SPELLBOUND IN SCRANTON: Man Enchanted by Mysterious 'Hoodoo' Magician Signs Away Fortune! Shocking Revelations of Murder and Arson Unveiled in Sinister Conspiracy!
Found this funny old story while searching around for something:
UNDER A MAGICIAN'S SPELL.
HOW A SCRANTON MAN WAS INDUCED TO SIGN CERTAIN PAPERS.
SCRANTON, PENN., Aug. 25. - A young man named Hogan charged Foster Rankin, Edward Horan, Dennis Sullivan, and Albert Hodge with necromancy and conspiracy before Alderman Fuller to-day. The complainant declared that he met the defendants at the Mansion House the other night, and after having some wine they introduced him to a magician, or "Hoodoo," who was supposed to work supernatural wonders. The "Hoodoo" passed his hand over Hogan's head and made him think he was President Judge of Lackawanna County. Acting in his official capacity as Judge, Hogan signed certain documents which have since turned out to be an assignment of his property to his divorced wife. He said he was powerless to resist while under the baleful eye of the necromancer, and that the whole thing was a conspiracy to rob him of his property.
One of the documents signed by him was a biography of himself, in which he is accused of murder, arson, and various other crimes. This the conspirators threatened to have published unless Hogan paid them $10, which he refused to do. The defendants were held to bail for a hearing at the next term of court.
UNDER A MAGICIAN'S SPELL.
HOW A SCRANTON MAN WAS INDUCED TO SIGN CERTAIN PAPERS.
SCRANTON, PENN., Aug. 25. - A young man named Hogan charged Foster Rankin, Edward Horan, Dennis Sullivan, and Albert Hodge with necromancy and conspiracy before Alderman Fuller to-day. The complainant declared that he met the defendants at the Mansion House the other night, and after having some wine they introduced him to a magician, or "Hoodoo," who was supposed to work supernatural wonders. The "Hoodoo" passed his hand over Hogan's head and made him think he was President Judge of Lackawanna County. Acting in his official capacity as Judge, Hogan signed certain documents which have since turned out to be an assignment of his property to his divorced wife. He said he was powerless to resist while under the baleful eye of the necromancer, and that the whole thing was a conspiracy to rob him of his property.
One of the documents signed by him was a biography of himself, in which he is accused of murder, arson, and various other crimes. This the conspirators threatened to have published unless Hogan paid them $10, which he refused to do. The defendants were held to bail for a hearing at the next term of court.
New York Times: Aug. 26, 1883
