IN THE SPIRIT WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2080, 4 January 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

IN THE SPIRIT WORLD.

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE MEDIUMS.

A Flood-Light on the Table-Rapping Specialist.

U’>y Will Irwin, in “Colliers’ Weekly.”) ';i“;g*; «<******* .».■« wops. »( so-called clairvoyants ami ehiiramlionu < * X,slß 11 slxt * l y o,sm ‘' l\Y n’hiuh know Pinout personal experiences m-oves hbll 'u 11 °* VCS ’ " itlumt ears. <u..l the most credulous spiritualist in the otli w nS n"r°"’ 111 0110 ‘lhvctioii us reveneed it into legend and t,„di!;o , , b , el ' ovea il > llli ' ; ««1. sense, the recognition of investigation. 'L' n \. [ H) a v t ; f SC '! OUI ' J a H' n ' lll>a 11 gators known as tho •• roeietv for Phvehi.-d l'n i>• V seiuiscienulio mvestiinvostigations canto a conviction, now widely held bv th a °m oul °‘ “f 1 ' that such a faculty—call it telepathy siv'rii 'V,,, b> - . m ; s . l '•delltgont people, you will—does exist, in-ionoo gropes 'on '•O 'ununteatton, higher space or wnat certain still whether it is a domain or ” 0 l ' ol!nl! '- v - lln ' WhC< beginning. Beyond that all is fraud. * Ninety cKht, e 'ecu ' Trl'.""* f™* "1 ‘•mediums’' are impostors, -ou 'in<- doll-im not ',r ,1" 1 ,, t0 “ ° I , U t"' of, ' sslon ul system ot p»,Tl.ol„ s \c„l J 4& 1 » ‘ •» ***** nothing to do with real elaivyoym.- if ii “v ‘ J , K; • ' lhoso ;u ' Ul ' lc ? h,xvl ' gafn* an "e viug* by ‘playing' n" [*',, "o' *! uns.lng'adve.itim.re'lho game demands talent, long study.' mut 'persoualfty ph°vciT‘ !m Thl?

THEY WHO If .VISE THE BEAD. Tho medium who writes on slates, tips tables ,:uul produces spirits from tho cabinet—the •■physical demonstrator, in prole.-stontu slang—must first of all bo a conjuror. It is not necessary indeed, that he should bo a. past master ; the peon st conjurors of our vaudeville circuits could give most professional mediums cards cards spades. There arc two prongs to tho magician’s wand ; .-kill of hand and knowledge in the psychology ot deception. In skill of ' hand, tho medium may be mediocre, but lie must be mi artful deceiver. llis strong hold, his advantage over the conjurer pure and simple, is the emotion of his audiences. It ho knows how to play upon that, ho has little else to learn. 'When emotion com;' . clear sight goes. The most hard-head ed. observant person is liable to folly and blindness in tho face of communications from the dead. A sceptic, provided with his own slates, goes to an hulepeiulant slate-writer. Suddenly the medium speaks; "Elizabeth Young is here. She brings a mother’s influence. She passed out in such agony. ’THE EXCEPTIONAL ABILITHY OF MINNIE WILLIAMS. "1 can feel how that cancer pained her every time she moved. She wants me to recall to your recollection, sir, that book which she gave you two days before she died. She tried to write in it, but she couldn’t —she says that the scratches on the fly-leaves show how hard she tried —” Now suppose that this is the truth—come bit of family history extracted from a believemg sitter, let us say. How much power of observation remains to tho sitter in the flood of wonder, of love, of old grief that comes over him? Nor need the method be so obvious as this. Ihe simple statement; “Your mother is here, trying to communicate,” may he enough to wake emotion and lull observation. It takes tho place of the conjurer’s patter—only Homliiu himself never devised a patter so effective. Such physical manifestations as table-lifting* slate-writing, and “poltergeist” deserve separate description'; let us consider, first, tho materialising mediums, they who bring hack the re-embodied spirits of the dead. , . I must stick to mam roads; there is no space here to tell all tho elaborS, ate methods of materialising people. Hereward Carrington, an investigator for the Society for Psychical liesearch, has written a- hook on Ike Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism. f ’ 1-fo attempts to give tho technician of V the trade. This part of his book - fills 318 pages; Within my space I can not do better, in getting at the essentials, than to tell how Mrs. Minnie E. Williams materialises spirits without confederates. Mrs. Williams stands at least five feet eight inches tall, and weighs more than two hundred pounds. Her tread is heavy, and her waist lino is no more. In spite of this handicap, her ghosts are often both short and slim. Her cabinet is a set of dark curtains, ending below the ceiling; and sho uses no trap-doors and no paraphernalia other than a set of white spirit robes, a black veil or shawl, a mask or two, a dress-shirt front, a male nag, and some phosphoresent paint. The regular spirit robes, such as sho employs, are made of the very finest white silk net. They are large enough to cover her all over, and yet they fold into the smallest compass. Le roy, of Boston, dealer in supplies for mediums, made mo one last May which folds to the size of a woman’s fist. Still finer may he carried in the case of an oldfashioned silver watch. The masks aro of the same material, treated with • a little paint. The dress-shirt “dickey,” used on all Mrs.. Williams’s male spirits, is unique with her; I imagine that she-carries it under her skirt when she goes into the cabinet. On the day when she is going to give a performance, she coats her robes ' with a phosphorescent preparation and leaves them in a bright light to gather their spirit brilliance. When Mrs. Willians “goes under control,” the light, which is regulated by a string running into the cabinet, sinks to a dim point. The cabinet curtains, remember, are of some very dark material; and in this light one can not distinguish black against black. That invisibility of black against blade was the principle of Herrmann’s most elaborate and startling conjuring tricks, such as the famous “decapitation”; it is. also

