Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1853-04-13
From the N. Y. Com. Advertiser.


This mposure does not appear TO succeed
quite so well in England in The United States;
and Mrs Hayden. the medium there, herself ap-
pears to have been pretty considerably beiooled,
by Mr. q. II. Lewes, who writes an account OF
his experiences in consulting the lady, to the ed
ltor of the London Leader. HIS hypothesis, how
ever, is not new, though he has been emineLtly
ST .cessful in.canying it into practice. The same
theory has been advanced here. The gentleman
thus explains his hypothesis:
s'Before had witnessed these astounding phe-
uomena, had formed an hypothesis of The whole
process, which turned out 10 be accurate. 1t did
not seem in the least surprising TO me, that the
quesiOner should be carefully answered, even
when asking questions mentally, of which no liv-
ing soul but his own knew the answer. inva-
riably said-'The cause d your delusion is, that
you direct your attention TO The thing said, and
not to the way in which ii is said. You assure
me sOlemnly, that you do not tell the medium
anything; declare uuequivocally, that you do.
1t is the same in cases of cairvoyance; you tell
ALL and fancy you are told. You do not tell II in
so many words, but unconsciously, you made
to communicate the very thing GU believe is conf
municated to YOU bad formed an hypothesis,
and according to that hypothesis, had framed
certain traps into which the medium would in
fallibly fall, if my supposton were correct. The
hypothesis, and The traps, explained 10 certain
friends, before the experiment was made.''
The verifcaton of this, by experiment, was
complete. Mr. Lewes visited Mrs HAYDEN, and
acting upon his hypothesis, fingered at such let
ters as would frame replies calculated TO settle
the question of intelligence beyond all doubt
The result he thus describes:-
81 thought of a relative of mine, and said aloud
q should like to know if she is present. Rap
ping answered yes Observe, The person
thought of was real person. was planning no
trap this time, because the experiment Was TO be
every way concusive passed my pencil equa-
bly, along the alphabet, without once lingering,
until after had passed the letter j, with which
her name began. Finding that was not to have
the real name, thought would try if could
not make the raps answer where | pleased
chose N. ltaps came; was written down..
What name, thought !, shall it be? Naomi or
Nancy! Before had finally settled, my pencil
had passed A, and l saw E, | determined Z
should be the letter, and was indicated. NE,
'of course, would do for Nelly, and Nelly was
spelled. Then came the surname, which ought
to have begun with Il but as my pencil did not
linger at IL, on passed, until we came to S,
which was indicated without any intention on my
part then had TO invent some name beginning
with an ) 1t Is unnecessary to follow further
thus IN detail, my first trial; enough if add that
"Nelly Sore'' informed me she died in 1855,
leaving SIX children, two Of whom were boys, the
eldest iourteen-every answer being ludicrously
wrong, but declared by me TO be astonishing, >,
which declaration was accepted in perfect faith
by the medium, who thought she had got one
good. credulous listener. al all events. That was
my object. To make her fall into my trap, it was
necessary she should believe was her dupe''
But Mr. Lewes carried his test still further
L. al l.. l
the spirit OF being who never existed but in fa-
bic, and he mentally summoned one of the Eu-
mendes-one Of those 'abhorred virgins with
snaky hair, who form the Chorus Of Furies, in
A1schylus" prompt rapping response assured
HIM OF her presence, and by judicious pauses with
his pencil, at the letters which he had resolved
should constitute the answers, he induced her to
declare that she died only six years ago. in the
jewish faith ! aged only twenty i've and
leaving seven children y! But even here the
absurdity did not stop "To shuw,' he con-
tInues, show completely the answers are made
at random, when no clue is given, but only yes
or mo- is required, here four questions which
wrote on piece OF paper, and the answers
received:'
'Elad the ghost of Iiamlet's father seventeen
noses? Answer, Yes!
Had Semiramis? Answer Yes!
Was Pontus Plate an American? Answer
No! Was he leading ragedian' Answer, Yes!
One would suppose that this was exposure
enough; but perhaps the richest of all is what
follows, though the response was true enough
without doubt. The last test Mr. Lewes applied
was put mentally, but the question was also wit
Ten on paper and handed to friend before it was
asked 1t was-"Is MIS- Hayden an impostor?''
An unequivocaling eyes, was The answer. The
question was repeated, but the same answer was
returned.
1t is but too painfully notorious that this gross
fraud upon the public has, more than any other
sing e cause, filed our Iunatic asylums; and the
London Waterman, journal not likely 10 exag-
gerate facts, says, "We know that already in
England, it has perplexed or Frustrated the intel
iect OF men whose minds have been exercised in
public official business, and cultivated by literary
studies.''