The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-04-04 00:00:00

"MODERN MIRACLES."

"he 'modern miracles' wrought by M enBre.
Maskelyne and Cooke in their new programme intro-
duced at the Egyptian Hall in London, may be truth-
fully characterized as extraordinary, inexplicable, and
surprising," says The Times, and proceeds

Effect. are produced, not only without any apparent, but
absolutely without any eqnceivable, cause. In the first
place, there is in this performance no question au to trust-
worthiness of testimony or the competency of observers ; be-
cause the "manifestations" occur, not in the presence of a
few " believers," " sceptics, or inquirers" shut up in a pri-
vate room, but in public, before the eyes of a hall full of wit-
nesses, each one of whom can satisfy himself or herself by
walking on to the stage, aril inspecting and examining at
every step in the proceedings. In fact, the audience virtu-
ally impose their own guarantees, and institute every possible
precautidn against fraud, so that two conclusions are irresis-
tibly forced upon the spectators—first, it is physically im-
possible that the effects can be produced by the two per-
formers who are bound hand and foot in the mysterious
cabinet and, second, it is equally imposible that the effects
cao be produced by anybody else. Hence the baffling and
insoluble nature of the problem presented by the ringing of
bells, playing of musical instruments, appearing of "spirit
hands" and ghostlike "spirit forms," with other startling
phenomena under these conditions
. .

There is so much of general'aimilarity between one so-
called " Davenport " exhibition and another that, without
going into some detail, it is impossible to convey an ade-
quate idea of the wonderful nature of what is done by
Nlessra Maskelyne and Cooke. We will therefore describe as
accurately as we can one out of the many teats accomplished.
The performer is seated in a cabinet or cupboard, which is
minutely inspected inside and out, and is watched round,
underneath, and above by any number of people from the
audience, so that no assistance of any kind whatever can
possibly be applied from without. Each wrist is tightly tied
round with thick eord or rope, and is by the same rope, and
with only one knot between, tied close ho an iron eye or
staple, which in bolted to the seat. The tying is done, not
by the performer or by a confederate, but by any person
from the audience. Then the knots are sealed, so that they
cannot be loosened in the slightest degree without detection ;
the iron staple in sealed, so that it cannot he withdrawn
from the seat without cracking the wax ; and sealing wax is
also applied to the Junction of the seat with the wookwork
of the cabinet, so that the seat cannot be moved without dis-
covery. Nevertheless, upon the gaslights being turned down
in order to hide the toodim operonsdi) the performer's coat Is
instantaneously removed and conveyed to any person who
calls for it, We say, instantaneously In other words, the
coat is off and across the stage in three or four seconds from
the time when the audience lose sight of the performers.
The gas in then immediately turned up again, when the per-
former in seen in his shirt sleeves, with hiffh arms bound
exactly as before. Here, the marvel is that, as proved by the
precautions taken, there has been no disconnexion of the per-
former's hands from the seat, and the mat therefore cannot
have come off in the usual way; yet it certainly does not
come off in any other way, because it is a common unsophis-
ticated deem-coat, examined and marked both before and
after the flying feat by any number of persons in the au-
dience. If anybody can suggest any better guarantees and
precautions, Mr. Maskelyne appeals to the company to try
them.