Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-01-21
MIND READING.
A TWELYE-YEAR-0LD GIRL TAKES
A HAND.
Interesting Feats of Eva Mccoy, at
Detroit = Is Mind Reading
Common Property?

Papa, believe / can read minds like
Seymour" said little Eva Mccoy, four
weeks ago. James McCoy, her father, was
sitting in the parlor of his house, at No. "a
Porter street, reading an account of mind
reader Seymour's work. Mr.. Mccoy was
born genius, and consequently is not
rich. Among the many trades which he
has acquired are those of manufacturing
and shoe-making. He is a draughtsman
by profession Some fifteen years ago Mr.
! Mccoy was something of mind-reader
himself He had seen mind-reader Brown,
and was able to do pretty much every
thing Brown could do. The idea of taking
the road did not occur to him at that time;
so he never utilized his power except in
amusing evening parties and surprising
people who came to his house. When,
therefore, little Eva said: Papa, | be-
lieve can read minds Mr.. Mccoy was
not surprised.
"Well, try it, my girl" he said.
So Eva's eyes were bandaged. She
placed her brothers hand upon her fore
head, and her brother concentrated his
mind upon thimble which he saw III
distant part of the room. Little Eva
waltzed directly up to the thimble and
placed her brothers hand upon it. Several
other tests indicated clearly that the child
was not mistaken when she thought she
could initiate Seymour.
Just now Mr. Mccoy is employed in r.
G.. Scholes & Sons shoe shop, III Mich
gan avenue. Last night Mr.. Scholes ar
ranged small seance for the amusement
of his friends, at his residence, over
the shoe shop, and the Journal was invited
to send commissioner to observe the per-
formance At s o'clock a dozen persons
were gathered in the Scholes parlor. Eva
Mccoy sat on chair near the door. She
is u years old, but so small that her feet
did not come within six inches of the floor.
Actual measurement showed that she was
only feet 3 inches high. Her eyes are
very big, and her face plump, childlike
and pleasant. Mr.. Scholes entered pres
emily and set up frame four feet square
and covered with factory cotton. At the
base of this he laid out number of letters
cut out of red pastebOard. A number of
larger letters were scattered carelessly over
table. Miss Esther Scholes bandaged
the child's eyes.
Now" said Mr.. Mccoy, "the child
will spell out your name, date of birth,
birthplace and anything else you think Of"
The Journal man had given his name on
entering, so he thought of the name and
birthplace of prominent Detroit citizen.
The little mind-reader seized his left hand
and placed it against her forehead. Then
she drew her right hand once across the
forehead Of the reporter and was ready for
work
"Now," said Mr.. Mccoy, "fx your
mind upon the first letter in the name"
The Journal did so. The little girl
girl drew him slowly around the table
until the letter M was reached. Then
she paused, wavered for a second, and then
gradually bowed until the hand which
wields the pencil rested on the letter M"
The subject noticed slight, involuntary
tendency on his own part to assist the lit
tie girl by resisting slightly when she was
moving away from the letter, drawing
ever 50 little when she approached the
letter, and when directly over it stopping
short. In the subsequent letters he did
everything in his power to neutralize this
and to keep her arm perfectly limp. The
little girl indicated letter after letter with
unerring correctness. The subject then
ceased to fix his eyes steadily on the letter
The child hesitated more, but after an
error or two pointed out two or three let
tiers which had been thought of. The sub
ject then shut his eyes, held his face upward,
and while thinking of a certain letter,
kept the table and those particular red
pasteboard letters out of his mind The
child was at fault then and walked for
times around the table without being able
to indicate anything. The subject then
brought his eyes to bear upon the letters
again and the child proceed correctly.
As each letter was indicated it was called
by Miss Scholes and set up against the
cotton frame by Mr. Mccoy In a few
moments the words, E. G. Merck, Del
aware, n. Y" were completed.
Several other members of the company
thought of words which the child spelled
out in the same way. This spelling COW
cred the entire principle of mind-reading
The mind-reader can spell Nebuchad-
nezzar" as well as "Tom," and read the
mind of a person who is thinking of the
visceral commissure of gastrophod as
easily as the mind of one who is rejecting
that the cow jumped over the moon.