Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1912-05-16
HYPNoTIsT IN COURT
PROCEEDINGS STOPPED WHEN
DEFENDANT FALLS IN TRANCE.
Then Medical Adviser to Presldlno
Judge Has Pins Stuck In Him In
Vain Endeavor to Discount
Performances Of Accused.

Prague.-The forgery trial which IA
proceeding with a municipal engineer
as the defendant came to a dramatic
pause at the criminal court when the
prisoner fell In hypnotic trance. The
accused, whose name IL Siegmund
Versbach Won Hadamar, a member Of
an aristocratc family, Ia charged with
making forged entries In the baptismal
registers to establish his right to 4
title Of nobility. He admits the for
gerry but In doing SO makes an extra
ordinary explanation.
He states that the entries which he
made to confirm his title Of "Reichs
Ritter" which he is accused of ille-
gally bearing. were penned while no
was in a hypnotic trance, and con-
trary to his normal desire. To con-
Arm this plea the prisoners medical
attendant, DR.. Werner, - declared his
belief that tho patient had been under
the said influence exercised by q sec
ond person, and that this person had
ordered him not to reveal the formula
by which the hypnotism had been pro-
duced. The formula was. however.
Deus Aeternus."
AS soon as the witness uttered
these words In loud voice the prison
or sprang from his seat with glazed
eyes and extended arms, and in a dull
voice slowly uttered the Latin words:
Me indignissimum servum tuum."
The court was thrown into a state
Of excitement. and the president beg
ged DR.. Werner to break the hypnotic
SPELL The latter handed a paper to
the President containing a long
formula, and the president asked the
prisoner:
Where have you read thusf"
He replied: ION a board In the
Hofburg, near the emperor's head.
was in the Hofburg to present a petit
ton for pardon from the emperor"
The experiments which the special
list then proceeded to perform with the
prisoner were interrupted by the pub
lie prosecutor. who cried:
II protest against such hocul
pocus."
To which the president replied: &c
am powerless."
An angry conversation then ensued
in the course of which the medica
adviser of the court, DR.. Pelnar, tried
in vain to drag down the prisoner
arms. Nothing daunted, the medica
adviser then challenged the specials
to drag down the extended arms. DR.
Werner tried and failed. but as su
preme test thrust long pin into thu
hand of the accused, who did no
finch. DR.. Pelnar, not to be outdone
submitted to the same experiment ais
without fiinching.
Finally the president inquired wha
would now follow, to which DR.. Wer
ner replied that the prisoner woul'
awake in full possession of his senses
He then breathed in Versbach's fac
and the prisoner shivered and sa
down YEARLY, but after some moment
fell again into repose, and all attempt
to awake him proved fruitless. Dl
Pelnar asserted that sleep was du
to wearisomeness of the genealogical
documents read to the court-an opiI
ion which instantly awoke the prisone
with a weary smile.
The presiding judge then adjourne
the proceedings sine die pending tn
preparation of report by the medica
faculty upon the mental condition @
the accused. No report is to be mad
upon the state of mind of the specia
list, who is, however, believed to b
suffering from merriment. long SUI
pressed.