Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-06-21
Pro-. Barrnard Claim. 10 Ill y w. Solved IiV
the Hurst Mystery.

Prof.. Barnard Claims 10 have Solved
the Hurt Mystery.
he SAYS THEY ARE MERE MECHANICAL TRICKS,
AND HE has REPRODUCED THEM-H1s ExPLA-
NATION OF THE VARIOUS PERFORMANCEs-THE
ART OF DEFLECTING MUSCULAR EFFORT &C.
During the past week good many theories
have been offered to explain the perform
ances Of Lulu Hurst the electrical girl. Some
have cassed them under the head of mani
festations of psychic force; others have
suggested that the power she possesses is
simply one form Of mesmeric power, and others
that Miss Hurst uses unconsciously her own
| muscular strength. Very few, however, have
declared their belief that the performances are
mere tricks. and that the audiences who have
| witnessed them have been gulled by the clever
| and conscious use by Miss Hurst OF her own
physical strength. Among these few is Prof
W. S. Barnard, of the Agricultural department,
who claims not only to have satisfied himself
that the so-called manifestations of wonder
ful power are mere decisions, but to have
| studied out the method Of the tricks so that he
can reproduce them. Zone Inconsistency" said
| Prof. Barnard, speaking of Miss Hursts perform
ances to STAR reporter, sis that in one instance
this girls supposed supernatural force is rep
resented as OF crazy and uncomfortable nature,
while in another they claim it is an application
OF the will or mind by which an inanimate OBJ
ject is made animate or actuated without the
application of mechanical or muscular power to
| it. regard the instances Of both kinds as de-
ceptions. Those of the first kind can be &C
counted for by craziness on the part of the girl
or by fraudulent action of that character really
intended, but pretended to be unavoidable and IT.
resistible This class Of manifestation is exhibited
IN the umbrella trick, as / prefer to call 1t.
Standing under it face to face with gentleman.
she smiles and looks him in the eye, holding
the umbrella between. Suddenly she causes
the umbrella stock to strike MIN on the
forehead and to fly back and forth,
hitting him and herself and giving it
jerks and twists while she charges on the
gentleman thus until he is driven to the wall,
and the umbrella is smashed by the strokes
jerks and sudden whrls to which it is subjected
by her hand, all pretending to be uncontrollably
done. AS a rule it would seem that the mag
.netic action was on the part Of the gentleman
assaulted, as she pursues him, and that her
effect on him is decidedly repellant. 1t seems to
be her repulsive action and application of mus
cular maneuver which battles the man. In GER
tain other tricks she also applies muscular force
suddenly in directions so unexpected that they
cannot be met and resisted. This trick is ap-
piled in the cases where gentleman tries to
stand still and hold still cane or q chair
Another and most important point in the tricks
Is to exert slight gradual pressure horizontally
to move the persons center of gravity, and espe-
ciall to make this application in such directions
as he is not braced in, l. e., preferably
at right angles to the imaginary line drawn
through his two feet. Very slight force and al
most imperceptible exertion applied in this man
ner moves the object with the man grasping it
against himself firmly in the directions Of I'M
stable equilibrium. AS wooden man could be
tipped over by slight push from the finger, SO
the living man, when very slightly pushed or
pressed, Is constantly tipped Off from his center
of gravity. Thus a powerful man Is made to
move with the object grasped by very slight
application of force. When the whole body OF
the person Is not moved in this way. the prin-
ciple of applying pressure Unexpectedly at right
angles to the direction OF his effort, which is
easily seen and felt causes swinging and other
movements to some extent, but she seems to op-
crate chiefly on the similar principle Of tipping
the person from his center of support in the
manner / have stated.
PUTTING A CHAIR DOWN.
"This same principle" continued the profess
sor, sis applied usually in the trick by which
she makes it difficult for the man to put a chair
or cane down to the floor. The chair is grasped
by him in front of his chest or the cane is held
crosswise before him. AS the object is firmly
moved downward she eXerts pressure on it
horizontally In his unsupported direction, that
OF his unstable equilibrium, in a direction at
right angles with line drawn through his two
feet; thus at each moment he must change his
footing to the new direction to get it under and
support his changing center of gravity. He
thus, by keeping himself from going down.
Keeps the object from going down. His start
to put the object down is stopped by the effort
TO re-baance and re-prop himself to escape
falling. This accounts for the individual moving
horizontally in different directions instead Of
getting the chair down when he aims to, as OBJ
served commonly in this trick. But with it there
Is often more or less upward pressure applied
by one Of her hands, and when: person too sud-
denly tor her throws his whole weight onto. the
chair, by jerking up his feet it goes DOWN very
quick. II he throws only part Of his weight
quickly on, it sometimes goes down at once and
sometimes Is for a time supported by main force
Dy nltlng partly by the palms flat against the
sides of the chair, and partly with the edge of
the palm or the fingers made to catch under
meath the parts of the chair. In such a tussle
she seemed often to lift with main force against
one or more individuals, and thus for few mo-
ments Obstruct the chair from going down
Now, in this way she has the advantage OF the
gentleman. He can apply no downward force
except part of his weight His
weight is all the downward force
he has, and he can only apply a
part of this while his feet are on the floor. An
ordinary person can stand and lift the whole
weight of one or two other ordinary persons
She is braced against the floor, and lifts up
from it as purchase ground. The men have
no purchase. hence there is no application of
strength whatever by them; each man can only
pile Oh part of his weight, which can be lifted
by her application of strength in the case of
one, two or three. Where three or more acted
on the chair. their feet were far Off on the floor
and their weight force was largely wasted by
Its counter application toward each other, as
well as dOwnWards. The chair was constantly
wiggled and twisted to defect off the efforts
and went down very quick, but usually in
such tilted position that one or two
legs were up, and in the scuffle the
audience might sometimes not imagine that
these were supported by one or two of the other
legs being down. The art Of detecting muscu-
lar effort from its intended direction of applica-
ton. and the tipping. twisting and turning ma
neuvers are very skifully and deceptively prac-
tlced in these performances. The feigned lifting
act Is tipping and pushing. whereby the man
seated on chair and grasping it firmly is so
tilted forward that his weight is thrown on his
feet, on which, as a tulcrum, the chair and his
body are easily raised by fitting them forward"
SIMPLE MECHANICAL TRICKS
"These sham wonders" added the professor.
care simple mechanical tricks. which 1 have
performed, and any person of average strength
can, when versed In the art, which is easily
comprehended. L studied out their mechanical
principles and explanation the first evening
that / watched their exhibition at Fords thea
ter After testing the application of these
principles at home except the crazy slashing Of
the umbrella, which had not the brass to prac-
tice. l spent an evening on the stage at FOrd's
theater for practically experiencing and further
studying the mechanical art of her tricks and
since then have re-performed them myself to
settle beyond doubt that ordinary muscular
and mechanical applications, according to the
principles which have set forth, perform and
account for the phenomena in question. Thus the
Gn-pa synn dor Of