The Wilmingtonian., 1884-07-12
TIE GEORGIA WONDEK.

events that as soon as Miss Lula Hurs
appeared before New York audience th,
cry should be raised that her performance
was fraud Victor Hugo said epgram
as other men BREATHE" and if there is one
quality on which the Empire City may claim
a worldwide reputation it is on the firm.
stand she takes agdins. free-trade in fraud.
New York frauds must be sheltered by pro-
toction, else how could her citizens and
patriots develop the combinations which
J have given birth to a Jay Gould, a Wander
bilt, John Kelly, or Tweed? OF course
it was Predetermined matter that the
Georgia girl was fraud. The verdict of
other cities, of Washington and Baltimore
for example, was not to be accepted, till
New York had asserted its peculiar pre-
eminencc, acquired by years of close obseIva-
ton, and super-abundant opportunities for
study among her indigenous population, as
to whether Miss Lula Hurst was fraud or
not Some Of the critics were so assured as
to give verdict in advance, and to assign
reasons for phenomena they had not seen.
1t is perhaps also by natural association
of events that the self-same newspapers
which have rushed to the conclusion that
Lula Hurst's power is no power at all, are
the same which year Or more ago decided
that Mrs. Langtiy was dowdy and could
not act. But as Marc Antony, notwith-
standing Marullus caused the Roman people
to do justice to slain Cesar, SO will the
verdict of thoughtful men prove adverse to
the superficial writers who, knowing little
Or nothing OF the struggles and perplexities
Of the true student of science, and to whom
the parallelogram of forces is an utter mys-
terry, rush in with cynical sneer to account
for phenomena which they had been pre-
viously unable to comprehend, much less to
explain
We take it that men of our own city of the
calibre of job II. jackson, William G. Glib
bons and benjamin Niclds would be equa
to the detection of a mere trick depending
on dexterously applied muscular force. as
we understand these gentlemen, the perform
auce was to them inexplicable by the
ordinary applications of mechanical force,
with the highest development of which two
of them were intimately acquainted. No
doubt also, the many others who have
expressed an opinion as to the nature of
Miss Hurst's force, in which muscular effort
f1-f5rrvrert uy them, wlii feel equalIy Iiattered
by the imputation on their Judgment. In a |
conversation on the subject few days ago
DIR. IL. II. Wilson, Mr.. j. G.. jackson of |
Hockessin, and Mr.. Lea Pusey-all men of |
sound acknowledgement themselves as |
satisfied that an outside factor must be |
sought. But it is an old, old story after all. |
While the man of science ponders, reyeres, |
weighs evidence, tolls, the fippant paragra-
phist Of the New York newspaper order |
at the sensation like drowning |
man at straw and then when he is told that |
the water is not so deep as he imagined, and |
the shore is near, filings away the straw with |
the remark-"Pooh, it was but straw after |
ALL"
The Ne'o York World very sensibly says:-l
"Dr. Hammond whose scientific alacrity in |
giving an opinion upon subjects of which |
he is eminently and proudly ignorant, says |
he has not seen the phenomenal G irl on exhi- |
bition at Walace's Theatre but he has no |
doubt whatever that her performance is a |
trick, aided by extraordinary muscular |
strength. This is altogether rougher on the |
intelligent public that assembled on Monday |
night to witness Miss Hurst's performance |
than it is on the girl herself To sum up |
this curious but not unexamped exhibition |
as trick is to condemn the concourse
of spectators as the shallowesJ assemblage |
OF dolts that ever got together.As tvick or
an exhibition of muscular strength it was
simply ridiculous. But the audience saw
not over-robust girl of about 10 overcome
with touch of her hand six struggling and
straning athletes. =. This DR.. Ham
mond says from the safe distance of his study
is undoubtedly trick. There is no doubt
that men who, like DIR. Hammond, are SO
"cock-sure" do great deal towards making
these exhibitions degenerate into real trick
cry. They stamp them at the outset with
their disapproval and contempt, and it is no
wonder that showmen ale quick to avail
themselves of the charlatanry they cannot
escape. 1t is on the whole doubtful that the
exhibition of Miss Hurst's phenomenal
energy should Je made public entertainment
for mixed audiences to laugh at. Whether
her power is OF is not, it is congenital and
native, and might be better studied than
advertised"
The EoeTy EOeaing of this city puts the
case plainly when it says:-
''The reported exposure of Lula Hurst's
feats, reprinted elsewhere from the New
York Sun, would be more satisfactory if it
made more plain how Lula $ denouncer dup
Heated those feats. We are led to infer that
he did so by the exercise of mere physical
strength; but, if so, this does not detract
much if any from their extraordinary char
acter. We cannot see that the physical
strength requisite for such work as this
would be any less marvellous than the doing
of the same feats through animal magne-
tism or any other mysterious agency"