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1908

Heenan’s family is willing to try anything, even hypnotism, to help him curb his ways.

 

On March 14, 1908, police arrested Henry Bowers for public drunkenness. Bowers, known as Heenan, was a common drunk.

In an effort to cure him, his family employed a hypnotist to help him stay sober, and miraculously, Heenan went four months without a drop. Everyone thought he’d been cured of alcoholism.

But on this night, Heenan was drunk for the second time in three days. Hypnotism had failed, as had earlier treatments at the Waterbury Insane Asylum. It was bad news for Heenan, as he was sentenced to 60 days in the county jail. It was simply the latest chapter in a history of more than 40 incarcerations.

 

Image courtesy the Vermont Historical Society.


The Vermont Book Of Days - Montpelier Police 1904
Heenan was arrested by the Montpelier police
and incarcerated at the Washington County Jail.
This photograph shows the Montpelier Police
Department in 1904.

March Archives | March 15

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