Los Angeles herald., 1906-02-25
LONDON FAKER FAILS
TO HYPNOTIZE CROWD
THEATER WRECKED BY THRoNG
AT HIS SHOW
Belfast Audience Partakes Of Missouri
"show ME- Character and Riot
Ensues In Which Much Damage is
Done--Hls Good Faith Is Doubted
Special Cable to The Herald.

Special Cable to The Herald.
BELFAST, Feb. 24-Ahrensmeyer,
the cowboy hypnotist," met with an
audience that he was unable to hypno-
tize on Friday night and a riot took
place in which the Palace Theater of
Varieties was wrecked
Friday is pay day in the Belfast ship
yards and factories, and the gallery
was filled with young shipwrights and
mill workers, many of whom were in
toxicated. The shipwrights, as Is their
custom, had their pockets filled with
iron nuts and bolts, which they used
as weapons.
Part of Ahrensmeyer's performance
is to hypnotic a young woman, who
is placed with her head and feet rest
ing on the backs of two chairs about
three feet apart. A large stone is then
placed on her chest and the hypnotist
calls on q volunteer from the audience
to break it with a blow with a sledge-
hammer.
When he called for volunteer a
man stepped forward, but the gallery
at once questioned his good faith.
Rush for the Stage
Half a dozen then rushed for the
stage and clambered over the foot
lights. They were seized by Ahrens-
meyers assistants. who tried to per-
suade them to leave the stage. They
refused to go, and then there was an
organized rush for the front of the
house. The first corners were repulsed
by force but soon the stage was filled
with fighting, struggling men. Ahrens-
meyer, who is a powerful man and a
skillful boxer, defended himself, and he
was ably seconded by his own assist
ants and the theater attendants.
Then the bolts and nuts came into
play. The bolts, tied on the ends of
strings, were used to break the cleo
trio light globes and the nuts were
thrown at the chandeliers. The occu-
pants of the dress circle, among whom
were many women, crowded under the
gallery to avoid the falling glass. In
the course Of the riot a man was
thrown from the gallery into the audi
torium, but he escaped with only slight
injuries.
Finally a force of fifty policemen ar
rived, nearly half an hour after the
riot had started, and cleared the house.
In the meantime, however, the bar had
been wrecked and the chairs all over
the house pulled from their fastenings
and thrown about in confusion.
Ornaments Destroyed
Just before the arrival of the police
an attack was made on the ornamental
elephants heads on each side of the
stage Men climbed on the shoulders
of others, wrenched away the tusks
and used them as weapons to demolish
the other ornaments.
ut all arose because I refused to
allow a half-drunken laborer to smash
the stone on the woman's body during
her cataleptic Sleep" said Ahrens-
meyer last night.
Had 1 done so I might have been
responsible for her death. for the ham,
mer used is heavy sledge, and must
naturally be welded with great care.
The man, in his drunken excitement,
might have struck blow in a vital
part.
'I candidly admitted from the first
day of my visit to Belfast that a GER
tain number of susceptibles travel with
me, because it is often difficult to get
volunteers from the audience, and with
out subjects the performance must fall
through"
Ahrensmeyer offered, IL the manage
ment desired it, to cancel the re-
mainder of his engagement, which
closed with a matinee and two night
performances on Saturday last. The
management declined, however, to
make such a concession to the roWdy
element, and arranged for large force
of police to protect the house and the
hypnotist in the event of repetition
of the disturbance.
All three houses were crowded, but
no disorder manifested itself. and
Ahrensmeyer had an enthusiastic re-
ception each time he appeared.