medical students subjected
the youth to all sorts of experiments during
the trance. In the show window or a
Washington drug store the. writer wit
messed phases of a similar experiment.
youth, upon a couch, was kept there In pub
lie view night and day during a prolonged
trance 1t was a revolving spectacle. The
lad was emaciated. 1t was midsummer,
and the store window offered no ventila-
ton, while the flies literally covered the
boy. But the experiment drew trade for
the druggist, VINO presumably employed
for that purpose the coarse. dissipated-
looking woman who had the victim under
control
A hynotized man sealed up in stout cas-
ket and buried alive in a grave nine feet
was offered as the piece de resistance dur
ing a hypnotic exhibition in London.
ventilating tube led up from the caket,
which on the seventh day of the trance was
l1,.r in hny e 1,~,
To Rehearse Hypnotic Murder.
A series of hypnotic exhibitions even more
revolving, and demoralizing to the worst de-
gree, was planned for this country some
months ago. In 1890 Gabrielle Bompard,
mere girl, put a silken cord around the neck
of her lover, who sat beside her on a sofa
while man hidden in draperes behind the
sofa attached the cord to a pulley and
hanged the victim. The girls defense was
that she did her share of the crime while
hypnotized, but she was sentenced to
long term in prison. Having been lately re-
leased, she came to America with a young
dentist. but was detained at the immigra-
ton station at Ellis Island, N. Y, on the
charge that she an ex-convict She
confessed her identity, as well as her in
tent to travel through this country with
the dentist and hypnotist. While the lat
ter had her under hypnotic control she and
the dentist were to rehearse the murder for
which she was convicted This histrionic
treat for the American people was sug-
gested to her by experiments performed
with her by Prof Leigois of Paris. who
after the murder put her under the hvp-
motto influence. During the trance she re-
peated ner part in the murder This ex-
pertinent was TO be repeated in court but
was not admitted as evidence.
Hypnotic Schools.
he
graver than those of the hypnotic exhibit
ton, for 1t SoWs the seed from which
springs up the large annual crop of itinerant
Svengalis. There is no doubt that the abfl-
ity to put victims under control is easily
learned. The writer some years ago in
terviewed scientific hypnotist, who out
lined the methods by which he put subjects
In the hypnotic state. The interview was
published throughout the country. and the
writer was soon flooded with letters some
of them stating that great success had been
obtained by following the tactics mentioned
In the article. One man, writing from n
western insane asylum, said: Il have one
man here entirely under my control and an
other half way. Please send me fuller in
structlons at once. The writer found him
self teacher of hypnotism without ever
having been a matricuIate.
A considerable proportion of the schools
of hypnotism are conducted by that class of
gentlemen known. in the dialect of the
streets, as "grafters.' 1 have the state
ment of a woman who took such a course
and after parting with her good money had
nothing in return save store of ludicrous
but this, perhaps, was an asset
worth more than that for which she paid
her money. Her teacher told her at length
how he had treated a woman for cancer
Il hypn6tized her" said he, 'and in do
ing so absorbed into my own system the
drugs with which the doctors had been
dosing her. AS result l had large
carbuncle on my face and was for n short
time a very sick man. In mesmerizng for
disease one takes into his system all the
impurities of the sick one
Correspondence Course the Rage.
But the correspondence course in hypno-
tism is now the rage. The lessons are sent
out either. in book form or by some of the
systems of manfolding typewriting In
this way a tempting dose can be admins
tered for fiat price, but more startling
Information guaranteed If more money is
sent, and so on The elementary course
gives simple methods by which the home
loafer, with nothing to occupy his mind,
may commence experiments upon his little
cfS 10 d.