The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-02-26
THIS is MIND TELEGRAPHY
Thought Communication That George
Francis Trains Psy che Never Fancied.
How Mr.. Stead Says He Catches the Cerebral
Waves, His Own Hand Translating the
Messages from Persons Miles Away.


"To begin at the beginning 1 may say
over and over again. that it is possible for
some of my friends to use my hand as their
own. they being at distance from me.
That is to say. friend of mine in New
castle IS quite capable of using my hand
here in London, and writing message.
long or short. by the mere action OF his
mind upon my hand. without any tele-
graph or connecting wire. This. as you
will remember. Is ALLUDED to in my Christ
mas number In the scene on the iceberg"
Il remember. Could you give me dem.
Onstration-now-On the spotY
Il will try. / often receive communica-
tions from my secretary In the way ] have
described. If she is late In coming she will
tell me the reason why and say when / am
to expect her. She ought TO have been
here an hour ago, SO will just sit down
and question her when she is coming"
SuIrInG the action to the word Mr.. Stead
rose from his seat opposite me, took his
own seat In front of his desk. where l had
been sitting. took pen in hand, and touched
that neither his fingers nor any part of his
hand CT arm rested on tho table. the only
point of contact being where the pen
touched the paper. The pen began writ
Ing, but of course i could not see what. AS
he finished the last word the door opened
and the secretary presented herself.
looked to see what MI. Stead's hand had
written. 1t was the secretary's initials.
followed by the words II am here"
Some months ago was at Redcar. in the
north of England. A foreign lady, who
does some work for the Review, had to
meet me at Redcar railway station about
O'clock. l was staying with my brother,
who lives about ten minutes walk from the
station. At twenty minutes TO IL Oc-
Cured to me that about 81 the phrase used
in her letter. might mean some time
before 3, and as l could not lay my hand
upon q Timetable | simply asked her to
use my hand and tell me- what time the
train was due; this. may say, was done
without any previous communication with
her upon the subject. She immediately
wrote her name and said the train was due
at Redcar station at ten minues to 3. l
saw that l should have to leave at once,
but before starting / asked her where she
was at that moment NV hand wrote; Il
am In the train at MlddlesbrOugh railway
station OIL my way from HartlepOol 10 Red
car then went off to the station.
SOMETHING HARD TO BELIEVE.
ION arriving there I went up to the
timetable to see VIII en- the train was due.
1t was timed to arrive at 2:52 The train.
however. was late; o'clock came. and
it had not arriv ed. At five minutes past
3, getting rather anxious, took q slip Of
paper from my pocket. and taking a pencil
in my hand asked her where she was. At
that moment she wrote her name they
. always write their names at the beginning
and end of each cOmmunlcatiOn) and said,
Il am In the train; rounding the
curve before you come to the Redcar
station; l will be with you In min
ute why the mischief have you been SO
later l mentally asked. My hand wrote,
We were detained at MiddlesbIough for
so long; do not know why! / put the pa
H. H. h. - q
platform. and there was the train. The
moment 1T stopped went up to my friend,
and said to her. How late you are; what on
earth has been the matterP Il do not know
she SAID. The train stopped so long at
Mddlesbrough; it seemed as If it never
= would start then showed her what my
hand had written"
WAS that lady conscious of having COR
responded with you II this mysterious
wayp
mo. she had no KIN Wedge whatever
that she was writing wi my hand. and
she was considerably naZed at finding
that she had done so. / had only seen her
once before In my life. give that instance
because 1t is very simple and compact. and
can be verified by reference to the lady in
question. whose address can give you II
you like"
Have you attempted communication at
longer dlstancesP
''Oh. yes! For instance. tried it with
last summer. He wrote. using my hand.
twice or thrice quite correctly, but once
the message got all wrong. The boys had
kodak with them. and as usually hap
pens. they ran short of plates and wrote
home In the ordinary way by letter. asking
for more to De sent The plates were
duly dispatched and ought to have been
received. when my son wrote with
my hand saying that they were impa-
tIently waiting for those plates, that they
an oil thnir ntafn fhaxy
couldn't 20 OH photographing unless fresh
plates were sent. at once made inquiries
and ascertained that the plates mad been
duly dispatched. A day or two later he
again wrote with my hand asking. why
do you not send those plstes?'
II again inquired. and found that there
was no doubt about their having been cent
oft nearly n week previous. Thereupon l
thought my hand was writing wrongly.
and | didn't let it write any more from
him. But when the boy returned l found
to my surprise that the plates had never
been received His complaints written
with my hand at Wimbledon were an &C.
curate representation of the state of
his mind 1t BOppard., Some of my friends
have written at distances of 300 miles long
narratives OF Journeys which they haye
taken, mentioning the trains by which
they went and came, the money they paid
Tor their tickets. the cost of their dinner at
the hotel; in short, giving a multitude of
minute details which il was absolutely im-
pOssl BILE for me to have OWNED"
Another OF Mr.. Steads stories was the
following OF communication from the
lady dead year since who figures In hi s
Christmas story as Julia"
IL was going down TO Preston one day to
see the trial of Feister printing machine.
which hoped some day might print daily
paper for me. L left home ON the 18th
August last. with the intention of going TO
Preston In the afternoon TO see the trial of
the machine on the morning of the 10Th.
The owner of the machine had gone dow n
q day or two before 30 arrange for trial
of the machine on the 10Th before the chair
man of his American board. When l left
home told my wife that should not be
office at 10 o'clock. my hand. in the pres
ence of my secretary. wrote this:"
MESSAGE FROM JULIA.
As he spoke, Mr.. Stead took down sub.
stantial diary turned to Aug. 49, and read
OFT the following entry. l following the
words with my eye whilst / took then,
down in shorthand. The writing was
rather stragRly, though not large. slopinp
back ards. the words all being joined to.
gether and with little or no space betw een
1t reminded me of the work | have seen
turned out by the electric telegraph. Here
is the message" from Julia"
~ wanttO tell You that things are no,
going quite right about the morning paper.
You will not go to Preston to-day. The
machine Will not 60 right, and B. the
owner of the machinel is In a state OF
frenzy The machine was tried
on Wednesday the previous day., and
when 1t was working something broke
which will have To be mended. and the