The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-04-16
Theatres.
CHESTNUT STREET THEATRE.
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Mesmerism, magnetism, and mental
telepathy will be demonstrated at the
Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia,
next week, when the play "The Witching
Hour" will be presented by the Orpheum
Players.
The scene of 1.-THE Witching Hour" is
laid In Louisville, KY, and Washington.
Jack Brookfeld is professional gambler,
having become very wealthy through the
playing, although he has the reputation
Of always playing a Straight game. !"
The woman he loves has refused to marry
him because of his profession, /" and on
the night that the play opens he asks
her, now a widow with a son of twenty,
to take up the romance and conclude the
story. They are interrupted by the APP
pearance of Judge Prentice, of the Su-
preme Court, who comes to look at a
Corot that is in the picture collection of
Brookfeld. The Judge answers several
questions that Brookield Is thinking of
asking
DO you pick answers often like that ?''
asks the gambler.
And then the Judge proceeds to explain
that telepathy is an accepted scientific
fact, all Of which is news to Brookfeld
who now muses. on his own ability to win
at cards. The act concludes with the
murder of a drunken man by young
Whipple, who has an inherited aversion
for cats eye pin, and is unable to re-
strain himself when the drunken man
pushes it in front of his face.
The third act is back in Kentucky and
the second trial of the boy has been com
pieted. The Judge has given his charge
and the jury 10 out. The prosecuting
attorney has been unusually bitter against
the boy, for they both have been suitors
for the hand of Brookfeld's niece. The
gambler is now thoroughly convinced OF
the fact of telepathy and hypnotism, and,
realizing that with his ability there is no
such thing as square game" for him,
has closed up his business. He is sitting
alone, trying to influence by telepathy
the mind of one juror, who he thinks ID
susceptible to his thought. Under Judge
Prentice's direction he has had published
in the newspapers the fact that the
prosecuting attorney was responsible for
the killing of Scovel, the Governor-el
Of Kentucky. Although knowing the jury
is not allowed to see a newspaper, he
believes 1t impossible for 2oo, 900 people
to read and think of a thing and any
twelve men in that community not to be
Influenced by that thought.
The boy is acquitted. The prosecuting
attorney is jeered out of court, comes
rushing in to Brookfeld and places a
revolver against his breast.
ssYou can't shoot that gun, 'says Brook
field. calmly looking him in the eye.
''You can't pull the trigger. You can't
even hold that gun"
The mans hand opens, the revolver
drops, and the curtain comes down as he
gasps, ard like to know how you did that
to me-"
In the last act Hardmuth, gambler,
10 q refugee from justice. Brookfeld,
instead Of giving him up when he finds
out where he 10. helps him to escape, as
he believes that the man, with all his
moral weakness, was not really the origi-
nal criminal. The woman Brook6e1d has
loved for many years finally sees the real
beauty of his character and admits that
she was weak in letting her boy grow up
with prejudice that had caused so much
suffering.