SEANCE IN A BUDAPEST CELLAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 13, 9 February 1909, Page 4

SEANCE IN A BUDAPEST CELLAR.

DETECTIVE SPOILS A &IUS2JGE SWINDLE. An amusing ense, wnicli, in tbr- revelation of its details, is likely to prove embarrassing to several well-known citizens of Budapest will shortly be investigated by the Courts of that city. The Public Prosecutor is taking action against two men and certain members of their families. who are. charged with obtaining money by fraud under' circumstances ol a distinctly entertaining nature. It appears that the attention of the police were attracted by the fact tlmt numbers of well-dressed people 'were iu the habit of frequenting a humble eating house ill an oiit-oi-the-'way part of the city, appearing always to mnkii their way to an underground room or cellar. The visitors wen; of both sexes, and included many boy and girl students, liv the exercise of strategy, a detective ascertained that spiritualistic seances wore being held in the cellar lor tfhc bcnclit of persons who had formed themselves into a species of society, and at length obtained access to one of these weird functions. It proved highly inteiesting. The two men referred to above ollicintcd as presiding genii, and their wives and daughters were present as mediums. The spirit of several celebrities who have "passed over'' were conjured up. auiongst them that of Maurice llokai. and then a novel feature was introduced into the programme liy the appearance, in the spirit only, "f several prominent people still living. I'inally, a select number of those present were permitted to sit in separate compartments of the cellar, which was divided up liflj curtains, and to call on the ghosts of the great ones of history. The observant detective noticed, as a remarkable fact, Unit the lady spiritualists summoned up phantoms of the male persuasion, and vice versa ; and, accepting this as the recognised custom, made a bold plunge, and expressed a wish for an iutcniew with Cleopatra. After waiting (iu darkness) for some minutes, a hand touched his face. It was not a clammy hand, and' the sensation, so the detective says, was not altogether unpleasant, hut be thought that mailers were getting too phenomenal when a lady spook, considering above the normal weight ol such tilings, sat on ills knee after the manner of humans, and at this delicate juncture he switched on a powcrlnl electric pocket lamp. The sequel was painful. Cleopalra tied, shrieking, and her cries attracted two dead heroes from adjoining compartments, who stood revealed in verv earthly white wrappings, and submitted in an unhcroic manner; to the questioning of the police officer. The seance broke up in wild disorder, '['lie remarkable circumstances of the whole business is that many really well-educated people seem to have been genuinely swindled.