New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-12-24
TAE DAVENPORT BROTHERS


and youth, they would "snatch fearful
joy,r while huddled together with sympa-
thizing companions whose capacity for be-
lief equaled their own, they would hold
thrilling, bloodcurdling revel in the fas-
cinating horror Of ghost stories. And If
the season and the surroundings we're con-
genial to the awe-inspiring subject-if, per-
haps, in tho large country sitting room, as
the shades of evening thickened, the fire re-
duced to a few embers, aud the Pickering
light casting specter-like shadows in tho dis
tant corners, while re1ecting, the terror de-
picted in every earnest face, the intensity
of the fearful enjoyment can hardly be
described.
The capacity for belief disappears before
the experience of sccHmulasing years, but
the craving for romance and mystery al
ways remains. And it is the unextinguished,
innate longing for the weird and the occult
that leads many to impute to spiritual, un-
earthly influences, phenomena not in any
way difficult to account for by reference to
facts connected with the every day world,
or to circumstances that lie on the surface.
Certainly to this feeling alone must be
ascribed the interest that was taken in the
exhibition Of tho Davenport Brothers dur
ing tho past week, to witness which exhibit
ton the Odd Fellows Hall was nightly
packed with dense crowds Of the wonder
seeking and the credul0us.
The exhibition, per se. amounts to nothing.
Without dispute it is, by itself, the poorest
81, Not cd an
it not for the interest inspired bv it's ap-
parent irexpicability, it wonld not bc near
so attractive az the most meagre exhibition
of the magic lantern. The mysteriousness
is all. Who would give dollar. or even a
quarter of the sum. to DO one of Il crowd
listening to the sound of bell, tinkling
with not 40 muoh impressiveness as COW
| would ring the bell hung to its neck when
driven off the railroad track by the scream
Of a lccomotiye9 Who would care to hear
| the tuneless stringing of q guitar, strummed
| as boy plays by rafting stick across the
fence palings as no goes to school; or to
| hear knocks and thumps euch as Betty
gives as she sweeps the chamber corners
after making the bedss Yet these meagre
sounds, with the hinging about of certain
| articles, after the manner OF Jocko, the
Brazilian ape, forms the whole thing. The
apparent nv sterv is the sole charm.
| as in their earlier exhibitions, claim the in
| .eryention Of 'spirits from the Vastly deep,
| or some other unknown region, they are
| perfectly willing that the audience should
| impute their jugglery to spiritual agency.
| And although ninety nine in one hundred OF
the audience might probably deny their be
| lief that the powers of the air assist the
| Davenport Brothers, yet they secretly hug
| the belief in spiritual aid; practically be
1 = c,~ hat rro.,s ,yn.
| known world are sent by the Supreme Being
to help two or three adventures TO fool the
| public at one dollar per capita.
| Doubtless the pleasure IL as groas.
IN being cheated, ~ 20 cheat.
| We do not suppose that everybody whc
! reads the REPUBLICAN has visited at q
seance Of the Davenport Brothers, and VIC
propose to describe the exhibition of lasi
| Friday night. which was the final appear
ancc of the Davenport Brothers for the
! present
The Odd Fellows Hall was crowded to
the utmost. At the upper end, on II plat
| form, stood the cabinet used for the exhibi
| tions. This is a species of armoir, about
| ten feet in width, three feet deep and eight
| feet or so in height. 1t has three doors in
front, the centre one having rhomb-shaped
aperture near the top. The cabinet il
capable Of being taken apart 1--WE suppose
| for the convenience of traveling.) There il
nothing of the occult or the cabaiistic in its
| appearance, 40 concealed apertures OF
lockers, no place where machinery might he
| perdue There is nothing inside but the
| seats on which the Davenport Brothers 81,
! when incarcerated, and . seat running
along the back On which to seat the person
| selected from the audience to enter the
cabinet aud be shut up with the performers
during a portion of the juggle.
The Davenport Brothors themselves have
as little appearance of nccromancy about
them as could be supposed. They are very
| commonplace-iocking young men, Of pleas
ant department and address, but withal
the very reverse of the romantic. In fact
one looks in vain, during the whole exhibi
ton, Tor the usual paraphernalia OF the
MISUNDERSTANDING rod, brazier, skull, cross
bones, cabalistic robe. and high cOnicatcap
The whole thing is as matter OF fact as the
| puppet show Of Codiin and Short.
| The exhibition consists in the brothers
being tied apparently both hands and feet
! in the cabinet, facing each other, with their
backs to the sides Of the cabinet the right
side of the one and the left side of the other
being toward the audience. A guitar and a
bell were deposited in the cabinet along
with the tied-up brothers, and when all was
fixed, the doors were closed, and the gas in
| the hall SO lowered as to make it nearly
| dark. Then began tinkling of the bell,
and a strumming of the guitar. accompanied
| by Knocking Of more or less loudnes6
| against the sides and doors of the cabinet
| The bell is thrown through the aperture in
| the door of the cabinet, the door is thrown
| open, and this il the whole manifestation.
| Two features in the exhibition are TO be
! remarkei-the selection of a committee of
known citizens among the audience, to see
| fair play between the spirits and those who
! paid money to witness their freaks. and the
! selection Of reliable persons to enter the
| cabinet and be incarcerated with the per
! formers to discover. if possible, the modus
! opnaudi of the trick. This person, thus
! shut mp with the performers in the cabinet,
| Is always tied, however. one hand being fas-
| tened to each performer so that they can
not move without his perceiving it. The
committee of citizens are expected to ex.
| anime the knots that tie up the performers,
and to help to run tho machine generally.
| :. On the last evening OF the exhibition, a
we!I-known auctioneer and old resident OF
| the city, together with a Judge of ono OF
| the district courts, constituted the Com
| mittee of Vigilance on the part of the audi
| ence. These gentlemen. whose personal
| character and intelligence would render
| their testimony unimpeachabie In any mere
matter of fact, seemed, however, to have
| become impregnated with the surrounding
illusions, for they seemed to show forth
most saliently two of the triad of cardinal
| Christian virtues-Faith and Charity. The
legal gentleman in particular, who had, we
were informed, attended each successive
! exhibition, seemed to have laid aside
the logical skepticism of the bench,
| and, in short, the conjurors and
their conjurations evidently had the ear
| of the court However, the Davenports,
like the 'man dilligent in his business" OF
| whom the wise son Of David discourseth,
| hara sfood hefnre kinra aud stultifiad ROYAL