The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1889-03-11
TRANCE SPEAKER BROOKS
Gives Two Lectures at the G,
A, R. Hall on Sunday,
"PSYcHoMETRIC READING"
But Another Name for Fortune Tell
iug-The Kind of Talk He In
Obliged In-opposed to Chris
tIanlty, But After Cash.

IeStefuAy AFTERNOON uuu lAAt eHenlus
person who advertises himself as
&c, H. Brooks, Of Madison, Wis, spir'
itualistic trance speaker and psyche
metric reader" gave lectures, so-called,
in the G, A, R, hall, on Main street, be-
fore small audiences,
Brooks is a man about 40 or 45 years
Of age, and stands something over six
feet in height, He is built on the will
Lowry plan, the effect OF (which is largely
intensified by his peculiar nervous ges'
lures, the cratic weavings OF his
body and. his walk, which
might be termed undulatlng His
face is long, and is made
to appear longer by the long, pointed
beard he wears, He Is quite a clever
talker, and his voice, except when he
puts ON the high pressure valVe-which
he does too irequently-is melodious
and pleasing, He evidently aims to be
very impressive in his manner, and in
size his hand might be likened to that
OF Providence, Taken altogether, this
man Brooks Is Just the kind OF man TO
catch the fancy OF those, to say the
least, peculiar people who take stock In
the belief, plan, policy, inde6nable some
thing-whatever one may call it-that
he processes TO discourse upon and teach.
Right at this juncture 1t may not be
out OF order TO state that yesterdays
'lectures" were for the purpose Of I'D.
yertising. Brooks announced at each Of
them that where so many were present
he found 1t difficult to give his readings
In q satisfactory manner, but that at his
rooms, No. "a Fourteenth street, he
would be able 10 give thorough and sat
isiaCtory doses at the rate OF 81 per read,
What there Is Of the "adver," nature
In this paragraph goes gratis, also
the announcement that on next Sunday
he proposes TO give two more free lee
lures. Brooks says that the purpose is
to form u society" here, so that 1t can
correspond with one he has formed in
Pittsburgh. That will doubtless be
something the society" will very much
enjoy, and in the meantime Brooks will
lay up enjoyment in cold dollars at$l
per read.
The Brooks performance, described
briefly, Is in the vernacular Of the vul-
gar, "the same old fake" and that in It's
Cheapestguise, He processes TO do moth
ing but read, while in Q spiritualistic
trance, the thoughts and lives OF others.
He does not venture US far as some other
spiritualistic expounlers and do clever
tricks that can be and have been exposed.
He rattles of lot OF glittering general.
tiles when reading" and one can believe
what he says andlwrite himself down an
ass or he can set Brooks and those who
look.upon him as q gifted creature, down
us such. As before stated, Brooks has
command OF q good flow Of language,
shows considerable cleverness and has
quick perceptiye power. All this forms
d combination sufficient to enable him
or any other smart man III the same
business 10 pick out people in his
audience and in a general way tell about
their lives and circumstances as any
fortune teller would DOLBY simply
doing some clever guessing. This can
be done so that there will be some
points Of resemblance to the truth,
Last nights meeting opened with the
singing Of that good old tune, Gamer,
ican-hMy country, its Of thee,n ETC.,
and the way In which 1t was murdered In
the singing was horrible enough to raise
the spirits Of all the old timers. Pre-.
yious to this small slips OF paper had
been passed around among the
audience for tho purpose al hay
ing written upon them subjects, and
from these subjects Brooks was 10 select
one and "leCtufe" upon It. These slips
were now collected and glanced over
rapidly by Brooks, Then he asked that
the HSweet By.and.By" be sung. The
but tho "Sweet By.and.By" was prize
winner when it came down to awful
things. 1t was sung in seventeen
different keys, besides the Cres-
Cendo staCcato voice that a hatch-
et.faced woman warbled in, There
was one man that was evidently
dead stuck on the songi he Just reveled
in the melody and held on to the last
word OF each line so that every ono else
had time 10 patoh their breath and
whoop things up on the beginning Of the
next line. II any spirits were left about
the hall after America" the second
musical effort ought to have laid them
out again, cold and stiG.
Brooks then addressed IN invocation
10 a something he was pleased 10 term
WQur Father and Mother God" and to
which he petitioned for ian embodiment
OF spiritualistiC faculties and that the
Light and Truth might be sought after.
HG did not at this period make any re-
ference to his rooms at No. "A Four
teenth street, where the payment Of 81
was productive OF satisfactory quantities
OF Light and Truth"
Then he had one OF the subjects that
had been written on one OF the slips OF
paper read 10 him. II had evidently
been written by believer, alias a rank
crank, and read something like this
"What Is tho religion in the Christian
idea OF spiritualism" Even Brooks was
paralyzed by this, but taking the two top.
les "Christianity" and "Spifltualism, he
started in and talked and generalized,
and waved his arms and bent his body,
and shouted In a strained tone Of voice,
and kept this up for half an hour, leav'
Inc q majority Of his hearers wondering
at tue end Of that time whether the
man who wrote the question, or subject,
or the man who talked on 1t, was the
worse.
lie said that Christianity was q belief
and Spiritualism Il fact. At times, as he
Landed Buddha, Mohammed and Con.
fucius, he talked like an out.and.out
TheOsoph. Then 10 would vary hia re,
marks by derlding Christianity and all
that II implies. Spiritualisln, he said,
knew but little Of God. lGod as a record.
or and seer Of all things was ridiculed,
and so were many other beliefs dear 10
q Christians heart.
Thinking finally that his audience had
reached stage where they could stand
some more music, the hymn, cover
There" was announced, No one could
be found 10 start the air, however,
till a woman with q buGI.saw voice
volunteered 10 start the racket.
Horror Of horrors she bit the air Of
the "Sweet By.and.By" again and the
full chorus charged In, Including The
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