> spirit iu Uvo dimensions. Fullv materia.ised spirits have bodies, just like t ins,' they had in lifi-. Tin' spirit ebenii-ts manufacture thorn in iho oahinot. A low linin' spirits etherealise bolero a llill-lormod ghost appoars. fu l ho tsoanoos which I attended, “motht’r. summoned tor tho honolit of a oortain middle-aged woman, was usually tho first lull materialisation. Sho is a small, old woman. To prodl'.eo th|.. Mrs . Williams “shades ilown ' her hulk by a littli' invention oi her own. AV rapped iu tho white spirit robe, she drapes a blade veil tri in her shoulders and leans forward. Blac'k against black, as 1 have su'd, is invisible; and this veil has tho effect of clipping off half her hulk. Sometimes, catching her in profile, one can see tho edge of tho black veil, or even its corners, as tlie (hitter with her gliding motion. ‘The daughter is always permitted to go forward and kiss “mother.” Tin's privilege is for the blindest dupes only; from all others, the spirits keep a coy distance. You may ask why tho dupe, when sho takes this spirit in her arms, does not realiso that sho is holding a large woman instead of a small ono. The answer is that the dupe is blind with emotion by this time—as you or I would he did wo believe that wo wore clasping our dead, resurrected by a miracle. Presently, Phoebo and Alice C'aroy appear. Working alone as sho does. Mrs. AVililams can not make more than one ghost at a timo walk out among tho sitters. Donblo materialisations always stick close to tho cabinet. Phoebo and Alice stand iu adjoining spaces of tho curtains, which about two feet of black drapery between them. Phoebo is Mrs. Williams herself in a white robe. THE CLEVEP JUGGLERY OF MRS. MINNIE WILLIAMS. The “shading down,’’ which makes Phoebo a small woman, is arranged by means of the cabinet curtains. Aiice is an empty white robe, held up and extended by the medium's hit hand. In ono seance, Mr. Cushman called forward a minor poetess that Phoebe Carey might bless her art. As tho poetess approached, Alice Carey dematerialised—“Sho is weaker in maguetism than her sister,” explained Mr. Cushman from the cabinet. Phoebo Carey was crowned with a star, signifying an advanced state of spirit growth. Ralph Sylvostro and C 0.., dealers in “spirit effeefs,” describe as follows tho manufacture of that advanced-spirit-grow-tli star: "Take small white cardboard and cat out a large number of small holes, presents, squares, diamonds, or any shape desired, about half an inch to three-quarters of an inch in diameter Coat the front of each ono heavily with Balmain’s luminous paint, . . . which can bo secured of Hevoe and Co., New York, or of us.” This is ono of tho trade secrets which any well-introduced person may hay of Sylvestro end Co. “Luminous Materialising Ghosts and Forms,” from which this extract comes, cost Collier’s five dollars. Tho men spirits who never venture far in front of the cabinet, wear no robes. One sees only a head and a shirt-front; imagination and suggestion do the rest. For her men, Mrs. Williams uses tho “dickey” and wigs. When Air. Cushman materialises, ho stands before tho curtain and makes a short speech. Ho is only •Mrs. Wililams iu her black underskirt and waist, with the dickey fastened about her neck and a wig over her hair. This •cents ridiculous, but 1 givo assurance that the effect is'convincing. Sometimes Mrs. Williams stands in tho very entrance of the curtains and “dematorialises” Air. Cushman. You see the head and shirt-front- sink' towards tho floor—and vanish. Sho simply lies down cm her stomach, performing the oper-a-ion with an ea.y, gliding motion. When the head and dickey are just a blurred white spot on tho floor, sho flips tho curtains shut to give the effect of a sudden evaiiishniont. Oneo Bright Eyes etherealised for a moment; she never fully materialised in my eight, though it can he chine. Tho operator wears a short robe bko a kimono, tlons a mask, gets down ou all foum, and conceals the rest of her hotly with a black veil, filio hands are light baby feet. AMion Mrs. Williams was younger. Bright Eyes used to materialise right along; but tho attitud- is undignified ' for one of her present maturity. Theso simple tricks, combined with tho cleverest kind of patter, accomplished ventriloquism, and real art in bringing on her effects dramatically, are the sum and substance of Mrs. Williams’s inediumship.

