Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-12-08
SPIRIT BRIDES.
prof Cookies spiritual Expose.

House. 1nere were P0OPAS Wv .~e
ined that pious Wheeling would not
permit her Sabbath to be desecrated by
n spiritualistic affair, but they were mis-
taken. There we're others who lmag-
ined none but the VOilgs would attend 4;
they also were mistaken. 1t was large
and AZ the same time a very respectable
audience, withal. Not such an audience
as would grace an opera, perhaps, put
withal large, good natured and fairly
made up crowd.
Prof. Cooke was scarcely as good as ms
word. He promised an expose and dld
not give complete one. He prom
Ised test OF slate writing, but
il did not appear. But these were
small and were lost in the gen
eral excellence of the performance.
Bnt he did one thing that was hardly
souare. He stigmatized certain me
diums" in Cleveland, as robbers, etc.
vet did nearly the same thing himself
Nv n certain AIR OF mystery in his intro
dnction. me left il to the audience wheth.
er there was anything supernatural
about his tests, and his nOn-explah'
alton OF one or two, pointed to those
As the probable ones. There were
nossiblv. several credulOus persons III
the audience who might have attributed
10 his "mind reading feat, something
superhuman; il so he deceived them
and classed himself with "those medi'
ums who rob people OF their money by
imposing upon" But II there were any
such credulous persons present, we will
state. for their information, that every
thing left unsOlyed by Cooke was per
fectly explained Oy Baldwin, and under
stood by most of those present,
But we anticipate.
The curtain rose, last night, upon a
stage clear of everything but the
omniprcsent cabinet, light affair com
posei of canvass, and opening full by q
set of uuadruple doors, like inside win
dow shutters. Prof. Cooke made his
how and delivered his his Introductory
He did not claim any supernatural as
sistance-in fact did not claim anything
He was liberal and his audience might
believe Just what they pleased. Ills
performances were just what they were
and he placed them on their merits
He would say, however, that large
percentage of what ne did was deception
pure and simp'e; smaller
percentage was science and very trlnt
was-well, mystery.
Having delivered himself OF this he
set about choosing the usual committee
who were "to use all fair and honorable
means and act between him and the
audience. lie would just choose char
man and he could select his committee
Would the audience please name I
chairman" - and Capt. w. III. Travis
was chosen. DIR. Hazlett was wanted
lint he said that (had it not been Sab
bath) he would have come had the 70
lessor not disclaimed all spiritual an
SberiRFingle had served too often before
and Jake Grub did not answer to hi
name. Finally, however, the commit
tee was filled by Major Anderson, Com
modore Seabright, DR.. Cooke, OF Bridge
port, Capt. Dovener and Z. Nj. Coen
who took seats on the sides OF the stage
All being ready the performance began
Prof. Cooke announced that he woulC
begin with mere deception, and produc
inc pitcher of water handed glass tC
each committeeman. He sad he woulC
give them their choice drink, a.
near as possible. Commodore Sea
bright led off with wine, and ap
parently missed a handle on his glass
The rest received wine or water indls
criminately. All were then re-emptied
into the pitcher and repoured as clear
water. The professor did not explain
this, but the solution is simple: The
water is a vegetable solution and the
color is changed by touching the inside
of the glass with his fingers, upon which
was chemical.
Miss Crawford was introduced to assist
in the next deception. Mufiling her
ewes, the professor, with an apology for
the day, produced a deck OF cards
and had each committeeman cut
them. Then Captain Dovener
took four from the deck and
without difficulty. Miss Crawford called
off the names. The cards were thor
oughly reshufled, and Mr.. Coen took
out about fifteen, Miss Crawford again
calling them. This worked slowly, as
Mr.. Coen did not know the cards apart,
and could scarcely tell whether they
were correctly named or not. Major
Anderson was called upon by some one
in the audience to bring his experience
to the rescue, but declined. This was
not explained, but spirit whis-
pered it to REGISTER medium
who sat in the wing: After
tho cards are shuttled a cold deck
is rung i'm" and Miss Crawford, being
given the starting card, easily rattles off
the Inst.
The old Juggling trick OF the rings was
then deity performed, and, remarking
that "the play part was over, ;" the profess
sor turned his attention TO the cabinet. 1t
must be understood, however, that the
preceding occupied considerable time
and was accompanied by laughs and
Jokes innumerable.
The first cabinet trick was the one
with which all persons, who have ever
seen Ellis, Baldwin, Davenport and 9TH
ers perform, are familiar. The professor
is fairly bound TO chair, his hands
sealed with court plaster marked with
Capt. Travis private mark, and placed
in the cabinet. AS soon as the doors
are closed his hands appear above, bells
are rung, &c, and when the door is
opened he is still tightly bound, with a
dozen rings encircling his arms. In n mo-
ment he steps out, free, and in % sec
onds is back again, tied in the original
position. He shows how it is all done
and tells a humorous story of his expert
ence in the clark circle during seance
in Cleveland, and gets off the whitening
sarcasm noted above.
This is followed by the ''mind read
ing" act. Slips OF paper are distributed
among the audience and an intermis-
sion of fifteen minutes is had. During
this time auditors write questions on
their papers and put them in their peck
cts. while, presumably, Miss Crawford is
getting hermind wrought up, by spiritual
agencies, TO the great feat before her.
Really, she is down in the dressing-roOm
fixing her back hair. The rising curtain
discloses her seated, bhndfOlded, ready
TO read the chaos of minds before her.
She began by saying 'some one will be
i'm Cincinnati, this day week" but when
the professor demanded who had asked
where he would be, echo alone re-
sponded.
Then she went into a rhapsody
about the sublimity OF space,
Nth nlanats Whirling about her