The morning call., 1893-05-15
IN MYSTIC SEANCE
Eva Fay Puzzles a Whole
Opera=House.
SCOFFERS ARE NCNPLUsED.
A Vast Audience Is Brought Into
Close Contact With the Spirits
of the Departed.


High priestess of theosophy. vice Nine.
Blavatsky, deceased. and mistress of the
occult sciences, she has descended upon
the uncultured denizens of the Pacific
Coast and in one brief star performance
has succeeded in bamboozling several hun
dred searchers after the unknown. leaving
them just as wise as they were before.
Miss Fay has been before the public for
| nun Der of years, and has given her mys
tic experiments in most cities of the globe.
In England ior time she created great
furore, which was all the more remafka-
bic from the fact that a gullible public was
smarting under the ridiculous diserchant-
ment which the expose of the Davenport
brothers brought upon them.
However, in its way, Miss Fay's is a
more finished performance. No lights are
turned out. aud no horrid fiddes and ban
joes and other Instruments of torment
came floating through the dark air among
the audience TO terrify the nervous Her
performances consist almost entirely of
what has been called ''the cabinet trick"
Certain of her experiments were of
novel nature and were calculated to i'm
press the hardest of scOffers. But when
MaSkelyne and Cook. the enterprising
prestidicitateurs, who hold forth nightly at
the Egyptian Hall in London, took 10
studying the why and wherefore of these
experiments, the result was that these
gentlemen actually performed, or, as Miss
Fay's manager puts it, initiated" these
very feats. Miss Fay's stock fell consid-
erably after that. although she protested
that she had not been fairly treated, and
1t is only lately that she has come to the
front again.
So Miss Fay, in The course of her travels,
descen led on San Francisco. She Is on
her way TO India to secure certain talk
ing head"
She already possesses talking hand,
which answers questions by knocking on
slab Of glass, but the talking head is of
more Importance.
1t is sealed up in a certain house in Cal
eutta, and its renOwn can hardly De said
to be fairly earned in that il has never
talked yet. But Miss Fay says that she
has the power to control it, and to her
alone will the mysterious head bow in rev.
erence.
Fer the benefit of the curious, scoffers
and wou!d-be believers alike, Miss Fay
announced one performance, which duly
came off at The Grand Opera-house last
night.
Never has a larger crowd been packed
together i'll this theater. Boxes, stalls,
balconies and galleries were crammed to
| the limits of their capacities. All sorts
and conditions OF people. and each person
| had his or her settled views upon the SUBJ
| lect before the opening OF the show.
There were no programmes. 'The per-
| formance is one of surprises was the an
nOuncement made to each visitor This
! heightened the Interest and made people
wonder what manner Of spectacle they
| had come To see. The audience was kept
| waiting long while after the advertised
| hour, so that when al was ready most
| visitors were in a highly nervous state
both from excitement and impatience.
| When a wheeZy orchestra had got
! through an imperfect rendering of "The
| Bow ry"-a suitable prelude to a religious
| spiritualiStic seance-Miss Fay's manager
| stepped on to the stage and asked leave to
| say few words.
lie instanced Hiss Fay's long devotion
| 10 the study of occult sciences, and her ill
| treatment in other cities, and begged leave
| to present the entertainment for what it
was worth and let tie audience give any
| explanation of it they desired.
There was some amusement over the Sc
| lection of two witnesses to 20 upon The
stage and see fair play. Judge Murphy
WAS loudly called for, but was objected TO
on the ground that he was a spirituslist,
| whereat the Judge himself retOrted thai ''it
was the first time he knew it," Finally, j.
| Z. DamerOn, the real estate man, and j.
| Franklin Brown. the hypuotist, were
chosen and stepped Oh to the stage
| The referees were shown n wood en-
| stanchion, firmly fixed TO the floor, and a
common upright cabinet of green cloth,
| opening in front. They pulled it about
| to their hearts content and stamped away
upon imaginary trap-doors upon the stage,
and then Miss Annie Eva Fay came before
| the audience.
Pale, fair-haired and spIrituelle in ap-
pearancc, Miss Fay looks her part She
was atlired IN n close-fitling Pirlish gown
| with no supeTnuOuS pulls ana frills and
exactly fitted for what she had to do.
Miss Fay first permitted herself 10 be
| securely bound by Messrs Dameron and
| Brown, a proceeding which those gentle
men took an uncOnscionably long lime over,
and then she was seated on a stool leaning
| against the stancheon, her arms bound be-
| hind her. her head fastened to the stan
cheon and her feet tied together. The
| mysterious cabinet was then placed around
her aud the show began
In less than a second tambourines rat
| tied, fddles played and bells rang by some
| mysterious and unseen agency and when
the curtain was drawn aside needless 10
| say Miss Fay was discovered seated as
before, tied to tile stancheon.
One crank in the audience shouted
Fake and would not taks Mr.. Browns
word for 1t that she was still securely tied
So he was made TO come on the stage and
convince himself. He did so, and DEPART
ed growing that lie could make nothing
out, but had seen so much Of that sort of
| thing before"
Miss Fay went on with her experiments.
| She-stlll securely fastened-tied knots
in handkerchefs, wrote things on pieces
| of paper, showed hands outside the cur
tains OF Inc cabinet, picked up glasses In
| her teeth and drove nails into the boards
Then she took MIR. Dameron with her
| into the cabinet and, throwing a cloth
over his head, repeated her performance
| Wnen he came out Mr.. Dameron said the
! whole thing was too many for him" he
had felt her hands and they were still
tied, but there were other hands besides
hers" Somebody had also written a SEN
tence on one of his cuffs.
Then Miss Fay was put into box like
arrangement, much resembling a vapor
| bath, and went through the same expert
ments in full view of the audience.
Finally Miss Fay. Mr.. Brow n and lady
selected from the audience sat side by side
| on chairs in front of the cabinet while The
bells rang and fiddles played as before.
Lastly the talking hand was introduced.
| seemingly ordinary model of wood,
placed on glass stand between two up
right chairs, the hand answered questions
| by rapplng. One rap meant no and three
| yes. Here the spectators got their work
in and relieved their pent-up feelings by
| propOunding ridiculous questions.
"Will ODonnell ever be Mayor?" Three
raps and great uproar on part of audience.
"Will the capital be moved TO San JOSEF
| Oae rap, aud So forth.
| When Miss Fay made q couple of eXper-
iments in tabe-raising the performance
! was abruptly declared closed and the
SPECTATORS filed slowly out.
Taken on the whole, 1t was rather o dis
| appointing performance. Ths Orches ira