the heart and kernel of material isnig manifestation*. Even dark green, grav and brown, when placed against black, become indistinguishable in that light. When the manager, dressed in a dark pepper-and-salt suit. approaches that cabinet, lie is visible only as a shadowy taco and a white streak, which is his collar. While the circle is singing. Mrs. Williams is divesting herself of overskirt. and shoes. Her underskirt, her waist, and her stockings are all dead black. Years ago she used to wear tights in tfie cabinet. She has abandoned that method of late. The floor is heavily carpeted, so that stoi'kinged feet, even those of a very large woman, make no sound upon it

IV “PH YGIC VL MANIFESTATJON." AND THE TRADE IN APPARATUS.

Nothing is so dull and bootless as the attempt to describe on paper a mechanical operation. What hoy ever learned to build ; boat from thealluring articles on boat-building in the juvenile periodi< ils? W ho ever mastered from book instruction the arts of swimming or fencing? So when I come to dose; ibc the methods bv which mediums get •"independent writing” on slati s. read sealed letters, produce rails, idt tallies, and bring out ••.spirit” lights on the ceiling .1 .shall stick l<> !.:uad lines. There is no room, indeed for a. thorough expadtieii. Carrington, in ‘M lo* _ Physical lMienomeii ; of Spiritualism,” give 1 "iij pages to these Ireks. Let iis hurry through, then; lor these fraudulent methods lead us to a more interesting thing the trade in tricks and apparatus. Tabie-tipping is now out <b favor; raps thrill no mere; ‘•plaiiehetle has become a parlor toy. In “phvsicil tU’ii'onstralion’ the prevailing ta.-li-ion is “indepei.dciil slate-writing.” To those who never v'sited mediums I must explain the externals of this speci ilily. 'l’lie operator sits at a table, littered, usually, with slates of many shapes -iml siy.es. lie throws off the regular clairvoyant patter, designed to confuse Hie sitter and to lull observation. When the control announces that condition* are favorable, he breaks off a bit of date pencil ond puts it on a single slate or slates under the table." 'lbis part of tite performance is absolutely necessary to a successful demonstration. The human eye, as every mater'a hying medium knows, disturbs untruefcism. Spirits c*ui not work wlii»c mortals are looking at them. By ana by the medium becomes violently agitated. A sound of scratching is heard. Up come the slates —and on the surface, which went below the table washed and blank, is an appropriate spirit message. At first “independent slatc-wnt-ln<r” was primitive. The medium - 1 looted a slate-and handed it oyer fir inspection. Somewhere about his oerson he would have n duplicate slate

