Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-09
The London Phenomenon Challenges
a Large Audience.
NONE OF HER TRICKS DISCOVERED.
Miss Fay and Mr. Gray Disagree in the
Mysterious Cabinet.
PREPARING TO VISIT THE ENGLISH

condescendeQ 10 perform In pupnc the dcts
which only graveyard ghosts and midnight
spirits are supposed to understand.
The Auditorium, on Penn avenue, hither-
to unknown as haunted place, was Sc
lected as the hall in which the spiritual
nothings should give pointers to earthly be-
| ings on how to do things that most people
don't know how to do. For two hours such
reVelry of the departed was
surprise, a horrifying spectacle to strict,
Scotch-Irlsh Presbyterian Pttsburg. The
room was filled an hour before
Miss Fay took on her lifely form. 1t was a
| peculiar looking audience. The same that
| buys every new patent medicine, carries
mascots IN every pocket, communes with
the stars and thinks everything is done by
| fate or luck. There were a few boys pres
| ent, few more old men and still more old
women. Some were Spiritual1sts by pro-
| fession, but the majority were the curious
who would't admit that they might be con-
vinced, but by their conversation showe d
that such thing was just possible.
Impatient to See Wonders.
They were both enthusiastic and i'm
patient. They commenced calling for Miss
| Fay at o'clock and kept up deafening din
| for nearly half an hour, until sallow
| faced young fellow, with claw-hammer
coat, an English accent, came out and e1-
planned that before uncaging the ghosts that
find lodging place in Miss Fay's anatomy
he would tell few things about the young
| lady as she pretends to be. He referred to
| her wonderful success among the
Of
laying of particular stress on some kind of q
| scientific, electrical seance which Miss Fay
had performed before Prof William
Crookes and the Royal Society,", London.
The word was accented on every letter, but
even at that it could not be given as much
| prominence as the famous Crooke. The
speaker seemed to be in a fair way to 90
ON forever, when a young urchin, without
the love of English royalty in his heart,
cried out:
go on with the show
A moment later Miss Fay, or what was
supposed to be Miss Fay, stepped from be-
mind the scenes. There only appeared to
be one of her and that looked like COM
mon everyday kind of an earthly girl, but
it was impossible, of course, to tell whether
it was girl or ghost.
Not Novice in the Business.
In her stage makeup she looked as if she
might have been fooling people for quar-
ter of a century or more, and from a be-
witching smile some young men might
think she, or her spirit. might be induced to
firt. She was dressed in guazy kind of
decolette dress that the older ladies present
said was brocade silk. That her occupation
is profitable was made evident by the daz-
zling array of diamonds worn in all the ways
of feminine invention. She walked across
the stage lightly and in all her actions at
tempted to give the impression that she
wasn't common flesh and blood. but be-
longed to either heaven or-Chicago.
just after she appeared, the man with the
cockney twang, called on two volunteers to
come to the stage and see that the game was
played fair. One youngster recommended
Chris Magee, another Alderman Brinker
and third, Rev. McAlister. 1t required
about ten minutes to get men brave enough
to go on the stage. When two were finally
secured they were announced as Colonel
Sellers and John Gray. The latter was of
an investigating turn of mind and viewed
the heavily draped cabinet with great
deal of suspicion. 1t was like all other
cabinets used by sleight of hand performers
and didn't seem to have any secret holes in
which an extra ghost could be stored.
TIED Fast to a Heavy Plank.
1t was announced that the first trick
would be performed after Miss Fay was
tied up so solid she couldn't move. Her
hands were strapped together with strips of
material that looked like muslin, and were
then fastened to an iron ring, onto an up
right plank. She was seated on stool.
Her neck was tied to the plank with great
ceremony and, as final safeguard, the at
tendant told the two spectators to tie her
feet. 1t was a desperate undertaking.
The men were middle-aged, the girl looked
young and beautiful with a bit of foot that
masculine beings didn't like to touch when
SO many people were looking. The men
hesitated; the girls smiled; the audience
roared. Finally the man with the smile
came to the rescue and performed the dar-
ing feat without any further accident than
revealing two white slippers. The audience
was relieved when this was done, but was
disappointed when the cabinet was dragged
forward and placed over the medium plac-
ing her Just as If she were sitting in a big
store box with one side knocked out.
"We have here a tambourine, couple of
bells and mouth organ" said the assistant
picking up the articles named. Il place
and the lady plays" Everything was done
as he said, but the medium was out of sight
and in that were the people disappointed
BIindfoIded the Referee.
Mr.. Gray was given a seat to watch the
next trick, but his opportunity was spoiled
by the assistant suddenly dropping ten
quart bucket and silk handkerchief over
his eyes. The curtain was dropped over Mr..
Gray and Miss Fay and of course the
audience was breathless. The trick was to
be mysterious writing on bundle of paper
in the cabinet. Just when everyone was |
wondering whose name would be used,
feminine voice under the curtain suddenly
screamed out:
'Be careful; be careful; be gentleman;
YOU don't sit still. "
The assistant run to the rescue, pulled up !
the curtain and revealed Mr. Gray and Miss |
Fay looking at each other as if they had |
fought couple of rounds in q 24-toot ring |
instead of medium-sized store box Mr. |
Gray looked confused and Miss Fay looked |
amused. The former stated that he wanted |
to catch pair of hands that were wander
ing through the box, and the audience
roared again. Colonel Sellers attempted to |
find some evidence OF fraud but could not |
discover any place where confederate had |
been located, or how Miss Fay could have |
loosened her hands and then tied them up |
one time, but the audience only laughed at |
him.
Objected to Rough Treatment.
The remainder of the tricks were on the |
same line and just as unexplsinable. While
performing one of them Miss Fay and two
men from the audience were seated in front |
of the cabinet, and then covered up to their
necks like man in a barber chair. While
they were in this position some mysterious
power in the cabinet seized a guitar and hit |
one of the two men over the head. The man