History
Austrian psychologist Professor Otto von Himbeergeist came to America with a new theory: he claimed that an idividual’s criminal nature originates in a trauma the person suffered in his/her childhood. If you find the trauma, you could cure the criminal. To prove this, Otto von Himbeergeist chose the Daltons as his test subjects. As the Daltons, especially Joe, saw this as their chance to escape, the Daltons gave in to his therapy, telling him of their childhood as well as turning to embroidering without having any actual change of heart, except for Averell. Lucky Luke, who doubted the success of the therapy, followed them to watch them. When the psychologist assumed that they had been cured, he handed them guns, only for the Daltons to take him hostage and escape.
Luke followed them to another city where he learned of a recent bank robbery. However, the local banker told Luke that this wasn’t the work of the Daltons, but a stranger. He and Luke encountered the bank manager in his office, who was crying that he had wasted his life. After learning about another robbery where someone stole some thread, Lucky Luke was able to track down the Daltons. It was revealed that it was Averell who stole the thread for embroidering. When Luke asked them where Professor von Himbeergeist was, believing him to be their hostage, the professor appeared from behind and held him at gunpoint, revealing that he has become an ally of the Daltons. Later, when Luke was tied up and guarded by the psychologist while the Daltons were playing card outside, he learned why Von Himbeergeist changed his mind: During the therapy sessions, listening to the Daltons’ adventures and their life of crime, he had realized how much he had been wasting his own life, so he decided to use his intellect as a criminal genius. When Luke provoked him by calling him crazy, Von Himbeergeist planned to shoot him, only to be stopped by the Daltons as each of them wanted to kill Luke himself. The professor decided to turn to their next robbery, already planning to rob another back without one shot being fired.
When he, the Daltons, and Luke, whom they had forced to come with them, arrived in a city, the psychologist and the Daltons paid the local bank manager a visit and forced him to tell of his childhood. As he did, the bank manager realized how greedy and paranoid he’s been all the time and claimed that he didn’t want to see the money anymore. The professor promised him to get the money away from him, and the bank manager opened the safe willingly. However, Joe was still suspicious of the professor’s method, preferring brute force over manipulation. When the Daltons and Luke, who was forced to help them, were loading the money onto their horses, Luke was able to manipulate Averell by decribing every sack of gold he was handing him as “another sack of stolen gold, and another sack of stolen gold” until Averell snapped, claiming be no longer a thief and firing a shot, waking up the entire neighbourhood. This caused a gunfight between the Daltons and Lucky Luke. When Averell’s attempts to talk to his brothers, who were busy firing, fell on deaf ears, he fired another shot to make them listen, but accidentally causing the dinamyte upstairs to explode, which resulted in the Daltons and Professor von Himbeergeist being trapped/knocked out by the collapsing house.
Otto von Himbeergeist was later sent to jail and his theory was declared not only a failure, but also nonsense. He still manipulated others, like when both his prosecutor and his prison warden were telling of their childhood in his presence. However, although his theories had been neglected by society, his methods were still influencal to the future of psychology. This was shown when a nurse ran to her lady, screaming: “Mrs. Freud! Mrs. Freud! Just hear what little Siggi wanted to do with me!”.
Abilities
Intellect (psychology): Not only was Otto von Himbeergeist a highly educated man, his occupation enabled him to have great knowledge about psychology, especially about childhood traumas. Ever since he arrived in America, he asked basically everyone he encountered to tell him of their childhood until the respective person burst into tears, claiming that his/her life had been wasted. This eventually enabled him to start a criminal career based on the method of making bank managers tell of their childhood until they realized the greed and paranoia they had felt and begged him to steal the money.