As soon ns sho is ready, she unleashes the voices of her eontru-’s. Krmn a technical point o! view, this is the host thing she does. As a ventriloquist she could make her loituno on the stage. “Mr. Cushman and “Bright lives” speak through her entranced lips, giving messages to people in the circle, announcing spirits, making moral observations. AH through the seance, they keep up ihiii patter, venturing even into dialogue. “Mr. Cushman’’ is a heavy, humorous male voice, with the genuine bass notes on the short vocal chords. “Bright lives” is the laughing voieo of a child about six years old. In professional slang, “Mrs. Williams has eight voices”; hut tln-se two are the best. They all have a family resemblance, however. In every voice' there are subtle shifts of intonation which even the expert- can not 'wholly disguise. Mrs. Williams in tier proper person. speaks, in a rat hoi peculiar accent whose basis is clipped Yankee; so do Bright Jsves and Mr. Cushman. THE JIT H ERE AL IS ATI ON OF . thiscilla.” At the psychological moment, Mis. Williams unwraps a luminous robe and holds it up between the‘ parted curtains for a moment. she is standing behind it. hei black clothes make her nimsiWo to the ericlo. Sho shakes .it shg - ing an uncertain, shimmering effect, a!,d lets it fall to the floor, where it becomes as a .luminous lump of .jjjirtm Suddenly she flips it out hind the curtains. It is 1 1 who alyya ys_ appearsifest-to-W 663 fl 5

kindness which follows such emotion. And since those early slate-writers worked only with believing spiritualist, this method needed no special improvement. THE REVOLUTION CAUSED BY THE. SII.TCATK FLAT. I Tin'll c.uiio the investigators; and invention was hard put to keep ahead ;of exposure. Skull' and others added a decoration hope ami a trick the.>>, until the profession attained to its | present skill. i The first improvement, which is Isi ill described by Slade’s name, wis tbe “thimble trick." No better method was known until a medium, chancing upon a piece of black silicate paper, noticed that it. kail , the properties of slate. This was the lading apple of slate-writing; rigid, there was born Ibe useful, necesssary silicate .flap. Silicate paper looks likes slate, feels like slate, receives pencil marks like slate, washes like slate; but it is paper, light, flexible, mil easily ilestloved. .Mediums cut these Maps to lit the slate frames jn.'t oxer tin l real slate. The sitter examines the false surface ami washes c himself, unaware I bv'.. iie is washing only paper, and that underneath, on the true surface, is hie spirit message. In some inslant of detracted attention the medium .dips out that flap. It takes hut a second; the “sitter," unless he he a trained observed, declares afterward that the slate never left his hand. Of course [lie discarded silicate paper must. Lie concealed. Commonly, the medium covers the reverse side with newspaper which litter his floor. It would take'sharp eyes in see it there. Women mediums conceal the flaps under their skirts men in their coat pockets —it is only a detail.

Triis silicate-flap method works best when the messages are prepared in advance of the sitting; there is seant provision for things which may isonc up during a seance. However. ,t little ingenuity may overcome that method. For example, a clever i iterator will give “.spirit raps” on tie

.able with iris left hand while viitiug on a slate, concealed under He table, with his right. He covers this message with a silicate flap, finds a way to distract attention while lie gets the prepared slate back to G.e pile on the table, anil proceeds as before. First-class craftsmen know forty or fifty variations on the "silicate-Hap trick.’’ In one especially conyeieing ••test” the medium lets the sitter write his own signature on one corner of the slate. Bright Eyes comes and controls tho sitting. Presto! A message from spirit land right above the signature. In this else, one corner ot tlie flap is missing. I'lu* edge at this place is carefully beveled oil. and to make assurance doubly sure the medium, in presenting this i:o for the signature, covers the beveled edge with his fingers.

