Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-07

Runjeet Sing, the late tyraut of the Punjab
| My first acquaintance with the narrativ
| dates from my boyhood. About the time o
the occurrence l heard it related by M,
! father; and shis authority was the well
known General Avitable, Runjeet Sing
| right-hand man. who was present at tn
| facts. Those facts are, that certain
iughee' (Hindu anchorite), said to possess
the power of suspending at will and resum.
ing the animation of his body, was sent fol
by Runjeet Sing, and declining to obey, wa
brought by force into the tyrant's presence
and ordered to give, under pain o
! death, a practical proof of his supposed
power He submitted perforce. He wa.
Put by his disciples through certain pro
cesses during which he became perfectly
unconscious; the pulses ceased, his breath
did not stain 4 polished mirror, and a Eu'
ropean doctor who was present declared that
the heart had ceased to beat. To all ap.
pearances. he was as dead as Queen Anne.
In this state he was put into a carefully
made box, the lid was closed and senIed with
Runjeet Sings own signet ring. The box
was buried IN vault prepared in an open
piot of ground under the royal windows al
Lahore; and the place was guarded day and
night by Runieet's own guards under Gen.
erai Avltable's own supervision. Sun and
ram came and grass sprung up, grew and
withered on the surface over the grave; and
the sentries went their rounds; and the jog
hee's disciples and friends were all kept
under careful surveillance, not to call it
imprisonment.
Resuscitated After Forty Days.
After 40 days, in Runjeet Sings own
presence the vault was uncovered, and the
box extracted from 1t with its seals intact.
1t was opened, and showed the ioghee within
precisely as he had been placed. He was
taken out, dead still, to all appearance, but
the body was incorrupt His disciples were
now brought to manipulate the body in the
manner he had taught them, and which he
had publicly explained before his burial.
He revived, as he had said he would; and
was soon in as perfect health as when he
had suspended his life! He refused all
gifts, and retired to his former retreat; but
shortly afterward be and his disciples dis
appeared. 1t was not safe for such a man to
live in the jurisdiction of so inquisitive and
arbitrary ruler.
RuDieet Sing cared little for human life,
which was his toy or plaything. No one
who knows his historical character will for
2 moment admit that he would let himself
be deceived or PLAYED upon in a matter on
which he had set his heart Each scene
lllG suSDSuSlOu VI llle. lut lut ulslu-
terment, the reviving, took place In the
tyrants own presence, and before hundreds
of spectators, in open daylight, and with
every precaution that absolute despotic
power could command. Runjeet cared little
whether the man lived or died, SO that his
own curiosity was gratified. The guards
under the palace windows commanded by
Avitable would be anxious solely to carry
out Runjeet's Sings wishes.
Will YOU say it is impossible? Remem-
Der Succi's fast last spring. Do not some
animals hibernate for months? Are not
living toads found in solid stone hundreds
of years after their entombment? With the
suspended animation of these toads in evi.
dence, il will not do to set down the story
as simply impossible. And it NAV be added
that in India no one would think OF calling
in question the accuracy and truth of the
Climbing Up to the Sky.
From several quarters L heard of, but did
not myself see, what does appear an impos-
sIbIe feat; this, therefore, L give on mere
hearsay evidence. A juggler ''pitches" at
corner of bazaar or wide street; and in the
presence of gaping crowd, which speedily
assemble to witness the 'tamasha" or fun,
he takes out of his wallet large ball of
lWlHG, anu Tying OHt Gnu OF IL 10 a corner
of the wallet casts the ball up, skywards,
with all his might. Up it goes, unwinding
gradually-up and out of sight. 1t
does not come back; it has uniolded
itself on, into the blue sky, it seems. He
orders his attendant-a small boy, possibly
his own son, and about years of age-to
'go up" The boy grasps the twiue, and
goes hand over hand, up, up, and out of
sight. Remember, please, that Indian
houses are low, and that it needs but little
sense to see whether a ball of twine has been
thrown In common way on and over a
neighboring house, or has unaccountably
gone up into tine sky without coming down;
whether a small boy has by means of this
twiEe gone on TO housetop, or has dIsap-
peared into the heavens as unaccountably as
the tWine did.
After a number of ordinary tricks, the
juggler declares he needs boys help, and
looking upward, calls him bv name A
voice replies from distance above, saving
he will not come down. (VentriloQuism,
YOU suggest Very we'll; perhaps SO: waltz
The man gets angry, saws the boy must be
punished; and taking long kniie between
his teeth, he goes up the twine hand over
hand, as the boy had done before, and ap-
parently disappears in his turn into the sky.
VI " hypnOtlSLn.
A scream is heard above. Then, to the
horror of the spectators, drops of blood rain
down; and then the child falls, dismem-
bered, with his few clothes cut, and covered
with blood. The man then slides down the
twine, with the knife all bloody at his waist.
He casts a-sheet over the mangled remains
of the child, and leisureIy proceeds to wrap
up into a ball the twine which comes down
to HIN by degrees from the sky, as if there
we're a kite at the end of it. He puts his
things into the wallet and then takes up the
sheet. From under it, whole and intact,
alive and grinning, rises up the identical
small boy! There are no mangled remains
and no blood.
On this 1 make only one remark: the
thing itself seems really impossible, yet that
does not prove that the performance is not
actually done. The pgrado1 NAV possibly
ind its resolution in the Suggestive expert
suces" OF hypnotism. A hypnotlzed patient
sees and feels what his hypnotizer wishes
him to see and feel. Is it possible to nyp-
notize whole crowd? If so, and the crowd
hereupon proceeds to see wha: the luggler
or hypnotzer desires them TO Gee, a gleat
many of the wonders of Indian magic would |
De thus explained.
TIN-PLATE will not cost any more on ac- |
count of the Mckinley duty. Ex-Congress-
IL