BED ROOM MYSTERY

Grey River Argus, 13 April 1911, Page 8

BED ROOM MYSTERY

STRANGE BEiRLIN STORY

HYPNOTISM) AND PALMISTRY

Une of the most lextraprdinary stones that has, ever come- before a

court of law was told in a.remarkaDie. biackmai) case which has just ended in a fashionable -...'. young woman, Emma Helm, being: senteced to three . years', imprisonment.. ,-'.., 'Itie prisoner appears, to have made a Jiving by,, charlatanry, . accompanied by s a certain .amount .of. skill.; in iwpotism and palmistry, with ithe aid ot which she /pandered, to, the cravings- for sensation, and excitement of «i number of the smart and idle rich., it transpired; at. the, trial ..that she had rented a handsome, flat, furnished with remarkable, luxury^,one room of which was decorated, furnished, and draped, .entirely ip. . red, and it was here- that the • seances. topk t. place at when Emma Helm', entertained her fashionable clients, w. The trial, aiose.. out of\ an action for extorting moijey brought by a former, servant, girl named Kruger, and it was /this witness who gave the most se.nsatiohaL':eyideiice.' The girl, who is now. married to an .artisah, declared tliat she became, acquainted with the prisoner when reduced almost to starvation by a period ,of vain looking for work/after she had come to Berlin from:' the country, and that tlie' prisoner, hearing • her tale ot distress/ offered her work at her flat. Instead of giving her housework, howeveV, she informed the girl that she was to_ act as a medium, and; not understanding: what was meant, the girl permitted herself to be hypnotised/when- it'was .discovered that she was a .particularly pliable sußject. , On the occasion of the '• next seance the girl was robed entirely in white and was taken into the re(l room, which was" *en dimly-lighted by redshaded lamps - and occupied by a num ber of men and women attired in strange costumes, who ' were.-seated round a table with red- hangings.' The girl declares' she was then placed on the table and sent to sleep, and that she remembered nothing more until she awoke, to find herself in a bedroom of the house. From this time onward"she was entirely in the power of ■ Emma Helm, and the same thing happened at each of the seances. Her mind was a complete blank as to what happened while she was under the influence of hypnotism but she felt* sure that she was not acting rightly in remaining, in "the mysterious flat, and at length she succeeded in running, away. •borne little, time afterwards she managed to obtain employment as a housemaid, arid subsequently she married. It was after her marriage that the attempts at extortion took place, the prisoner seeking her out and threatening to disclose to her husband all that happened in the red room unless she paid her a sum of about £40. The unfortunate girl gave the prisoner all her savings, out the woman was not satisfied, and shortly afterwards she; called and demanded more money. When the girl could not give her any further sum she proceeded to hypnotise her; but while the victim was still lying unconscious on the tloor, and" the prisoner was engaegd in ransacking the drawers and cupboards in the room, a neighbour: entered, and, seeing that something was wrong-summoned the police, whereupon Helm was arrested. ■ . ; The police are now trying to nnd the mysterious flat in which these happenings passed/but they have very Tittle precise information to go upon, and the prisoner will disclose nothing.

The small Adeliae penguions in the Antarctic regions seem to have afforded endless amusement to members of Captain Scott's expedition. Lieutenant Fennel states that a whole day could be" spend watching these birds, which axe very tame, andhave no. fear of humanV beings. As a matter of fact when: ..they, see stran- . gers approach they, usually run forward to meet them. - Sometimes, one would *come. along malking a, loud noise li-kie the , cawing 1 of,'.a'"-rook, and others would rush up to see what the matter /Was. ■ Officers of the Ter- . raj iNova found that the. birds are susceptible to music. Those that were met with in the xecnt voyage seemed to be quite fascinated by thenursery rhyme, "Bells on their fingers," when it was sung in chorus. Penguin rookeries could be seen from the vessel. They were Jalways in' well-sheltered positions., and it was quite safe to conclude that where a rookery had been established there. would be a sheltered place.. Some months ago, when Wanasmaker's New York store was reputed to have made a i£600,000 contract for advertising with four evening pap-' ers, all the evening newspaper all over the country seized upon this announcement with great glee as."an. unanswerable argument in favour of evening papers as opposed to those that • are published in the morning. It is a fact that Wanamaker's New York store uses about three times, as much space in evening- as in morning papers, and this' discrimination, has been made after exhaustive and accurate tests of the advertising value of the two. - Who is to be the next High Commissioner fon New Zealand ? lOn 14th June next Sir Win;.Hall-Jones' 'term of office expires, and it is considered certain that he will not hold office for anotfi'er term. Rumor had. it ' that Sir Joseph Ward, himself had ,an eye on the position^ whicKi carries a salary of £2000 a year,- but his emphatic denial some little time ago of any intention of this nature must be taken as positive.