The silicate Han. however, is .tot the only modern device. The modi im who understands his business -i I forestall detection by learning Hum all. so that he need never work twh-e in the same way. For exapmle, he will sit for business in a chair of visibility which has two narrow shelves just under the seat. On one shelf ho keeps a slate of his stand ml size and pattern, prepared with a spiYit message. He shows a perfectly blame slate. As he faces the sitter aero." the table, ready to begin, he drops his right hand, holding the inspected slate to "hitch up” Ids chair. His hand is lost to .sight only a second, but in that second the blank slate goes into the shelves and the or •- pared slate comes out, written side down. (Chair and trick, ten dollars from Ralph iSylvestre.) Chemicals are a great help. In tho most popular chemical method tho medium w rites his message with a camel s-hair brush dipped into a solution of zinc and hydrochloric acid. When it ilries, tho writing is invisible. The sitter, to prove that there is no fraud, washes the slate himself. Bid he thin'k to taste the water presented for this washing, he might find himself plunged into deep thought; for it is heavily impregnated with salt. When the slate dries from this washing, the writing comes out, plain and white. Several other chemical combinations will produce the samo effect.

Double slates, bolted together in advance by an independent investigator, aro so easy that the Diakkas laugh. The sitter usually puts in the bolts at the corners. The medium keeps up his sleeve a wooden wedge and 'a piece of wire, tipped with a bit of soft slate pencil, lie crowds in tho wedge at the middle of tho frame, making a little opening between the slates, inserts the wire, and writes. The message looks rather .scratchy; but that fact is cited for a proof that spirits did it. Finally, a really expert writer working in his own house may convince the most skeptical by producing writing within double slates fastened and sealed with any device that imagination suggests. You may holt them in twenty places, tie themronnd and round with cord, seal the cord with wax hearing your own monogram —-it is all the same to his controls.

“INDEPENDENT SLATE-WBIT-ING” WITH TRIMMINGS.

Just under his table is a concealed trap-door. Under that door is his assistant, surrounded by a whole notion store —many slates of many sixes, sealing wax of all colors, a whole kit of carpenter’s and burglar’s tools, assorted monogram stamps, screws and bolts hy the gross, string and cord of every pattern. Tile medium takestho prepared slates and passes them under tho table to his sitter. ’J hat is, tho sitter thinks that he does- in reality, the confederate his reached up through the trap-door, taken Unsealed slates unto himsell. and substituted a dummy pair which tool just- the same under the table. Long, long the medium and sitter wait lor manifestations. The assistant in the bisoment is very busy. If lie finds no way to open those slates, write the message, and restore them to their pristine appearance, he discards them altogether and manufactures a duplicate from his stock, writing a message before he seals them. A tip on the medium’s ankle shows that all is ready. “I feel the control coming.” says "the demonstrator of immortality, rolling liis eyes. “Vos, Bright Eyes, dear!” The assistant down below lulis two slate pencils together, makin a scratching sound. The medium brings the slates up from under the table. Jn the moment of their passage, the assistant has made his substitution and' gone down the trap. The sitter examines them. They are all l-i'dit—holts, cords, and seals intact, "l le opens thorn. Both inside surfaces are covered with spirit writings—messages from “Bright Jt.ves” nr his own dead. This el i borate method is not common. The- run ot sitters are entirely too easy to warrant it.

