The Opelousas courier., 1883-07-21
THOUGHT READING.
| Outcome OF Messrs. Bishops's and Labsuchefes
Tesla Thousand Pounds Easily Wen.

Test-AT Thousand Pounds Easily Wen.
The Pail Mall Gasette gives the fol
lowing of the seance given by Mr..
Bishop, the thought reader,S at the
Sc. james hail, London. The easy
chair set apart for Mr.. Labouchere
was %unoccupied. The F1,OCO prom
ised was not tabled. BUT the expert
ment could be tried in Mr.. Laboucll-
ere's absence, and Mr.. Bishop was
willing to stake his e1O0 with no
other set off than the promise, will
ingly given, that the audience would
demand that if he guessed the num-
Der Alright Mr.. Labouchere should
hand over the $1,000 to the Victoria
hospital for children. MIR. Charles
Russell here introduced a diversion
which kept the meeting in an uproar
fer nearly an hour. He sent word
from the body of the hall-for he had
refused to join the committeeman
he had enclosed a SIS note in all en-
yelope and given it into the keeping
of Professor Ray Lancaster, who was
also in the audience, and who alone
knew it's number. He challenged
MI. Bishop to read in the mind of
Mr.. Ray Lancaster the number Of
that note. If successful the note
should go to the hospital. Nh. Wad-
dy asked Mr.. Bishop if he accepted
the challenge. Mr.. Bishop demurred.
He had experimental before with
Professor Lancaster, and found him
a hard subject. The chances, he evil
IDENTIFY seemed to think, were ten to
one against his success with MI.
Lancaster. To give him a fair chance
he thought he ought to, try wich some
one with whom he had not expert
mented before. He had for instance,
experimental with Mr.. Waddy, and if
he were selected as medium the chan
ces we're ten to one that he would be
successful. It would be fairer to re-
ject all those whose capacity for being
read had been tested beforehand and
confne the experiment to a new sub
ject, to be freely selected by the au-
dience. Professor Lancaster did not
deny the reasonable nature of his sug-
gestion, but a large proportion of the
audience roared their disapproval. A
heated and violent wrangle ensued,
in the course of which Mr.. Bishop
was freely denounced as a shufiier.
~ THE MEDIUM.
At last an old gentleman with stem
torian lungs proposed that the chair.
man should nominate a medium. Mr..
Lane Fox was suggested and mega
lived. A MI. Lee was also rejected;
and at last, amid great cheering,
Colonel Statham, of the Twentieth
Lancashire Rifle volunteers, consented
to submit to the experiment. A fruit
less attempt was made to induce DR..
Lancaster to impart the number OF
Mr.. Rusell's note to Colonel Statham
for the purpose Of the experiment,
and then Colonel Trench, to whose
high character the Hon. Edward Stan
hope bore emphatic testimony, and
who declared that he had never seer
either Mr.. Bishop Or Colonel Statham
before, produced a fve-pound note,
the number of which he did not know,
and handed it to the chairman. A
large black board was then introduced,
on which Mr.. Bishop was to write the
as yet unknown number of the note.
In presence of all the audience, close
" scrutinized by the committee and
the chairman, while standing at some
yards distance from Mr.. Bishop.
,EColonel Statham unfolded the note
! far enough to master its number. No
one else could see it, nor did anyone
else in the hall know it but himself.
I'M. Bishop then took his stand beside
! Colonel Statham and drew on the
} black board q parallelogram, which
, he divided into five spaces, one fol
each number of the note. He then
blindfolded himself, and grasping a
piece of chalk, began to read" the
,Imind of his companion.
!" THE READING.
IT, He shook all over, his right hand
raised above his head ~quivering VIC
lently; he slightly touched Colonel
Statham once for a second with the
tip of his finger, and then, without
more than a few seconds delay, he be.
gan to clalk ON the board as follows
II, 6 8 8 4
When he reached the fast figure he
hesitated for a moment, clutched Col
onel Statham's hand and then wrote
down a." No one who saw the i'm.
tlpassive countenance OF the volunteer
!, colonel could tell whether Mr., Bishop
{ had succeeded of failed. "Ihave two
guesses," he said, "by the terms o.
} Mr.. Labouchere's challenge. Have ]
Tread the number rightly?" Colone.
, Stathamy opened the note, glanced al
!. it, and then handed it to the chair
sman. Mr.. Bishop had won his
wager. The numbers were right, and
the meeting burst out into a roar o.
/. enthusiastic cheering which was agar
/ and'again renewed. Outside a grea,
, crowd was waiting to see the balloon
ascend which was to announce the
success or failure of the test. AS il
mounted in the air, displaying not the
"lurid red" color of failure, but the
bright white light typical Of success,
: the crowd cheered Justify. Inside the