The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-06-12
wAsIr HYPNOrIsNI 2

WAS 1T H1PNOIlSm
Ex-Serrent Major William Farrell, for
merly of the British army, who spent
about seventeen years in India, has been
disturbed in his MUD by Hermann's al
legged expose and explanation of the
wonderful feats of necromancy attribu-
ted to the HindoO cOnjurers. Hermann
publicly declares that most of the ieats
were bungling slight of-hand tricks, so
simple that he would be ashamed to re-
peat them, and that the rest were lies,
plain, ordinary travellers lies.
Hermann said he had visited India for |
the especial purpose of studying the
magic of that mysterious land, and that |
he had never seen Hindoo juggler do
anything remarkable, but if the ex-ser-
geant major of Lucknow is not Joe
Mulhatton the great Hermann is as far be-
low the high cast fakir of the Puniaub as
Merlin was inferior to THE Boss" IN
Mark Twains veraciOus history of the
days of King Arthur,
Farrell wears on his breast defence
of Lucknow" medal and "long service
and good conduct medal, which is a
proof that he is not a Mulvaney, and did
not 'put his fut through the tin COM
mandments twice a day" when in the
service of the Widow. He was color ser
geant of the Eighty-forth when that reg
iment was cooped up in Lucknow.
Farrell declares that Hermann must
have seen only the bunglers among the
Indian iugglers, such as infest the large
towns and the ordinary lines of travel
''He might be in India for years, said
Farrell, "and never get sight of high
caste cOniurer had been there n long
time before l saw one. 1t was in April,
1859, about year after the siege when l
was one of large military force then
stationed at Lucknow.
"a conjurer gave performance in a
mess ante-room, and Col. Fielding of the
ROYAL artillery invited large number of
officers and a few non-coms, including
myself, to be present. Some of the Off
GERS who were there are still living,
among them Gen. A. Herbert, Sir II.
Havelock All,n, Gen. Thomas Lightfoot,
Ganaral Rartnn and Dennis Domaine
now British consul in San Francisco, all
of whom will vouch for what | say:
"The performer was tall, handsome
man about 80 years of age, and he had
the most lustrous, penetrating dark eyes
that were ever seen in human face. He
entered the room accompanied by one
attendant, who carried only little fiat
box about ten inches long. The attend
ant took from the box white cashmere
shawl and spread it on the floor, and the
performer seated himself upon it, He
directed his gaze slowly upon each one
of the audience in turn, and then he said
to Colonel LightfOot: "Will you hand to
Colonel Cooper the sovereign you have
in your vest pocket"
"Colonel LighUfOot said he carried a
sovereign as a pocket piece, but he Won
tln hat G
, he spoke he felt in his pocket and look
! of surprise came over his face. The SOW
, ereign was not there. The performer
= smiled and asked Colonel Cooper to feel
, i'll his pocket. Cooper did so, and to his
own astonishmeRt found Colonel Light
, foots sovereign, which he returned to
i the latter. Holding the coin in his hand
Colonel Lightfoot asked the performer
how he managed it.
/, Managed what?' asked the man.
! GLOW did you manage to get that coir
from my pocket to COOper's%
" Il did not. 1t has not been out OF
Y your own pocket"
But here it is said Colonel Light
! foot, opening his hand. A look of blank
amazement came into his face, for the
coin which he had Just taken in his HAND
, was not there. The conjuTer told him t.
i feel in his pocket, and the sovereign was
! there.
+ Before we recovered from our sur
prise the performer borrowed a marked
+ rupee from Col. Montgomery and laid il
. upon the shawl. He raised bis fore
! finger and the rupee stood upon its
a edge, and at sign rolled halfway acros!
+ the room, and then stood still. At an
9 other sign it rolled back, and when op
q posite the performer it spun rapidly like
a a top for moment and then disappeared
: entirely.
"When asked how he did it, the MAJ
, quietly replied that he had done abso
r lutely nothing, and that we only imag
= ined we saw the coin spin around. Tit
marked coin was found in Col. Mont
g gomery's pocket.
% "rhen the basket trick was done, bu
not as Hermann describes it. A basket
> four feet in diameter and three feet higl
4 was taken out of the attendants littlt
a box before our eyes. The cooks daugh
>. ter was called in and placed under til,
q basket, and the next we knew the con
N iuTer stood beside it with a spear in hi
u hand. Nobody could tell where tina
9 spear came from. The man jabbed thu
spear down through the basket, the chile
n shrieked and the blood flowed out upoi
v the floor. Several officers sprang for
: ward with drawn swords, terribly ex
: cited, but the Hindoo calmly said
Il Nothing has happened and tipped tn,
4 basket over with his bloody spear
y Nothing was under the basket. Tn,
Il child came into the room through til,
s door, and when we turned again to lOol
a at the conjurer he was seated upon TIN
Il floor, and the basket, spear and bloot
o stains were gone.
/ "He then took short bamboo sticl
n in his hand, threw the shawl over hi
l. arm so as to conceal the stick, and in
stantly he seemed to be seated cross
: legged in the air, about two feet abov
= the floor, supported by nothing but tn
. cane under his hand. Lieutenant Burns
G an artilleryman, stepped quickly foI
. ward, seized the shawl and twitched j
g away. No rod was there, and the maj
# was seated upon the floor, although IL,
If movement of his body had been seen b.
anybody.
Y Then he placed silk handkerchief
:. upon the floor and instantly itseemed t
l. be covered with swarm of insects
' golden and iridescent beetles, flies o
e brilliant hue-all squirming and run
ar ming about. / turned to the man next {
m Isn't what beautiful? / see notl
/ ing he rejoined and when turned IN
re- head again to look at the strange sigh
r the handkerchief was clean and no in
v sects were there at all.
id The man performed fourteen trick
h. in all, and every one was as incomprC
hensible as those | have described
I'd While he was performing he neve
,e looked at the coins or other objects, bu
g. kept his eyes upon ours, his gaze rangin
n, from one to another constantly If
Of man started to leave the room the Hin
IS doc looked at him and the man woul
he sit down, all purpose gone from hi
IN mind.
I'd when it was all over the Hindo
o. smilingly informed us that we had see
I'd literally nothing. but had imagined th
m whole affair, and we went away tho
nd oughly bewildered. | was so dazed thu
ed | lost my way back to the barracks. w
nd talked it over the next day but coul
,h make nothing of it, We even tore II
IL the floor of the anteroom to see if I'll
nd HindOo had prepared flor the perform
er ance by concealing confederate undo
III the floor, but there was no space betwee
he the floor and the ground. Afterward
ne met the same man, but he declared thi
he had never seen him, and that he nev'
s. was iii Lucknow in his life"
in
IN Old Saul's Catarh Cure has becom
at Hthp ton of admiration aud Nvnrtl,ii &,