These are only the best devices among hundreds, but let them suffice for sTate-wril ing.

livery one remembers how the had buy in school used to confuse the teacher by moistening his finger and rubbing it loosely and rapidly acrors liis desk, producing a series of sharp taps, lie wis an undeveloped medium: for that is the principle of

“Spirit raps.” Sometimes the medium does it with his toe on the table leg. sometimes with his finger under the table. Again, In- will hold a pencil on the table, Ihe better to get magnetism, and. calling attention to the fact that the pencil point does not move, produces Hie raps by rubbing with his thumb. If the table is rickety, or if he rest, tho pencil on a hollow surf ice, these raps are loud and convincing. “Circle effects.” or manifesto thins produced while the victims sit in the dark, are many and iiiter'-sUng. In such seances, tno medium proves that there is no fraud. A simple piece of apparatus, sold for two dollars by Ralph S.vlvestre, is an improvement on these methods. In his right pilm the medium holds a piece of soft, heavy tea-lead, shaped like the tongue of a shoo. As he clasps the forearm of his right-hand neighbor he bends oil it this piece of lead. After the lights have gone out, and while he is iettng off “spirit” patter to deaden observation, he gradually withdraws this hand. The sitter still feels on his forearm both pressure and weight: but- it ny.nothmg morf

extending, at one jerk of tho wrist, to five foot or more. When ho has

his band loose and liken oul this rod lie i.s ready for btisiuo. Shall spirit lights appear on tho ceiling? lie draws from Ilia pocket a set of little black cards, decorated in phosphorescent paint with such designs as crosses, stars, hearts, or .Masonic emblems. Allixing one of these to (ho hook which tips his rod, he shoots il nut. The spirit, light shimmers by Iho ceiling, limits about, dips suddenly toward the medium, and goes out. Perhaps, before tile lights went out, the medium called attention to a guitar standing in the corner. II so, this instrument lloats in tbe air above the circle, humping beads and playing a tune in a pccitli irl.v soft, tinkling lone-quality. The believers call attention to this tone; it. is characteristic of .spirit, music. The back of the guitar opens like a trap-door. Within is a little music-box, so adjusted that the bumping ol the guitar will set it. oil'. The medium lias only to book his re telling-rod into the handle of the guitar -and you have it. Spirits do return.

I’ats from cold, dead hands (stalled gloves just out of the ice chest), floating trumpets which speak spirit messages (through an invisble black tube which runs into the next room), spirit faces (masks shining with Devon luminous paiul)—all these depend upon the useful little reacliingrod. This is one of the tricks, hereinbefore mentioned, which come down in direct line from tlm ancient Egyptian priesthood. Without doubt the magician’s wand known to fairy lore was nothing else. T 1 fE V ARIIC 1) STOC KOF CA I’TA J X LE ROY. 1 called last .May on Captain Le Ro.v. His shop—lie calls if “The iSehool of Magic”—is a kind of storeroom, piled high with dusty boxes ami letter-files. Three-sheet posters on the wall recall ihe time when Le I Roy himself w is an active “demonstrator of legerdemain.'' - A cabinet by the door holds a museum of magic, including autograph photographs of Herrmann. Keller, and Iloiidini. “Spirit work" and conjuring blend each with the other like tin' animal and vegetable kingdoms. Keller, for example, got his start in life as cabinet assistant and "spook” for Hie famous Davenport Brothers. Captain Le Roy came forward—a small, dapper, neat-stepping man with bright eves set very far apart anil small waxed moustaches, lie has a 'kind of circus air about him—ho might be own brother to Pete Barlow, peerless elephant tamer of the New York Hippodrome. "I want to get a tight-folding spirit robe, captain,” I said. "Stage or cabinet-work?" said he. "Oh. cabinet-work—spirits,” 1 answered. He looked me over carefully. "It ain’t for a platform expose?” be said. That adjective •'platform’’ kept me in the Georgo Washington class when I replied: "Oh, no!” "Well.” said Le Boy, "you must excuse mv asking. These exposures kill the goose that lays tho goldou eggs. Now. what kind of a robo might you be wanting? Ours are very neat and effective. We’ve got a special way of sewing the head so that they slip on and off in a jifl’y and don’t get tangled in a lady’s hair. Tho regular tiling?” "1 want one of the tight-lohling kind.” 1 said. "One that can be kept in a watch-ease." "Now, you ta'ke it from me,” said Le Roy, tapping me on the chest, "there’s nothing in that. It's ten years since 1 had a call for one of those tight-folding robes. Why go to all that trouble? Tho regular dopes will rise up aml call you great if you shake a sheet at them, and if tho newspapers are alter you they'll get you anyway. Your play is the plain robe.” I yielded to superior experience and ordered a plain robe. Captain Lo Boy had none ill stock. Airs. Le Boy made them to order, he said ; and the family was just starting for New York to attend the Banquet of the' American Society of Magicians. Could I pay a deposit of live dollars and get the goods in a week, C’.O.D. ? That suited me. "Anything else?” asked Le Bey. "I’ve got a few new things. Have you a spirit card-writing trick? What would you think if 1 borrowed one of your cards, held it up lor you to see that it was blank, and handed it hack with a spirit message on tho back?” 1 a.s'keil the price. Seeing that I was a new customer, I could have it lor a dollar and a half.

