Wichita eagle., 1889-06-09

and see." It was there. Tho first para
graph" continued Bishop, with a seemingly
aostracted air, ''reads as follows" and he re-
peated it word for word. The faculty was
dumfounded.
Yet that was simply clever trick
Now for the explanation. have it on the
authority Of Mr.. Erastus Brainerd, who was
then, for q brief time, managing the so
called mind reader. Bishop had in his pos
session one Of his hosts visiting cards, which
had been left for the American at his hotel.
He was careful to be the first guest to arrive
at the place Of appointment and finding, as
he expected, that his host had not yet de-
scended to the parlor, made an excuse for the
servant to show him up stairs for moment.
Passing the door Of the ibrary-which was
Immediately above the dining room-and
finding it unoccupied, he skipped In with that
cat like tread which distinguished him.
Picking up one of many books which were
scattered over table he opened it at page
81, and in a few moments his marvellous
memory had enabled him to retain the
words Of the first paragraph on page %
of the volume on political economy. Hav-
ing inserted his hosts visiting card be-
tween the two pages he placed the book atop
the others, and in such an awkward position
that it could scarcely fail to first attract the
attention of a person entering the room.
With this explanation the trick Is easily un-
derstood. OF course, the host did not place
his card between pages "a and 95, but when
Bishop announced that the card was In that
position no one thought of looking for a
second card elsewhere. Had the wrong book
been brought him, he would have diverted
the trick into another channel
Did Bishop ever have an accomplicel
Even those who class him as a trickster do
not think so. They think he was too smart
to ever intrust bis secrets to any one. The
testimony of Charles Frohman, his first
American manager, is valuable in this re-
spect. His first appearance In New York
was in Steinway hall, and the receipts were
S4S. Frohnlan determined that first class
theatre must oe secured and the attention of
the scientific world drawn to the perform
ances. Wallack'S theatre was leased. Invi-
tations to private test were sent TO scien-
lists, doctors and newspaper men. On the
day preceding the first exhibition in Wal
lacks, they assembled in one of the parlors
OF the Hoffman house. A committee Of
prominent gentlemen was appointed to take
a needle and drive to any place in New York
and hide it. Bishop, blindfolded and clasp
ing one Of the committeeman by the wrist,
was to drive the same carriage over the same
route and find the needle.
when the COMMITTEES had gone," says Mr..
Frohman in speaking of this occurrence, 81
became worried. l had never seen the ex-
pertinent tried Failure meant a disastrous
loss for me. While the crowd was busy with
the collation. and laughing at the jokes of
Marshall ?. Wilder, who was there to enter
tain them, whispered to Bishop: DO you
need any assistances / can have some one
follow that committee and dreport their move
ments to you secretlyP He looked at me
calmly and said: No, 1 don't need any
assistance. l can do it. But even if l
find that l can't I'll avoid failure l asked
him what he meant. Why he answered,
with the utmost determination, If | find l
can't do it will run over some one with the
carriage or else upset the committee in the
street. But the experiment was complete
success and he found the needle in the upper
story of Fifth avenue house"
One more illustration and am done.
Bishop once told me that when he was in
st. Petersburg the late assassin haunted car
asked him if be could not employ his SEEM
ingly mysterious power to detect murderous
schemes against the life Of the ruler of the
RussiaS. The mind reader-if that is the
proper term-answered that such an idea had
never entered his head, but he did not think
he would prove Of value in such method of
detection. If, he said, would be assassin
for instance, hid dagger in one spot, and
then when the mind reader seized his hands
he should think Of tho weapon being in an
other place, the operator would inevitably
Lead him to the location on which his
thoughts were centered. To please the
morbid mind of the emperor, however
Bishop tried a curious experiment which
he subsequently repeated with less distin
guished people numerous times While he
was absent in another room members Of the
royal family arranged themselves in q tab
leau in which the car was pictured as being
stabbed by his own son, the present emperor.
Then the actors in this mock tragedy scat
tered themselves about the apartment.
Bishop entered the room blindfolded and
clasping the right hand of one of those who
had witnessed the tableau, he quickly picked
out tho participants in the mock assassina-
ton and in few minutes stationed them in
the exact position they had previously occu-
pied with the czarowitzs dagger suspended
over his fathers heart. There could scarcely
be trickery there.
So the question will have to remain an
open one. LOUIS n. MEGARGEE.