Connecticut western news., 1879-07-16
SECOND SIGHT.
HOW THE sLEI9HT- OF-HAND MEN TELL US
 SUCH MYSTERIOUS THINGS.

SUCH MYSTERIOUS THINGS.
 There are more things between heaven and
 earth HoratiO
 Than are drcamt of in thy philosophy.
 "You do second sight ?" said re- porter to sleight-of-hand man.
 "Yes. I had second-sight scheme at work before Heller ever thought of it, I guess. Since then I have improved upon it"
 "Explain it."
 am afraid that is going little too far, but if you will not give the source of your information will try to explain it to you. So far as there being any supernatural agency at work it is not so, as you and every other sensible man knows. You have seen names written on a piece of paper, which, tightly folded, the reader pressed to his forehead and, with wrinkled brow and his face sickled OCT with the pale cast of thought, finally announced what is written on the paper. It is simply absurd to say that man can read that which he does not see or can tell what is written if he does not see 1t unless it is told to him. Now there are several ways used by the professed mind reader. Sleight-of- hand is most employed. It is astounding to the novice who does not see the piece of paper which he has written on deftly opened and read while his attention is being attracted. Sometimes the opera tor following the motion of the hand that is writing can nearly guess: the words or questions. But more fre- quently an assistant gets the question, and by the same code of signals trans fers it to the mind-reader by the system of which I now shall speak. We shall take up the simplest form 1n use, telling numbers, as Heller did it. Of course I do not know what Heller's exact code was, but they are all on the same prin- ciple. Haidee sat on the stage with her face turned away, while Heller went into the audience. A coin was handed him. Can you tell me what hold?' he asks, Yes <; it is coin, replies she. She took coin from the first letter in his question. Say what kind of coin,' continues Heller. Silver she replies, with great promptness, and the audience are divided in wonder and delight.
 Should the coin happen to be of date in sixteen hundred Heller would say That's an old piece Now there are only ten figures, and letters can easily be agreed upon to represent them so, if W was 1, d 8, and 4, the question would be, what date is this? That is readily understood, isn't it |? Frequently the person who answers hesitates and says: Hold on moment, I'll have it directly and the companion at once conveys the information. Now, all this is very simple as to figures, but to give replies where numbers are not concerned is much harder. In the performances in public halls the collection of articles from the pockets of the audience would not embrace very wide range. When you have named keys, pocketbooks, coins, watches, pencils, toothpicks and letters, the list is about exhausted, and for all such articles word can easily be adopted. But suppose a man comes with piece of raw meat in a box that would be crusher for any two not thoroughly understanding each other it could be got over. A series of ques- tions and side rem arks would finally con- vey the letters necessary-for instance, the first remark might be; Regular as winter with your hard ones, ain't you ? An intonation might be given after win ter, so that the other persons attention should be directed at the first three words, and so on until the other words are conveyed. Naturally the people who do this sort of thing do 8 great deal of it to keep themselves in practice. It requires steady attention, care, and above all, quickness. Both persons must be as quick as lightning, particu, larly the one who does the talking. ] may not have made this explanation very clear, nor have I given any code il use, but I have given you the principle, and that is all will do."