AUSTRIA: Pencil Man

Every day in Vienna men and women gather in groups of 50 at the house of an uncouth old fellow who dresses like a farmer. Standing respectfully in a circle, they strip to the waist, permit him to approach and stroke them with the tip of an “electric pencil.” It crackles softly as it passes over their flesh. Last week the Austrian Government announced that Herr Valentin (“Electric Pencil’) Zeileis had just paid his tax on an income of $30,000 for last year. Not exactly a charlatan, Herr Zeileis does not claim to cure the people he strokes with his “pencil”—a childishly simple high-frequency coil operated by an automobile battery. If they go away and claim to be cured of everything from appendicitis to housemaid’s knee that is their business. The Pencil Man will not take from any patient more than three Austrian shillings (42¢). He seldom pencils a man or woman for more than 30 seconds, treats hundreds of poor “patients” free. In 40 years of eccentric hocus-pocus he has never broken two rules: i) The groups he pencils must always be of assorted sexes, and always seminude; 2) He will pencil no one privately, though hundreds of prominent people, unwilling to endure the public ordeal, have sent him blank checks for a private consultation. He always refuses, returning the checks blank. Recently the Austrian Government, con-vinced after prolonged investigation that the Pencil Man is no cheat, rebated him two-thirds of certain taxes which he had paid in ignorance of a clause in the law permitting him to claim exemption.