THE TRANCE MEDIUM WALKER.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2610, 21 May 1877, Page 3

THE TRANCE MEDIUM WALKER.

In an article of a column and a quarter length the Auckland Star "goes for" Themas Walker, trance medium, at present lecturing in Auckland, who is denounced as " a monstrous fraud" by our contemporary. The following is an extract from the article: —

Thomas Walker is a native of Preston, , Lancashire, where he received a moderate education at one of the 'common schools. His age is a'dbut 25 or 26 years, and not 19, as has been industriously circulated by his admirers.and the select few who have, undertaken what may be termed the " stage management" on the occasion of his seances. Very early in life.he. excited the gravest apprehensions of his pother and other members of his family by his eccentricity of character, and the fondness which he exhibited for tho sock and buskin. Like the ingenious youth who embittered the life of the amiable Quilp, be was frequently discovered in out of the way places attempting to stand on his head against some wall, to balance broom handles on the end of his nose, and to perform Yariousj featswith plates and other household furniture. The loss sustained by the accidents which' resulted from these experiments was a constant source of anxiety to, his parents, and made serious i inroads upon : ;the domestic exchequer. The hopes which had.been entertained by his fond parents of apprenticing him to i;a| respectable trade in one of the cotton mills; were cruelly disappointed. His first ap? pearance as a public performer was in the character of a " Buttons ". at one of the provincial theatres, but by persererance he soon raised himself to the position of a '■. futility.man.." Even ratthis early stage; he began to exhibit those remarkable powers of memory, which were destined to render his future career so successful, and to excite the ; wonder of less gifted individuals. He also developed an extraordinary facility of facial contortion, and an astonishing power of mimicry. He could disiort his mouth in such a manner as to draw it reuhd from itsnaturg,! position tohis ear,-and could mimic almost any character. The; practical jokes which he I played, "and the manner in which...he burlesqued the foibles of his fellow Thespians, subjected him to some disagreeable consequences, and he was obliged to seek some other field for the employment of his talents. He had acquired considerable skill in feats of sleight of-.hand, and had few compeers in the thimble trick. He could throw somersaults, and kick the back of his head with his heel.. During his stay in Auckland, Walker has shown that he still retains: his old skill and elasticity of limb. ' At the house of a Spiritist he delighted a select audience only a week ago by:"his characteristic sketches. .He acted the part of a Mormon elder, lecturing in favour of polygamy, and threw his audience into, convulsions of laughter, Then he suddenly changed his attitude, facial expression', and voice* and assumed the : character of a.Shaker, following this up with that of.' an Oneida disciple. All this : was accomplished out of the trance state and with his eyes open, and the rapid transformations were so skilled as lo excite the astonishment of his :select audience. 'Mr: Walker theti gave a series of skilful, imitations .of dialects.. He imitated a Lancashirenian, a Yorkshireman, a Yankee,: arid various; other types of humanity,' and his sketches were acknowledged to be in every respect equal to the best speciality actor that-has visited Auckland. With reference to : Walker's skill in ; imitating various dialects, it;has been given out by Mr .Peebles that Walker is attended by the spirit.of a defunct Yorkshire man, but at the seance .under notice the Medium appeared to havedispeused with the aid of the attendant spirit. But'even this, gr'cat rcper^ toire "does not exhaust the resources of this skilful -contortionist and actor.':' At the conclusion of the series of sketches above named, he kicked the back of his head with; his heel, and wound up by throwing a somersault in the diningroom, with all the agility of a: street acrobat-, He is said on suoh occasions to-be possessed by the: spirit, of a celebrated ground and lofty tumbler;; who once delighted thousands at Astley's, bnfc happeni.ng.qne day to " miss his tip," departed to exhibit his skill iu,a more lofty sphere ihan he had previously ventured upon, eren in his most during flights.