Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-10-24
TEE PAY BUSINESS.

The Annie Eva Fay management gave
what purported TO be an entertainment at
the Metropolitan Theater last night. It was
advertised as an exhibition wherein insx-
plicable manifestations of an unseen power
would be made, and which miss Fay, she
being protested Spiritualist, neither affirmed
were the work Of disembodied spirits, nor
denied that they were the result Of mere
manual dexterity and trickery. Neverthe-
less, by the direct announcement that spirit
forms, faces, etc., would be materialized, and
the adroit wording of deceptive and snowy
circulars scattered broadcast throughout the
city, people were led TO bellows that the
!" medium would give some marvellous ex-
hibitions, and that manifestations of the
most mysterious and uneccountable character
would take place, such as would be in
direct conflict with the rules of gravitation
and in contrayention Of all known laws of
nature That she had successfully passed
the tests applied to her performances by well
known scientists, whose certificates were cited,
and which, If assumed to be genuine, reflect
little credit upon their shrewdness or attain
ments. In addition. the Fay management
led the public to believe that the entertain
ment would, IS such, be worth the admission
fee. She was to be aided by three of the
best mediums in the world, and one of them,
@. @. Braddon, was to deliver a religious
illustrated lecture, etc. The result was that |
the theater was packed with people, forming |
a respectful audience, the good temper and /
dignity of which testified to the law abiding |
character of this community, for the letter |
tainment" was so complete failure, and so |
manifestly q false pretense, that less con-
seryatiye assembiage would have produced |
beside which those of Annie
Eva Fay would have paled and dwindled |
into lesser insignificance than characterized |
them. The lecture consisted of glowing
biography, recitation Of claims, much as
already stated, and . stiited reference again
to the tests of the scientists. The perform
ance consisted of few rope and bandage-
Tying tricks and some show Of the travelling
magician's ambidextrousness, of ordinary
limitations of the kind that
has frequently been shown here, but never
performed SO i'll. The Royal Illusionists,"
Taylor, McAllister, Herman, Seeman, and
ike professors of prestidigitation, would
never venture TO appear before an audience
With SO slender pretense for an entertain
nent. The managers of Miss Fay kept none
If their pledges to the public beyond the
,ricks mentioned and the throwing of few
lowers over the shoulder of committeeman,
WHO was mortified at the position into which
ne had been drawn, and whose colleague was
quite as much embarrassed. The entire per-
'ormance showed conclusiyely that the Fay
business has never been worth the contests
that have arisen over it elsewhere. As to ex-
poses of the tricks that have been given, the
. manifestations were entirely too attenu-
tied to make studied exposure necessary or
The local manager of the Me-
;ropolitan Theater owes it to himself and the
public to purge himself of all completely in
what was Enthusiastically swindle, and he
,annot afford to do less than afirmatively
how that he had no hand in circulating the
g Fay" dodgers about the city which were SO
deceptive in their character.