The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-12-13


the enormous fraud hourishes. Aye, and will
flourish as long as there are people silly enough
to pay for being duped, or until legal pro
hibltlon put an end to the miserable traffic Of
OF the whole tribe of social brigands- the seventh
son OF fortune tellers," 'clairvoyant healing
mediums, star-consultins Sydrophels,' and
all the rest Of the miscellaneous humb,lgs that
prey On the community.
As for the last new, chdishly ridiculous phase
OF the prevailing insanity naturalization il
mon sense revOlts at the viilainous compound OF
lmpudence and profanity; to discuss it seriously
would be waste Of words.
For my own part, inasmuch az you kindly in.
Ter that my individual opinion would be desirable,
II have not indicated it with sufficient strength
proudly declare that disbelieve utterly, and
regudiate the whole infamous deception.
The greatest wonder of all to me is, that as
teligence and Gil: ture, perfectly sane upon every
other matter, and entirely capable Of conducting
the every day business of life, who, having as it
were tooth out OF the cog.wheel of their men,
ance upon this puzz!ing question, and send their
thoughts soaring among the gases and ''ologles'
in the vain endeavor to reconcile the impossible
ties with nature and fact.
Yours with respect, JOHN BRoUGHAM.
MR. RoOsEvELT's INVESTIGATIONS.
To the Editor of the Daily Graphic:
l have received circular from the Da1y
Graphic Office asking my views as to Spiritual
ism, and especially to materialized phenomena.
could put my reply in one short sentence in the
shape OF question by asking: What IL sillier
than to ascribe to the action Of spirits t. ivial
events which we cannot explain But will go
further and tell you and your readers few facts
to sustain more fully my position. We deal
with two classes among spiritual believers; first,
pack OF idiots who always will be idiots, though
you bray them in mortar as the scripture hath
1t, and who need no more of any ones attention
but may be allowed to 20 on in their idiotic
dwellings till the end; and secondly, gentle
and sentimental class who demand our ten
derest sympathy. The former we may ignore
there are such a proportion in the world and
there always will be-but the latter consists of
those who have been sorely stricken. wounded to
the heart by the angel on the white horse No
feels like laughter at the sight of the devoted
wife hungering TO lind III the fantastic figure
donned III dim twilight by some sham medium
the beloved shape OF her dead husband. or in the
aSon'zed mother longing to recognize in the
painted face VI u charlatan, exhibited in the
same darkness, the rosy cheeks Of her darling
gone from her sight forever. We cannot laugh
at these exhibitions OF wifely or maternal love,
but we should scorn aud denounce the impostors
who make living by playing on these noblest
affections of humon nature. For my amusement
1 once studied parlor magic, and became quite
delft with the cards and my fingers.
then learned how few men can see what
really occurs before them, and how much fewer
can tell what they see. 1t is a rare thing for me
now to witness any trick by our most famous
magicians without understanding how it could
be done. gentleman OF intelligence wishes me
to say he has seen Hermann hang two living
rabbits together, and roll them INTO one while
standing alone in the middle of the stage. and
not near anv OF his mechanical appliances. I 90
to the theater the next evening and see Herr
mann take two RABBITS. drop one in a table
through = slit in the CLOTH rub the other and
hold it up before the audience with an air Of tri-
uph as though he had done something remarka-
bic.
l hear that Warren, the wonderful medium.
aided by Samoset, can play on guitars with his
athlete, who twists few strings around his wrists
by perfectly simple trick, perform some silly
acts while hidden from public view behind cur
tam. l am told that some astounding medium
OF first water reads names written on slips Of
Paper and rolled up SO as to be concealed from
sight and thrown into heap on the table. ask
my informant to write a few names on similar
slips OF paper, and after reading them for him
precisely as the spiritual master did, l tell him
that this is the simplest of simple tricks and
among the first prac'ised by beginners in the
magic art.
You may say these are not all the wonders
spiritual science presents, and demand that 1
shall account for all the phenomena so-calIed
which have been described. answer. give Herr
man or Blitz, or, for the matter of that. myst II
the same conditions Of dim light, hand tasted
audience, and previous preparation, and il all
the splritnallstlc feats are not outdone hundred
fold Will own up that l. too belong to the glo-
rious band OF idiots. The old maxim is, Falsus
an unO tdlsus IN omnibus. Ii one Manifestation
Is trick. all is a trick. Were mode rn ma sician
to demand such conditions for his performances
world. he would be laughed off the stage. and
were his boy pupil to assert that the penny ne
had deity removed from under the plate. where
it was apparently placed, had been carried awav
by the hands Of spirits, his associates
would probably materialize their boot-toes on the
tenderest part OF the youthful person as rebuke1
for his insult to their common sense. will close
by explaining as well as can on paper the two
tricks have referred to Of hand-tying and paper
reading: Take a cord or handkerchief looks
better If there are number Of cords knotted to-
gether, as these knots confuse-and tie the ends
so that the hole formed will be little larger
than tho two wrists. Into this thrust the two
hands nom opposite directions. Is lady puts her
hands in her mutt, then twist the hands round
till they come side by side. This will bring them
firmly together and they will seem to be tied, but
IN reality they are not tied at all and can be
loosened at once. II man 60 tied cannot play
on the guitar behind screen it will be because
he has never leaned
The name-reading is equally simple. When
the pellets are rolled up and thrown into the
middle of the table the performer brushes them
together with his two hands apparently to ar.
range the heap, really to catch one between his
fingers and drop it in his lap. This he reads,
the attention Of the audience the
while, IS all magicians well know how to do
Then he picks up another pellect, which he keeps
in his hand and drops in his lap like the first,
throwing out IN its place the one he had read.
This childlike performance is continued until the
audience stare with wonder and the pile has been
read through. Is my former word idiot too
strong or was it misapplied?
Now you know what I think of Spritualism. I
could tell you more had not already said
enough, and were not too busy just now with
women's rights, dress reforms, and 'progres.
sive petticoats. ROBERT J. ROOSEVELT.
Hitchcock, who though not very fast, is slow
but sure to give You good drink, at l57 Com
mon street.
pRYNSr p0py o.