The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-07-23
Mind and Matter.
THE WONDERFUL POWER OF READING AN
q - sneoFHER's THOUGHTS.


,ts "a l.snG OTHERS THOUGHTS.
.Jobn R.. Brown, q bcardless young gentle
man twenty-two years of age, whose home IS
in Council Bluffs, Iowa, has excited good
deal OF curiosity the last few days by his exhi-
b;tion Of mind reading, at the Stnrtevant
House Il in New York City. Mr.. Brown is
highly charged with some mysterious power
which gives him control over the thoughts OF
others. He does not claim to be Spirituallst,
andsdistinctly says that prophecy his not part
of. hisart. He takes the hand of another and
thus establishes a.chain along which the mag
netic; current flows; Browns mind is passive,
or. at least it thinks only the thoughts which
the brain thinks with which it is in systematic
contact. The thoughts of the subject whose
hands he holds are photographed to his own
BRAIN and hence the subject can have nose
cret from the operator or receiver. You may
hide an article in any out-of-the-way place,
and if YOU will concentrate your thoughts upon
the thing, Mr., Brown will, take your. hand and
lead YOU directly to it. You may write down
the name of any place. or individual and Mr..
Brown. although not in the room when you
made the writing, will quickly spell out the
name for you. By means of copper wire ne
can establish current between himself and
yourself, and receive the brain messages. lie
is the battery and you are the instrument. lie
has been put to very severe tests by the sceptl,,
cal journalists and scientists OF New YORK, and
has acquitted himself in such way, that the
greatest doubter cannot hesitate to believe IN
his powers. He does simply what ne says ne
will do. He is riddle to himself, as ne IS to
all who have seen him operate. That his pow
er is great is undeniable, but just what it is is
a question which the wisest cannot answer
The New York Times says: a. ~ -
Yesterday Mr.. Brown gave a private eXhlbl-
tion to select company, including several rep
resentatiYes of the press. The place chosen
for the experiments was large parlor and ped,
room in the Sturtevant House He explained
beforehand that he was obliged to use certain
amount of machinery. This latter consisted
of The letters Of the alphabet printed on
piece of pasteboard, and a long piece of brass
wire He did not have the wire, the utility OF
which will be explained hereinafter, but ne
exhibited the printed letters. The latter were
strung around the walls of the parlor, and Mr.
Brown commenced his interesting exhibition.
Hestated, in the first place, that any indiyid-
ual in the room NIL ght hide an article anywhere
in the house, and that, if certain conditions
were complied with, he would certainly point
out where it was hidden by reading his
thoughts. A gentleman in the company left
the room, and returnedin few minutes. Mr.
Brown then blindfolded himself with linen
handkerchief, took hold of the gentleman's
left hand with his own right hand and, after
few eccentric movements, namely, pressing his
hand several times over the genteman's arm
and across his forehead, the two left the parlor,
followed by the company, and proceeded to
search for the hidden article. The gentleman
submitting to the experiment was led, or rather
pulled, by Mr.. Brown through the corridors OF
the hotel and into a half dozen chambers until
one was reached where Brown stopped before
a bureau with about a dozen drawers, and,
pointing to one particular drawer, said: You
Will find it there" The hidden article,
pocket knife, was found in the drawer. The
gentleman said that he had followed the course
which Brown had taken before ne hid the knife,
and expressed himself as much astonished.
The next test was made By a gentleman who
went into an adjoining apartment and selected
q rosette in one of three damask curtains, rs
an object upon which to concentrate his
thoughts. Mr.. Brown, preparing himself as
before. led the gentleman to the window cur
tain, and after minutes hesitation over
tassel; placed his hand upon. the rosette. The
gentleman stated that he had at first thought
Of the tassel, but had finally concluded to
choose the rosette. Mr.. Lewis Leland, of the
hotel, asked Mr.. Brown to tell him the name
of his birthplace. The latter, blindtolding
himself and taking the hand of Mr.: Leland IN
the manner before described, led him around
the room, and pointing to the printed letters
of the alphabet suspended on the walls, spelled
out the name "LaDgrove." This, is small
town IN Vermont, and the birth place of Mr..
Leland. In the same manner Mr.. Brown
picked out the letters of the alphabet, spelling
stGeorge;" the Christian name of George +.
Rowe. 8 reporter of the Times, drowned some.
time ago, on the request Of his brother, who
was present, and also the name of town in
Turkey. denominated "Abeih," where one Of
that company was born. In the latter test Mr..
Brown missed the letter e. which the gentle
man making the test stated was probably owing
to the fact that he had himself hesitated over
it while mentally spelling the word. Another
test to which Mr.. Brown was subjected was
made by gentleman who fixed his thoughts
upon watch-seal worn by MIR. Leland, which
was quickly pointed out as the object selected:
Mr.. Brown volunteered to read the thoughts OF
another without coming in direct contact with
son. To do this he blindfolded himself as be-
fore, and while taking the hand of third
party-the latter placing his hand on his
7Brown's) forehead, the man whose thoughts
were to be read took hold of the wrist OF the
medium of communication, and so the three
proceeded around the room until the object
was pointed out, or the letters spelling the
word thought of were spelled out from the
alphabet. The reporter Of the Times, desirous
of making this test, did so, together with Mr..
Leland. The metallic tag hanging to the key
In the door was the object selected for con-
centration of thought. After his usual prepar-
alton, Brown Immediately led the way to the
door. When he reached it he felt around it
for few minutes, and the Times reporter, be-
lieYing that the scent: was lost, allowed his
thoughts to be directed to other objects. AS
these objects presented themselves to his mind,
Brown would Immediately lead him and his
companion to them. At last violent effort
was made to concentrate attention exclusively
on the key-tag, and Brown at once LED the way