UNDER DEAD HYPNOTIST’S SPELL

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 14 April 1934, Page 14

UNDER DEAD HYPNOTIST’S SPELL

*T>HE amazing excuse that under the A spell of a dead hypnotist, he was driven to wreck trains and hurl scores of people to their deaths, was put forward by a man who had spread a reign of terror over many countries, says an overseas paper. Aj happy family party was sitting at home, thankful that the head of the house had escaped death in a train smash, the latest of a long series that had terrified Central Europe. Suddenly there came a thunder of knocks at the door and a voice bade them open in the name of the law. 'There were policemen all round the house. The door was opened and two gri'mfaeed men marched into the house and up to the man inside, iSlyvester /Matuska, a rich Vienna property agent. up your hands, Matuska, and come with us, ” said the detectives. And then, to the dazed question of his wife and IS-year-old daughter Gaby, they returned the amazing answer: ‘‘iHe is the man all Europe is looking for—the train dynamiter.” The wife and daughter laughed hysterically at ■the idea. It was impossible! Not Sylvester IMatuska, the perfect husband and father. . The police in Austria, Hungary, Germany, and other parts of Europe had been- looking for the man responsible for the wrecking of many trains. Their first clue had come after an explosion that had hurled an express from a bridge into a hollow 80fit below, costing the lives of 23 people. Some of the train crew had noticed immediatelv after the disaster that Matuska, who told them that he was one of he survivors, had escaped without a scratch. Yet some hours' later, when they saw him again, there were scratches on his face and hands, which he said he had sustained in the smash. Tho wrecker had evidently thought that his ‘‘escape” might look too miraculous, and had decided feign some injuries. It was a fatal mistake. 'Once started on the trail the elue had shown, the police unearthed evidence that piled up until it was overwhelming. After his arrest Matuska confessed to three wreckings.* ! [But the police wanted to know his motive. ’“I was driven to it by a dead hypnotist,” said the accused man.' •‘•‘'Whenever I saw a fine railroad train speeding proudIv along, some sort of spirit urged mo to wreck it. I could get no peace until I did. “It happened during the war, ho went on. “A professional magician

Amazing Excuse for Train-Wrecking

e and hypnotist came to entertain the s soldiers at the front. I was one of s several who allowed themselves to be . hpynotised, and after that T never felt i the same.’ But it did not seem to i affect my life until three years ago. From that time this spirit began to t urge me to destroy trains. 3 “That is not all. In- the same way i as this irresistible impulse came upon t me to wreck the trains, I could not see - a woman in black without being driven, t to try to comfort her grief with my i love. * Some of the women were in 5 black because of my wrecks, but I was powerless to resist. ” - ' 'The detectives soon found that there l was truth in what Matuska said. He r had been engaged in an amazing number of affairs with other women, and l other members of his battalion at the . front had been hypnotised by a Leo ij Schlessingcr. This revelation roused , the relatives of the dead hypnotist to : protest against the allegation that he r had ever implanted evil thoughts in i anyone’s mind. t ‘Mrs Matuska ibore up bravely through • the accusations of wrecking that were L hurled at her husband, but the revelation of that long procession of women • in black was more than she could L stand. She became ill, but still tried s to comfort her husband. Then, fol- • lowing a visit to the prison on a wet day, she developed pneumonia. With her father in prison and her mother dying, little Gaby developed astonishing, qualities. iShe invented ■ stories to- comfort her mother, saying • that' mental experts had examined • Matuska, found that he was suffering . from' shell shock, and that he had had. nothing to do with the wrecks. He , would ibe released soon. The women, too; Gaby dismissed as imaginary. Mrs Matuska died happy in the • thought "that her husband had always • been innoeent and true. The authorities, to save expenses',, changed' Matuska with causing a nonfatal wreck. But they failed to bring 1 out in law that the accused man had also been responsible for the other wrecks. And this man, who had caused tne deaths of scores of people, was sentenced to only six years’ imprisonment. 1 There was an outburst of public feeling at the leniency' of the sentence, and the Austrian authorities “lent” their prisoner to Hungary. The Hungarians built up a erusning case against, him, but decided not to try him until • ho had Served the six years.