An incident.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 11 December 1890, Page 2

An incident.

Last Saturday • a certain "Dr'| Terry was advertised to appear at the Theatre Royal Palmerston, and our contemporary the Manawatu Times drew attention to .his performance in these terms : — " Dr Terry, before some medical gentlemen in Wellington lalely, gave a test of the great mesmeric power he possesses, water was made to nearly boil by the contact of his fingers within five minutes a gentleman was put in the mesmeric sleep and operated upon without pain. Dr Terry asserts that it 13 impossible for him to mesmerise any person unless they be willing. There should be a big house this evening in Palmerston. We trust the gentleman will have a prosperous tour of New Zealand, and has come, we understand, on a holiday tour to recruit his health." He appeared and the Standard says : — After the audience had stood this humbug for a while, Mr Walton rose to his feet and denounced the whole affair as a swindle for the purpose of obtaining money, and challenged " Terry " to prove that he was not Me Alpine. This so completely staggered " Terry " that fora few moments he was unable'to reply, and when at last he was able to do so, no intelligent person could understand what he did say. After he had rambled on for fully half-an-hour, the audience (meanwhile having crowded up in an excited manner to the fo.it of the stage, he received the contents of a paper bag of flour in the face, and we can positively say that it was the quickest transformation scene ever witnessed, his hair and beard instantly changing to its natural colour — red. The "Doctor" beat a hasty retreat to the back of the wings, evidently thinking discretion was the better part of valour, and one minute later was not to be found. He was, however, discovered rushing madly across the Square, the distance from one side to the other being covered in the fastest time on record."' The professor was caught in an hotel and handed up his " hair dye " which is all he had on him, his doorkeeper having left in a hurry at the outbreak of the row.