The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-23

thought not; IL reSembled one of hers very
much, but there were certain notifications
that puzzled her. In short, she was not
sure. However she had painted one very
much like it, and painted it for lady named
Mrs. Robbins That it was the same pic
ture, touched up, | had no manner OF doubt,
but, about this time, through series of
fortunate accidents, we took another great
step in toe investigation.
learned that man servant about the
| house, fellow named Wells Carter, had
| qnarreled with Mrs. Lloyd, and was doing
some talking. We got hold OF him, and he
told what he knew, which wasn't much.
There is some crooked work about 1t, p"
he sad, "but | don't know just what.
She has them canvases locked up with ner,
dung something to them nearly all day
long"
Can you get hold of them before the
| Seance,n | asked
Yes, l cues So"
Il want you TO take the one she uses to-
night" said, "and varnish the front"
| And if you 10, addei my friend, ut is
a hundred dollars in your pocket"
! Mr.. Carter thereupon promised to varnlsh
| it or die IN the attempt
| This is what happened at the seance:
| The chairs were arranged as usual, and
Mrs. Lloyd carele sly, through long prac-
tlce, l presume, placed the blank canvas
i
the varni n glisten and | am amaz5d to
| this day that it did not catch her eye. How
ever, tie lights were turned out without
comment, and the familiar sound of the
brushes was heard. But the interval was
longer than usual, and it wa fully two
minutes before she exclaimed, in a troubled
voice.
Light the gasp
There was nothing on the canvas except
a % mr. ~ hrnuFtR MT Al |
pated, the varnish had disturbed the ma
chinery, whatever 1T was, and the medium,
who this time dispensed with the Gus
tomary hummery of the trance, shot an
angry and scrutinizing glance around the
circle.
The conditions are not present." she
said, I'VE will attempt nothing more to-
night"
She sat for moment biting her under
lip and then abruptly dismissed us. Next
day she disappeared. What her disciples
had taken for mere accident she recognized
as warning note before the attack, and
wisely took time by the forelock.
But we found out the truth, discovered 1t
by applying the screws judiciously to Mrs.
Robbins, who fingered in the city. She
was sick at the time, and | will never for
get the specteble of this woman, lying in
bed, prematurely old. her face stamped with
cunning and vice, but childish through SUIT
fering, alternately weeping and confessinS.
1t Is impossible to give her statement in her
own words, broken as they were by tears
and protestations, but in substance it was
as follows:
Mrs. Lloyd had the pictures painted be-
forehand, as the reader has doubtless sur
missed. She used none but the best, in which
she showed an intelligence far above her
class, and when they were well dry passed
razor lightly over the surface, removing
the surpertuous Jumps of paint left by the
brush, and rendering the surface entirely
smooth. This she then covered with coat
of opaque water-color paint, Winsor q
Newtous flake white.n When the painting
was thoroughly hidden she dampened tn
white veneer by laying a wet towel upon it,
and then struck it all over with the bristles
of large brush. producing a graduated
effect, closely Stimulating the web OF cloth.
In a word when it reached this stage
the canvas looked, even under close scru-
tiny, as naked as when it left the dealers
hands.
The deception now depended upon her
GOODNESS aud dexterity. 1t will be remem-
bered that when she sat in the circle she
held in her hand palette and brushes. On
the palette was the customary oil cup, full
of oil When the light was turned out she
moistened her handkerchief and quickly
rubbed off the water color. Then she
passed brush charged with oil over the
surface, giving it the fresh, sticky look Of
newly finished painting, and daubed little
of the background. which she could locate by
touch. with dark pigment CORE pondi0g to
ii in color When the lights were turned
on there was the marvel, and if any one de-
sired to touch the painting, to satisfy them
selves thatit was fresh, she directed them to
lay their fingers Up the background, $50 MS
not to smear the face she said. The result
was, of course, that they went away with
paint on their hands.
The water test was amazingly simple.
On the surface there floated thin layer of
white oil, invisible to the eye, and this set
tied upon the face OF the canvas, when, re-
iieved OF his water color, it was lifted ont,
the effect being. as before, that of a sticky.
fresh painting. Such was the lnconsider-
able machinery with which these marvellous
and apparently unfathomable results were
produced.
Mrs LLOYD had no difficulty whatever in
selling all these paintings out of hand, and
she never received less than $50 apiece for
them. This netted her a handsome income,
and meanwhile she was slowly enmeshing
her victims in a coil Of intrigue that made
them so MANY puppets in her hands. There
is no telling how much money she made in
cidentallv. One gentleman, a prominent
attorney at law and a man of great acute
ness, had her paint portrait of his dead
wife and was so delighted that he sent her a
check for $500 and had the picture photo
graphed TO carry in his watch. There must
have been many similar cases that never
cane to light for people have natural
hesitsncy in posing as dupe5.
| saw Mrs Lloyd once afterward on a
railway train going through Utah. The
meeting was quite accidental, aud she did
not recognize me. She was elegantly at
tired, had diamonds as large as peas in her
ears. aid was the same mystic. inscr table,
euigmatiral woman, at once drawing AMI
battling all eyes. Some people are born
my steries. Nature fashions their faces like
the Egyptian sphinx, and they fulfill their
.iny by simply following their noses.
The conductor told me that she was Miss
Paine Of Detroit. | have no idea what line
she is in at present. The astrologist, Mrs.
Robbins, is dead.