Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-18
CHARGES FRAUD
BY HYPNOTISM
DEVELOPMENT COMPANY IN
PSYCHIC TANGLE
STOCKHOLDERS ALLEGES DOCTOR
USED OCCULT POWER
Action Begun in Superior Court to
Prevent Further Deals by Board
of Directors Declared to Be
Under influence

Swaying of the minds of an entire
board of directors by hypnotic suggeS-
ton is the power attributed to Dr. w.
r. Price of Long Beach, president and
treasurer of the Guerrero Development
company. The board also has secre-
tary and includes besides Price eight
persons. They might as well be dunn
mics. according to allegations con-
tanned in a complaint filed by B. G.
Hatch In the superior court yesterday.
DR.. Price, for more than three years,
has been conducting at Long Beach an
organization or sect known as the New
and Practical Psychology. 1t has for
its basis hypnotic treatment. and all
the directors of the Guerrero Develop
ment company are members.
About the time DR.. Price started his
institution in Long Beach the develop
ment company was also formed, arti-
cles of Incorporation being filed in Ari-
iona. The purpose of the company was
to develop lands in the state of Guer-
zero. Mexico, and since the organiza-
ton Hatch, who is a stakeholder, says
more than $4,000 has been poured into
the treasury of the company. OF this
amount he claims only $6S.93 remains,
with 500 acres of unimproved and al
most worthless land in the southern re-
public.
Hatch says Price charged exorbitant
commissions for alleged sales of land
and that in other ways the money paid
for shares in the company flowed with
out interruption and in a golden stream
into the hypnotic leaders pockets.
Says HE Used Hypnotism
Price, says Hatch, was able to do
this by the exercise of his hypnotic
spell over the minds of the other di
rectors. and when the earthquake and
fire occurred in San Francisco it is
claimed that Price made the other
members of the board believe that the
books of the company were destroyed.
A new set of books was arranged from
the data saved.
When George H. Walker, another
stakeholder. called at the company's
office in Long Beach, July 7, and de-
manded an inspection of the books the
new set was shown to him. alter he re-
turned and told the stenographer to
open the safe. She did so and inside 1T
is said. was the original set unframed.
A comparison between the old and new
books was made and this, says the conn
plant, only went further to prove that
DR.. Price was dealing unfairly with the
stockholders.
Hatch says the company has prac-
tically no assets and that DR.. Price is
about to hypnotic the directors into
compelling them TO nOlu AnOInef meet
ing at which further liabilities will be
incurred. If this is done, he says, the
company will be insolvent. A restrain
ing order to prevent the calling of this
meeting, a receivership and an ac-
counting are asked by Hatch.
Another Suit Filed
DR.. Price was also made defendant in
a second suit yesterday, when George
H. Walker, who made the discovers
that the books of the development COM
pany were not damaged in the San
Francisco fire, but were safe in Prices
office at Long Beach, filed a complaint
charging the head of the hypnotic
school with SANDER.
The offense, says Walker, occurred in
the offices of Jordan, Rowe & Brann
in the Monadnock building, San Fran
cisco. A number of persons, residents
of San Francisco, were present at the
time and, it is alleged, heard Price de-
scribe Walker as a murderer George
II. Walker is a murderer, but I don't
want the gentleman hanged because l
do not believe in capital punishment;
he has a bad reputation"
These are the words attributed to
Price. and Walker says the statement
was made for the purpose of injuring
his good name and bringing him into
disrepute. He asks for damages in the
sum Of s25, 900.