HYPNOTISED IN COURT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 227, 23 March 1912, Page 7

HYPNOTISED IN COURT

AX EXTItAOPiDTXARY SCEXE. An extraordinary scene was witnessed recently ;it the Prague Criminal Court at the trial of a municipal engineer named A'ersbacli, who is accused of the forgery of entries in the baptismal registers to establish his right to a title of nobility. Versbneh pleaded "'not guilty," and brought forward the defence that if he committed the forgery it was done in a trance under the suggestion of a certain hypnotiser. whose name he was unable to reveal because he was forbidden. Versbaeh's family doctor was called as a witness, and gave evidence that the accused was neurotic and easily hypnotised, and then, to prove this, despite the protest of the judge, he began to read out a formula, beginning "Deus aeternus," from a Trench book on magic which he discovered the unknown hypnotiser always used for Versbach. To the horror of the court (he prisoner immediately fell into a hypnotic sleep, with arms stiff and outstretched, while standing in the dock. The lawyers present, thrust needles into his head and attempted lo move his arms to see if he were shamming, but without, producing the least reaction. The. prisoner only woke when the d octor brea (lied on him. uttering another formula, and expressed surprise that he was bleeding from pricks. At the continuation of the trial next day the prisoner fell spontaneously into a hypnotic sleep, from which it was impossible to wake him for some time. The trial has been adjourned for the opinion of medical experts. The defendant's counsel has hopes of discovering the identity of the mysterious hypnotiser.