Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-31

III was v WAN DFdIlu. DuI ulu hot TecoS-
nize her until my eyes fell upon placard
leaning against one of the chairs. 1t read:
"This woman was put into hypnotic
sleep this Monday night at the Lyric
Theater by Alexander the Great. On
Thursday night she will be awakened at
the same place by Professor Alexander.
Don't miss it! Also be sure to hear the
free lecture which the Great Hypnotist
will give in front of this store tomorrow
at 1915 sharp"
AS stood there among the wide-eyed,
half-fearful negroes, | must confess to
share in their emotions. For seventy-two
hours this delicate woman would lie in
that unnatural sleep, breathing the hot,
dead air of show window, during torrid
spell that was taxing the vitality of the
most vigorous For three days she would
lie there for the entertainment of passers-
blythe curious, the mocking, and the
morbid, the pure and the impure. Her
volition surrendered to an INSCRIPTIONS
charlatan, she would lie there like one
locked in the embrace of a deadly drug,
her spirit wandering through some dream
wrought paradise, her plight public spec
tacle. A wave of anger passed over me.
Nevertheless, | resolved to hear Alex
ander the next day. | found the street in
the immediate vicinity choked with
people, and had difficulty in elbowing my
way to the window Vivian, though still
asleep, of course, was not in the restful
attitude of the night before. She had
turned on her side; her cheeks We're
flushed The poisonous atmosphere of
the box was doing it's work.
A GLANCE was sufficient for me, and
| turned to where Alexander sat in
an automobile hung with strips of black
and orange cloth He sat with folded arms,
his tall hat tilted back, his large mouth
set in straight line, his hard gray eyes
fixed, apparently, on the two brass but
tons that decorated the back of his
chauffeur's coat. He seemed as oblivious
to the mob as Vivian herself. Yet, at the
stroke of the quarter-hour, he promptly
rose, removed his hat, and stepped up on
the seat Of the tonneau.
"My friends" he began, in a strong,
resonant voice, "the woman you see in
yon window lies in what is known as a
hypnotic trance or sleep. 1t was induced
by myself, and only | can break it. If
that building We're to burst out in flames,
if your fire engines We're to come thunder
ing up over these granite blocks, if that
plate-glass window We're to be smashed,
and if all of you, with one accord We're
to rend the air with warning cries, not
so much as one of her eyelds would
culver.
"Yet at my gentlest whisper she would
wake, as you who are present on Thursday
night will see. For she has resigned her
personality, her ego, her will, her soul, her
subliminal self-call it what you will-to
me. | am her master. Therefore, my
friends" he added, with dramatic fall
Of his voice. "were | to drop dead in this
car, that woman in yon window would
never wake. She would gradually and
insensibly pass into state of dissolution
He talked only a few minutes. AS |
moved away some one roughly gripped
my arm. Turning, l saw the face of
Wallace Brand, as white as chalk He
was the last man on earth would have
chosen to meet at the moment.
"June," said he harshly, "is there no