The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1878-07-11

; old monks vJglt be shocked at seeing
tarie= TIPPED, bsUj0s banged, fiddle:
y through the air, and bells rung II
cebine.s when the evil Spirits" were
supposed IN he tied hand and foot
4 very learned fTisr, who - sr0keI
of as perfectly truthful, says tba
among the ta-tars there are certain
men whom they honor above al 9TH
I prs, who are Idol priests fron India,
} persons OF tecD wisdom, well con-
Quoted, and Of the puTezt morals. They
are acquainted with the magic arts
| and depend upon the counsel and aid
I Of demons. Among other delusions
they exhibit, which he describes with
| great eXsctness, he says they can sit
I in the air without any visible support
first on tripod OF three sticks, then
one stick after another IS removed,
and still the man remains, not touch
ing the ground, be further relates
that with a long cane he felt all under
the suspended Individual, aud found
nothing upon which his body rested.
This last performance was prOfessedly
exhibited in Madras during the pres
ent century, and Is infinitely described
be impeAched."
And now comes the most astOnish-
ing trick OF all, which has touch OF
tragedy 10 give it more piquant fla.
vOr. L shall tell it in the quaint Ian
guage of the old chTOnicler, somewhat
abbreviated. After describing very
vividly the basket murder trick,
which Is well known in India, lie
says: 81 am now about To relate a
thing which passes ALI belief, and
which / should scarcely venture To ill.,
sert here had IL nOt'been witnessed by
thousands under my own eyes. One
OF the party took ball of cord, and,
grssping one end, threw the other up
III the air wish such force that its eX-
tremity was beyond the reach of our
sight. He thea Immediately climb
up the cord with incredible sWiitness,
and was soon out of sight. / stood
full OF establishment, not cOnceiving
what was to come OF this, when, 10!
a leg came tumbling down out OF the
air. One OF the cOnjuriug company
instantly snatched il up and threw 1t
into a basket. a moment after a
hand came down, and Immediately
on that another leg. Aud in a short
time all the members OF the body
came thus successfully tumblipg from
the air, and were cast together into
the basket. The last fragment Of all
we saw come down WAS the head, and
no sooner had that touched the
ground than he who had snatched Up
all the limbs and put them into the
basket turned them all cut again top
sy turYy. And stTaightWay | saw
with these eyes all those limbs creep
together again, and in a short time
form q whole man, who stood UP and
walked about without showing the
least damage! Never in my life was
L so astOnished as when L btheld this
wonderful performance, and l doubted
now no longer that these misguided
men did it with the help Of the Devil.
| had an attack OF pAIpitatiOn Of the
heart like that which overcams me
in the presence OF the Sultan of India
when he showed me something of
that kind. They gave me q cordial,
however, which cured the attack. The
KaZi AfkhRrradin was next to me and
quOth he, Wdlldh! tits my opinion
there has been neither going up nor
down, neither marTing nor
tits all hOcus pOcusn y which
was a very wise conclusion to come
to-"
When the evidence of eye-witnesses
is too direct to be rebutted and no al
iii can be proved, the willy advocate
In defending his client relates to the
Open-mOuthed jury certain well-Ru-
stories OF optical delusiOns
which, like those other illustrations
Of the falliDility OF circumstantial ev-
ldenee, can he found in the repertoire
Of every skillfuI criminal lawyer. By
way of cGUedt, / will only add the
motto which every Eastern traveller
should bear in mind-"Believe moth
Ing you hear and only half you see"