The Hypnotic Eye

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 208, 3 September 1938, Page 17 (Supplement)

The Hypnotic Eye

Short Short Story

PERSONALITY means power! That was a phrase Benjamin Harford had read when he was starting his legal career. Adopt,n S lt as a slogan, it had gradually become his creed, for Mr. Harford was convinced that he possessed personality . . . plus! He was a tall, commanding figure. He walked with a Lord Byron manner . . . strutted might be a more suitable word, for his pride had become inflated as a result of his achieveme:''

By--Kingsley Gordon

Take his latest case, for example. He had successfully defended "Blinky" Lewis, when that gentleman had been charged with killing a policeman. The evidence had been against Blinky. The judge evidently considered the defendant guilty. 'I he jury seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion, even Ir'fore the testimony was complete. But Mr. Harford knew that Blinkv wa« innocent. Had he not put him to « severe test? Fixing the prospective candidate for the hangman's rope with his hypnotic eye and exerting all his personality, he had secured what he knew to be the truth and nothing but the truth in Blinky's own words. "S'heip me. Guvnor, I ain't the one that done it!"' Xo one could fool Benjamin Harford. He didn't claim that—he just admitted it! Air. Harford's impassioned plea, combined with the gpell of his personality, made the judge waver. The jury were even more affected; so much so, in fact, that they acquitted Blinky after only 17 minutes' deliberation. A fitting tribute to Mr. Harford's power, for, without it, Blinky Lewis would undoubtedly have been found guilty and duly hanged. And Mr. Harford really believed, deep down in his heart, that it was not his rhetoric that had secured Blinky's release, but the devastating look he had bent upon the 12 good men aed true, as he addressed them. He bragged of his power at his club and became generally disliked in consequence. His egotistical ideas were ridi culed. Then one day, as the result of a misfortune, that happened to a fellowmember, his great idea was born. The member in question had been held up and robbed on his way home the previous evening. He had just recounted the episode in detail and was receiving the condolence of his cronies, when Mr. Harford burst into a roar of laughter.

"Ho wouldn't have robbed me," stated Mr. Harford, emphatically. "Xo ? What would you have done?" asked the vieti n. "A sneak-thief," replied Benjamin, didactically, "is a coward. He has an inferiority complex. Such a creature can l>o cowed, merely by the glance of the eye. from anyone possessing personality." "Well," retorted the unfortunate one. "maybe you'll be held up one night and then we'll see." Mr. Harford, convinced of the reality of hie power, hoped that such would be the oase. An encounter with a bandit would be the supreme test. If he emerged successfully from that, it would be obvious, even to those nit-wits at the club, that he indeed possessed an hypnotic eye. Unfortunately, no obliging stick-up appeared in Mr. Harford's life. He took to prowling in dark streets, but was never molested. Several times he saw gentlemen who possessed all the qualifications of prospective thugs, lurking in doorways as he passed, but invariably they shrank away with his approach. Mr. Harford became impatient. He left his overcoat open on these rambles so that liis somewhat flashy watch chain might be taken as bait. He carried his gloves instead of wearing them. The diamond ring he wore upon his finger might, lie considered, invite an attack. But still nothing happened. Mr. Harford felt distinctly slighted. Facetious inquiries such as: . "Met your bandit yet?" from fellow-members of the elub only increased his annoyance. He made special trips into reputedly tough districts, but still the thugs ignored him completely.

There is an old saying that "everything comes to he who waits." It is a true guying, as Mr. Harford discovered just as he was beginning to despair. For. one evening, as he had almo6t reached his own house, a figure appeared from a dark gateway and barred his further progress. Mr. Harford's heart beat rapidly—with hope! "Stick 'em up!" growled the figure. Mr. Harford stuck them up. He had carefully mapped out his plan of action during the time he had waited. Compliance with the stick-up's demands was in order, to begin with. Then, in due course, he could reveal the power of hie personality. The thug had a very unpleasant-look - ing revolver pointing somewhere in the region of Mr. Harford's bait—the watchchain. He looked as though he meant business. His slouch hat was pulled well down. He wore a mask. A genuine bandit, obviously—one quite worthy of Mr. Harford's steel. "Well?" asked Benjamin, calmly—very calmly. Hi* poise seemed to take the malefactor aback, somewhat. There was a moment's silence. "What do you want, my good man?" inquired Mr. Harford, in well modulated tones. The bandit seemed strangely undecided. not only about what he wanted, but about the general trend of event®. He had chosen a dark spot for his operations and he wae peering intently into his victim's face. "Er . . . yer money," he replied, resuming the regular routine of such occasions, "yer watch an' . . . wotever yer got."

'It occurs to me," said the legal luminary, "you are rather taking it for granted that I am carrying valuables." Come on, rasped the thug, 'an' none of yer lip." "Furthermore," continued Mr. Harford, ignoring the command, "wealth acquired I in such a manner would only brin^ ! harm to you. ° The fellow's face wae coming closer to Mr. Harford's and he was evidently puzzled. "W liat the ." He paused "My good man, you must stop this, went on Mr. Harford. "Put up that gun." Phe thug was still looking closelv at Mr. Harford as though the light were insufficient to reveal what he wanted to see. Benjamin also wished for better illumination. The magnetic fire in hi., eyes could hardly be visible in such gloom, but, even so, it was obvious that the stick-up was hesitating. Mr. Harford became very confident that his power was in good, working order. He had heard hypnotists command their subjects to do certain things and those things were done. He had re«d that, if you looked a lion straight in the eve, the king of beasts would retreat with his tail between his legs. If a lion acted in that manner, surely this insignificant ... The moment for action had arrived. Fixing his <yre upon the thug and putting all the force of command into his voice tha<t he possibly could, he thundered : "Put up that gnn and go home!" The thtig suddenly switched on his flashlight. The beam revealed the crushing and compelling force of Mr. Harford's gaze. "Blimey!" he whispered, in an awed voice . . . then, "Okay, take 'em down!" He put out his light, turned suddenly and fled through the gate from which he had emerged. Half an hour later, Mr. Harford, his back to the fire, legs wide apart and thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat, regarded his club-mates who had just listened to his narrative for the third time. * He thrust out his chest, took a cigar from a gold case, bit off the end, lit it and puffed complacently. "It was just as I told you," he concluded. "Everything happened exactly as I anticipated it would. If a man possesses sufficient personality, he can command obedience from a gang of bandits, let alone one. It's a question of willpower. ..." Mr. Harford was not the only person who was lecturing an unwilling audience at the same moment. In a setting much less luxurious, a sharp-featured woman was venomously berating an undersized gentleman who had, a short time previously, sallied forth with the laudable object of sticking-up a fellow citizen and relieving him of his money. "Gawd," said the virago, "you calls yourself a. man an' you lets a bloke talk you out of nickin' him. after you got him with his hands in the air." "I couldn't help it." Blinkv Lewis defended himself. "When I put the light on him and was sure who it was, I couldn't forget how he talked to the jury and saved me from that murder rap. That feller's got what they call personality. He knew, same as everyone else did. that I killed the copper . . . you couldn't fool him. but he talked till tliev let me go. I couldn't rob him, could I?"