Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-01-05
sPIRITUALHsM.
Fay's Expose nj the Cooper Institute Of
the Tricks of the Davenporfs. =,

A few hundred persons assembled at the
Cooper Institute, on Saturday evening, to
witness the promised expose Of the trick of
the Davenports by Mr.. Fay, gentleman
who acted as agent for these notorious
brothers, and accompanied them over a
large portion of their tour through this
country. '.t ~ frrfa rs g
Mr.. Fay is a young man who wears, his
hair in the prescribed spiritual fashion, and
sports light moustache. He prefaced his
performance at the Cooper Institute with
short lecture, explaining his object, which
was he said, to expose one Of the greatest
frauds and humbugs of the age While
connected with the Davenports he had, to
great extent, believed in the genuineness of
their feats, but by and by their impositions
became manifest to him, and he now desired
to show the world the devices on which the
Davenport brothers have built their repu-
tation. ~
Mr.. Bafun, of Newark, New Jersey, and
Mr.. Arad Gilbert, at No. 293 West Nine
tenth street, Were chosen from the audi
ence as a committee to see that everything
was properly managed. Mrs. Fay, the wife
of the lecturer, was appointed to superintend
the proceedings. A huge box was placed on
the platform, inside of which were placed
number of bells, drum, tin trumpet and
a tamborine. After these articles had I'M
dergone a close scrutiny by the committee,
who were perfectly satisfied Of the legitimate
character of the cabinet Mr.. Fay took off
his coat entered the box, and requested the
committee to tie him, hand and foot This
they did, and Mrs. Fay closed the doors In
a short time the bells were heard to ring,
and, amid the plaudits of the audience, Mr.
Fay stepped forth Invested of MS letters.
He again entered the box, the doors were
closed, and when opened, after few mo-
ments, he was found securely tied, the spirits
having performed the operation, he said
He then performed nearly all the feats Of
the Davenports. While the hands of the
lecturer were tied to his knees with a stout
cord, the bells were rung, the drum was
beaten, and to all appearances the lecturer
had the full use of his hands, but when the
door was opened, To- the victim was Sc
curely bound. He complained of the heat,
and said the spirits had been taking him to
France. On leaving the box, the commit
tee united his hands, and he went around
among the audience exhibiting the knot by
which he was fastened. He entered the box
again and was again tied up by the spirits.
Mr.. Baffin entered with him the next time,
a handkerchief icing thrown over his eyes
to obtain negative condition of the ele-
ments, or darkness. When the door was
opened Mr. Baffin was discovered in one
end of the box with his head crowned with
the banjo and drum, while extended at the
other lay Mr.. Fay, bound hand and foot in
the most helpless condition. rr
The audience demanded from Mr.. Bafin
an account of his experiences. He said that
he felt hands tipping different parts of his
person, his beard was pulled, and his crani-
UNI was struck several times with the drum.
The flour trick was then performed 10 the
satisfaction of all present, after which came
the erpose, The lecturer declared the main
secret of the tricks to be the getting one hand
loose, when everything that the audience had
witnessed during the evening could be easily
performed. The tying of the hands is per-
formed by fastening one end of the rope
around the left wrist, loop being formed
for the right hand. When the hands are
then turned round few times, the rope has
the appearance of being firmly knoted. AT
ter an explanation fthe -four trick, Mr.. Fay
wound up his expose by promising in a future
lecture to show how knots made by outsiders
are unfastened by the mediums.-New York
T-ib,De