“You don’t want to pinch on new tricks,” he said, as I hesitated. “Knowledge is power, and the moro you know the more you can do.” Captain Lo Boy proceeded to offer tlio “spirit-rapping pencil” for a dollar. lie bought the secret from the great Cordingly, “and it is just like any other trick ; you never know when you’ll need it, and when you do it will bring your dollar hack first shot.” By way of making conversation, T asked him where Cordingly might be. “Now. see here, young mail,” he said with a shade of suspicion, “I don’t know, and I wouldn’t tell il I did. How would von like me to tell anybody where you are?” 1 was persuaded to buy for a dollar and a half the. sfit-envdopo method of reading folded ballots. Ho coached mo carefully for half an hour ill all its refinements and subtleties, warning me especially to read the ballots, open in my palm, without ever seeming to glance down under the table. ••They always follow your eyes. There’s nothing to conjuring but making ’em look the other wav.” To illustrate, ho did a lot ot thirty-third degree palming. Y.l lieu he sprang the best tiling ill his pack. Said lie: “If yon want something now and original, I have the goods. What do you think of spirit messages right- out ot the air, writon in green and purple and bronze, and the streaks just fading into each other? It is something great. I bought the stulf from a man who might have done anything in the profession if he hadn’t been a drunk, ile’s dealt now, anil the secret died with him. When my stock is gone, there won’t he any more Jolt. Last week I played confederate for a medium who does this trick. Wo had twelve people -in the circlo at live dollars a head, and they ato ’em a-live. They took those spirit ink messages homo and framed ’em!” The price was only live dollars, “and you’ll get your money back ten times over t-ho first time you use it,” said Lo Boy. It was irresistible. Ho brought out a vial containing some kind of sticky sizing and three littlo boxes of purple, gold and bronzo powder, lie wrote oiit a message with a new pen dipped in the sizing, let it dry, breathed upon it, dusted it with tho hands-of the gold, the purple, and tho bronze, and blew away the surplus powder. Tho result was beautiful and weird. “Now, as for working it,” said Lo Boy, “You must do il under dark circlo conditions and you need a confederate holding uuu of your hands or else a ‘break.’ Of course, you know how to break. I’d recommend you, though, to use a conLderate until you get real nifty—” At that- moment tho postman came through the door. With ono expert sweep, Le Boy scooped tho apparatus into a drawer and stood looking the "innocent and businesslike tradesman while In- signed for a registered letter. When the door closed, lie brought out boxes and vials again. “Now. say you’re going to have ten sitters. Before the seance, you take this stuff, write out ten messages, following any dope you have, and hide them under your vest. You borrow a gold watch to get the magnetism of the gold, put on the table with ten sheets of paper just like the ones you’ve written on. form the circle, and let them hold your hands to insure against fraud—you know. Out go the lights. Make your break-awn,y after a while—don’t ho in too big a hurry—tho longer yon keep them waiting the harder it looks and the moro they think they’re getting for their money. Then get rid of the ten sheets of paper on the table, null the written sheets out from under your vest,.and.fire Ujein ( ,,H\ %