Wichita eagle., 1890-01-15

| her majesty;s Lancers, but at that unle in
the employ of an English banking and mer-
camille firm in Hong Kong. We were in the
front ranks OF the spectators, nearly all OF
whom were Europeans. After we had waited
few minutes, tanning ourselves, for theday
was oppressively hot, the fakirs made theH
appearance. There were eight Ii the party.
An old man with aquiline features, patrf
archal white beard and a pair of flashing
. black eyes, was the leader. His wife, pretty
little woman, young enough to be his daugh-
ter was his chief assistant, and the SIX re-
manning men served as subjects and under
assistants.
| had heard much about the wonderful per
formances of this particular band of faklrs,
as all itineranJ performers are generally
termed, and thus when | received the invita-
ton of the palace authorities ] was delighted
to accept it, But must admit that all the
praise had heard seemed faint and cold af-
ter had seen all that was to be seen. It
was, taking it all in all, the most wonderful
performance of the sort any of our party had
ever witnessed.
After the fakTs arrived they proceeded at
once to business. The old man bound band
age tightly around the forehead of one of his
young men, placing a small wedge shaped
piece of pith under the cloth and directly be-
tween the eyes. Then he handed him a small
round mirror, telling him to place it in his
hand and gaze upon it intently. This the
young man did. Meanwhile the other fakirs
made a circle partially around him, droning
a monotonous chant that ran something as
follows:
Ram, ram, amaram, anaaram, ram,
Amaram, amaran, anaaram, ram
This was repeated over and over again in
singing tones, resembling the distant hum of
a hive of bees, and when the chant was ended
we were nearly as drowsy as the poor subject
was
Directly the song was finished we started
from our ethargy and brought our tagging
senses to bear upon the victim OF this remark
able incarnation He was lying ON the par
lor floor, to all appearances dead His face
was of the CHASTITY pallor of the tomb. His
arms, legs and fingers were as though they
had been suddenly turned to ice. His blood
seemed 10 have been frozen on a day when we
living spectators were almost sufocated by
the heat.
We felt his fingers. They were as rigid as
though modelled from marble DR.. Craw-
ford raised his eyeids. The pupil had been
uptWned and nothing but the white was
visible The doctor examined his heart and
felt bis pulse. His blood had stopped flowing
through his veins. To make the test even
more complete the doctor stopped his nostriis,
his ayes and his ears and mouth with thick,
putty like paste, that made breathing an i'm
possibility. In every previous mesmerlc or
hypnotic experiment had witnessed the sub
ject always meathed
Now came some further tests, and cruel
ones they were, too. Large bOdkins were
thrust entirely through the palm of his hand,
and he never moved a muscle. Neither did
single drop of blood follow tie withdrawal Of
the steel. This prodd;ug was repeated upon
his cheeks his finger points, his thighs and
arms, with precisely the same results Then
the old man took glowing coal Of burning
charcoal from his pot and placed it ON the
uptarned palm of his unconscious victims
hand. Here it at first smoked, then sizzled,
and tho corridor became peroeated with the
odor Of burning human flesh Stall the man
was unconscious. At last the doctor forced
the old man to remove the coal, for fear that
it might do the young man some permanent
injury.
The subject was then turned over to the
doctors care. The physician made every eff
fort known 10 medical science to resuscitate
him, but all for naught. After he had been
III this trance for nearly an hour the old fakir
made some wide spreading passes over his
body with has arms and leaned back TO watch
the result. shive, passed over the sub
jects form, and grim smile OF triumph
curled the corners of theold mans mouth
We gathered around the prostrate man and
watched him until We grew sick at heart and
felt faint. Such torture, snch horrible ago
ny never before beheld on q human beings
face. His features were twisted and distort-
ed ont of all human resemblance His limbs
became knotted, and he writhed into thou
sand different shapes from his finger tips to
his toes. After five minutes, that seemed to
Us an age, he opened ha eyes, rubbed the
moisture from his forehead and sat up IS one
da5ed. A minute later he rose and took his
place among the others though nothing
whatever had happened
While this was very wonderful, the Old
MN now proceeded ~ astonish us 5t.n more.
With no one to help him ssve the singers and
their chant OF MS own voltion he threw him
self INFO this same marvellous state. We re-
peated the same experiments upon hmm tnat
v : ilssAi uuifS All l-ic VIZ o4p't
steeis through his limbs and scoTched the
palm of his hand with living coal We
STOPPED up his nostrils, ears, eyes and mouth
aud then the doctor worked on hum for bali
an hour Or mora The elect OF death was in
this case more pronounced than In the for
ner. The natural pallor Of tes old mans
face, his flowing white ha1r and beard made
him appear Ike the car .d figure q sorre o.d
Indian chisftaia In oEe OF the royal burial
grounds. Il impressed Us as Though We we're
IN the prese1ce Of actual deaLh, and We IN
siinctively spoke IN Whispers
" hen the doctor was tired ne turned toe
boiy over 10 the woman, WHO msde certain
Ysasses over II and slowly and terribly the
ola man rssAi1ed Us ssnxs.-kel2sr N s.