A UNIVERSITY HOAX.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 February 1922, Page 5

A UNIVERSITY HOAX.

DOYLE AND THE SPIRITS. London, Nov. 30. For some days Cambridge had been extensively placarded with the announcement that Sir A. Conan Doyle would attend a meeting of the AngloAmerican Psychological Society at the Guildhall and speak on “A Vindication of Materialism,” the subject to be divided into three main headings, “Sex Equality After Death.” “Spirits in Everyday Life,” and “Materialisation.” Naturally the promise of so tastefully arranged an address accounted for a solidly packed hall. There were dona end their wives, a throng from Newnliam and Girton, serious-minded townsfolk, and a great gathering of undergraduates. Yet when the meeting should have started neither Sir Arthur nor his supporters arrived. In the assembly room a .few gentlemen were shuffling their feet forlornly and regarding nice platform tickets with something akin to pride, but there was nobody to show them into their seats. At length the big audience, now a little impatient, were filled with anticipation by the appearance of a screen in the middle of the platform. Then some unknown hand put over it a banner which bore the words, “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has failed to materialise.”

It wa® half a minute before the truth sank home that nearly a thousand people had been hoaxed. After singing one or two songs and making some ,• caustic remarks, they filed out very quietly, but a little ruefully, into the streets. Someone called out, “We want spirits,” to which came the sepulchral reply, “Whiskey.” It was not perhaps a great undergraduate jest, but in the sheer impertinence of the idea there were certain elements of humor. A party of undergraduates were waiting to kidnap Sir Arthur to see if he would vanish into thin air when captured. There is no clue to the identity of the culprits.