The Northwestern standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1885-1886, 1886-01-09

certain person had been the rObber.
That night Il asked at the table about
Iit. I was the only person in the room
who knew anything about the matter.
The table told the story Of the robbery
just as it had been told me, gave the
4 day and the exact hour of the occur
renee, and charged the very same person
I had thought of as the thief. I found
out afterwards that my friend had been
completely misinformed upon the sub
lject. A robbery twas true, had taken
place, but nearly every one Of the de-
tails that he had told me and that the
table had repeated were wrong, and
1.-The person under suspicion was not in
the neighborhood ut all at that time.
| 1t sim ply amounted to this, that I had
repeated the story told me by my friend,
through the table, and that is all table
rapping ever amountsto. And when it
comes to prophesying, the table is
Worse than Moses Oates, and that's
saying a good deal.
[ think science will turn over a new
1 leaf some Of these days when it discov-
ers the secret of the power OF mind
over matter, as Illustrated III table-rap-
1 ping. don't wantto go into a specu-
1 lation as to what we will know about
these things fifty years from now, but
this much I will say, that there should
| be i'll nature no more difficulty in over
coming weight, the inertness III matter,
| than in overcoming distance. I'm
afraid to tell you all that [ believe on
| these subjects, OF. you might feel dis
posed to discount me as a sober, sensi-
| BILE person.
| While on this subject let me say a
few words about spiritualists, mesmer
lists, second sight, ETC., Mostly they
are frauds, sometimes dupes, generally
clever enough to make fools out of
credulous people. Most spiritualistic
mediums are mere poor slight of-hand
men. A prestidigitateur like Hermann,
for instance, or Anderson, could dis
count the whole spiritualistic tribe
twice over. Y GU can always safely set
down professional medium as a fraud.
I wiIl not say that there are not strang-
Ell things in Heaven and earth than our
philosophy dreams of, but will say
that the spirits of just men made per-
feet haven't got time in eternity to go
rambling about this country at the beck
and call Of any old whisky soak who
chooses to call himself a medium, and
if they have, | must say they usually
show mighty poor taste in their selec-
ton Of an earthly tenement.
Charles Foster, the greatest spiritual
istic medium the world has yet pro-
duced, died IN Salem five days ago.
Fosters fame is known in every civil
lied land, and yet he was a mere child
compared with Kellar, or Hermann, or
Anderson His greatest proof of sup
ernatural power was i'll the writing that
appeared upon his arm, but he was a
wonder in many ways. Foster was a
native Of DustJae;1l., nd when fourteen
years of age his desk at school would
rap, and the furniture of his room
would be thrown about without appar-
emit cause. A barber named Osborne
took him in charge as a mesmeric sub
ject, and it was probably there that he
learned the tricks that afterwards
caused him to blossom out as a spirit
ualistic medium. When he visited
England he was the guest of Lord
Lytton at Knebworth, and the young
medium formed the foundation study
for the character of Margrave in Bull
Wer's great novel, "A Strange Story"
If I had space / could expose score
of Fosters tricks Let us be satisfied |
with the greatest, and it is SO simple
that you can all perform it, though it
will take some practice to make you
perfect. This is what Foster would do.
A visitor would attend in his reception
room, and would be asked to write his
request upon paper, fold it, and place
the paper in an envelope and retain the
envelope in his hand. When this was
done the attendant would retire, and
presently Foster would appear. Upon
being told that the visitor had writ
ten request in the envelope within his
hand, the medium would turn up his
sleeve, take an envelope rub his bare arn
and there would appear the
~ ln ivy lktt IF
blood upon the flesh. A most striking
way for spirits to enable lazy scound-
rel to pocket a five dollar bill, you will
admit. Once two scepties doomed up
and refused to write anything When
Foster came in they demanded test,
md seized hold of his arm.
What will you have2n said Foster t
Something that will ft our case
vas the reply. IL
The medium rubbed his arm smartly
With his bare hand. and there appeared
n large blood tinted characters the
words:
Two Fools. :
Very striking, was it not! Now for
he explanation. Bare your arm to the
lbow. In the right hand take a thin
iece of steel, but with a rounded
dye, so that it will not cut the flesh.
lark on the arm the outline OF any
stters, ETC., you want. The result viii
e thin white lines that will soon pass
way. Five minutes afterwards rub