The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-07-22

then attaching itself 10 the woman, and
seemingly being absorbed by her. All this
was done in very short space of time, before
the eyes of at least fifty people, and not ten
feet from myself The girl appeared greatly
exhausted afterward. Now this would be
explained by the Spiritualists as a materiali
zation, and by the Psychological Society as
some new sense of power, etc, but between
you and me, who know that all things can
be explained by cold facts, it was merely a
clever trick, so skillfully done that did not
discover il in any way or shape.
''The man next took his place in the ring,
and, handing me large, highly ornamented
saber he said; in five minutes by the clock
L wish you to behead me- l objected, of
course, but he insisted and said it had been
done dozen times, so 1 finally
agreed He was searched, and in the
dim light began to comfort himself in
strange positions until he seemed to
grow perceptibly smaller, and finally stood
before US so gauZy that | thought / could
see right through him. 1t was now five min
utes, 80 took the sabre and struck light
blow, only sufficient to knock the man over,
when to my horror the blood spurted into
my face and the head dropped with thud
upon the floor. As soon as it fell the body
stopped and picked ii up, held it in the air,
and then placed it upon the shoulders. The
full light being turned on, there stood the
giant grinning and warm.
Inc DlOOu! mat naO IdueQ away DIV the
time the light was turned up, and, you must
remember, that in all this. though the light
was dim, ii was sufficient to prevent our see
ing everything, and seemed to be used only
that we might observe the figures of light
that were evolved so curiOusly from the me-
diums, as our Spirituaists would call them.
''The next trick was equally mystical. All
the party now stepped into the ring and be-
gan 10 chant and move about. In few
minutes they ceased and we observed that
one was missing. though no one saw him go.
A moment after the whirling was repeated,
and another was found to have disappeared,
and so on, until in fifteen minutes only the
giant was seen. More light being given us,
noise was heard at the door, and, upon some
one going to it. there stood the mystic FIVE
clamoring for admission. That ended the
performance for the night and l sat up the
rest of it, or well into the morning trying to
figure out how it was all done. The natives
accepted it magic without debate, and |
began 10 think that was about the easiest
way out of it.
THE following day another performance
was given at midday that was even more
wonderful. The giant, as called him, caused
the audience to sit on grass plat, leaving a
circle OF about twenty-five feet across, and in
this the iugglers took their places, the giant
opening the entertainment by taking roll
OF ribbon and by dextrOus toss sending it
up fifty feet or 50, where We distinctly saw a
small hawk dart at it and carry ii up higher,
until we nearly lost sight OF it. 1t then
seemed to enter a cloud that, [ assumed, was
caused BY something burning on the ribbon;
but from the cloud came sliding down. first
a dog, then a snake-a good big one, too
that wiggled off the moment it touched the
ground. and was captured hg one of the men.
Then larger object was seen sliding along.
and one % he women, leaping forward, re-
ceived and held it out of the crowd laugh
-.
held tn: end of the ribbon, and, releasing
it. il seemed to disappear in the air; at any
rate, we saw il no more. A few moments
later they all joined hands and began to move
about rapidly. When they moved to the
right distinctly counted twelve persons in
the circle; when they changed the movement
We saw only eight and some one appeared
TO be standing in the center.
These are only samples of the marvels. as
/ might say, that they went through; but the
last one puzzled me o. much as ever. The
party left except the gias-, and he, taking
large native parasol, asked if / would carry
it back to the inn for him. | assented, and
he then politely requested me to take it in
five minutes by my watch, and, mind you,
he was surrounded by a dense throng. Pro-
ceeding TO the center of the plot. he squatted
upon the ground and drew the umbrella
down over him like a cone over dice, thus
hiding himself completely. In five minutes
! lifted the covering, and to my aunazement
he was gone.
Eyes, was empty and the sod was solid
under it. The crowd looked up in the air
and yelled. l shouldered the umbrella, and,
going directly to the inn, found my friend,
the giant, smoking a cigarette on the veran-
dab. He greeted me with smile, thanked
me for the umbrella, opened it with a quick
motion, and, pulling down a seeming inner
lining, motiOned me to look in. Doing 50 /
saw hanging on a hook my watch and chain,
that had not missed
I'VE parted the next day, much to my re-
gret, and learned only single trick. as you
see,n and the speaker neld up his thumb
where the Arabic figure stood out in bold re-
lief on the nail and slowly faded away be-
fore the eyes of the astOnished witness.