Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1879-07-19

BRADFORD, VT, S
derson, the Wizard Of the North.
He was at the very head of all per-
formers Indeed. his equal has
never been seen. He is the most
famous of all the English perform
ers."
"There is a gentleman now in
this city, who is not now before the
public, but who, as q sleight.of-
hand performer and manipulation of
cards, is probably second only to
Oazeneuve of all the people who
have been seen here. l mean John
Goldberg, known to his profession
as professor. just now he is man
ayers agent at the Arch street
theatre, but l understand he 0c-
casionally gives parlor entertain
ments and lessons. he - certainly
very skilled in handling cards, and
his other sleight.of.hand business
is very good. Goldberg has also
done much in second sight, and as
sisted Mr.. Mendum, the manager
of the theater. l witnessed recent.
ly some second sight business quite
equal to any by Heller and his sis
ter, and they did one thing l do not
think Heller did. Mendum was
taken from the room under the es
cOrt of two gentleman. One Of the
party remaining wrote word. One
Of the escort came in and carried a
card, Oh which Goldberg had drawn
a circle, to Mendum. Almost in
stantly Mendum wrote out the word
that had been written in the first
instance. The experiment was
made with a sentence, and always
with the same results. Of course
the word was carried in that simple
looking and apparently unmeaning
circle, but it was very cleverly
done."
SECOND SIGHT EXPOSED.
"You do second sightr
"Yes. 1 had second sight
scheme at work before Heller ever
thought Of it, I guess. Since then
have improved upon it,"
"Explain it,"
II am afraid that it is going a
little too far, but if you will not
give the source Of your information
l will try to explain it to you. So
far as there being any supernatu-
raj agency at work it is not SO, as
you and every other sensible man
knows. You have seen names writ.
ten on a piece ofpaper, which tight
ly folded, the reader pressed to his
forehead, and, with wrinkled brow
and his face sicklied DER with the
pale cast Of thought, finally an.
nounced what is written on the pa
per. 1t is simply absurd to say
that man can read that which he
does not see unless it is told him.
Now there are several ways used by |
the professed mind reader. Sleight-
of-hand is most employed. 1t is
astounding to the novice who does
not see the piece OF paper which he
has written deftly opened and read
while his attention is being attrac.
ted. Sometimes the operator fol-
lowing the motion Of the hand that
is writing can nearly guess the
words or question. But more fire.
quently an assistant gets the ques-
tion, and by the same code of sig
nails transfers it to the mind reader
by the system of which I shall now
speak.
"We will take up the simplest
form in use, telling numbers, as
Heller did it. Of course do not
know what Heller's exact code was,
but they are all on the same princi-
pie. Haidee sat on tho stage with
her face turned away, while Heller
went into the audience. A coin was
handed him.
"Can you tell me what l hold !"
he asked.
eyes: it is a coin," replies she.
She took from the first letter in the
question.
"Say what kind of a coin," con-
tinued Heller.
"Silver," she replies, with great
promptness, and the audience are
divided in wonder and delight. II
JUST LIKE PHoNOGRAPHY.
"Should the coin happen to be of
a date in seventeen hundred, Hell
Ter would say, "That's an old piece"
Snow there are only ten figures,
and letters can easily be agreed
upon to represent them. So, if "
was l, d8, IL, and IA, the question
would be, what date is thisf This
is readily understood, isn't it
"Frequently the person who an-