The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-01-07
MofFATT THE coNJuRoR.
The Strange Career of n Mind-RsRder and
Sword -SwalIOwer. who Died I'm Idaho.
fH.rr-ron1orca obn-nouoorat

The Strange Career of n Mind-Rsader md
d-SwalIOwer, who Died in Idaho.
Correspondenee Globe-Democratl
The death is announced of Herr Moffat,
the celebrated second-sight reader and
conjurer, at Bozeman, Idaho, in the act of
swallowing a sword, which severed his
juguiar vein, and the conjurer bled to
death in a few minutes.
Herr Moffat, or Francis Morell. was a
resident of st. Louis, and there his won
derful talent. which has made him the
peer of any and led him before the
crowned heads of Europe and Asia, was
developed. lie was a very peculiar boy
in youth, and was considered a crank. He
lived alone with his widowed mother, sup
porting her by working in a stove factory
here. His spare moments he spent IN the
study of magic, and the attic OF his hum
BILE little home was transformed into a
chemical shop. When he was seven years
old one day he suddenly burst into an un-
controllable fit of laughter. His mother
asked him what pleased him so much.
The boy replied that he saw his father
who was then living but not ut home)
running rapidly down the mountain side
trying TO overtake Il jug of whlskey which
he had let fall. The jug rolled part OF the
way down the declivity, but was caught
by the old man before he got to the bot
tom. When the father reached home he
confirmed the whole story TO the great
surprise OF all. After this the boy excited
much talk in the neighborhood in which
he lived. About two years later the Nor
ellis were visited by a friend named Robert
Vinton. with other relatives or acquaint-
ances from Philadelphia, who came TO
test the lads miraculous power, asked
him various questions, and, among other
things, inquired what was then going on
at his (Vinton's) home in Philadelphia.
The boy described the house, which he
had never seen, stated that it was built
partly of brick and partly of stone; that
there was a lake in front of the house,
which had recently been drained, and
concluded with a description of the people
in the house, and OF two persons, a man
and a woman, who were sitting on the
porch.
When Ninton reached his home in Phil
adelphia he inquired who had been at his
home at the day and hour he had held
the conversation with young Morell. He
learned that there had been a shower Of
rain at the time and that the people, who
were fishing IN the lake. had run to the
house To escape the rain. The persons
who were on the porch had been faith
fully described, even to the color of their
hair and eyes. In short, every detail
given by the boy was proven to be accu-
rate.
lie became involved in a quarrel once
with a young man named Turner. Tur-
ner was to call on a young lady, and being
met on his way by the young mind-reader,
Morell, who was himself in love with the
same young lady, they spoke to each other
and passed on. Young Morell sat down
on a stump and, bowling his head, con-
Quoted his mind to the parlor in which his
rival and the young lady were conversing.
In the course of the young mans call he
proposed and was rejected. This made
MOrell happy. Meeting Turner on the
street mex day, he tantalized him about
his rejection by the young lady the night
preceding. Words were exchanged, and
Morell drew a pistol, but friends standing
by ~interposed, and no harm came of the
quarrel. But Morell fell into Incorporate
habits and lost his good name. His habit,
when asked to exercise his faculty of sec
ond-sight seeing, was to hold his head
downward after closing his eyes. After
waiting for some time, apparently in deep
thought, he would declare what he saw in
his visions. He was sometimes found
alone in the fields, sitting on a stump and
crying. On being asked the cause of his
grief he said he saw great numbers OF men
engaged in killing each other. Although
he had never up to that time seen a ship,
a battle or a cannon, be described military
and naval battles during the wal of the
rebellion as if he were an On-lOoker.
After the war, when he was about TWEEN
ty-four years of age, another gentleman
from Philadelphia, who had heard much
of him, became interested, believing him
TO be possessed Of a noble gift, and exhib-
tied his wonderful power over the United
States, drawing immense crowds in all the
large cities. While in st. Louis, in 1873,
he was asked by a man in II OF the
many throngs that came to see him,
"What he was doing with that pocket
book" (intimating that the young fellow
had stolen it, Nothing. You're the
man who has stolen it," was the reply,
and upon being searched by a policeman
who was present, the man was found to
bave a pocket-book with several hundred
dollars in it, which was Immediately iden-
titled by a gentleman present as his. The
man was arrested and found to be Black
Hal, a noted confidence man and pick
pocket.
In 1879, he began q tour of the Old
World which lasted seven years, where he
has since returned, exhibiting himself
over the country. His death yesterday
recalled many incidents which were re-
lated by the older citizens of this city.
His life was a strange and checkered one.