The Saint Paul globe., 1896-12-21
IN THE BORDER LAND.
E. V. SmalIey Discusses Mind or
Soul Reading

T. " Smalley, Of st. Paul, contrib
utes the following to the Chicago Sun
day Times Herald:
81, PAUL, Dec. 1.-THE border land he
tween this world and the next offers a fas-
and level-headed people who make excure
slons into this mysterious realm often return
with Information that stands the test of
scientific analysis.
reople In this city have been good deal
excited during the last three weeks by the
performances of a little thin-faced biande-
heITeo woman which SAVIOR of the supernat-
urai naIi Is thronged every night with
curious people Of all classes. Some come
from the big mansions ON Summit avenue
ana ana some from the shanties on the Bohe-
mian flats. They write questions on ALI sorts
OF subjects on slips of paper which thew mt
INTO their pockets Some prepare their o,Ies-
tlons at home, carefully sealing them up in
envelopes. The little woman sits upon the
stage under big white sheet which is
thrown over her head and falls to the floor
Nothing is visible of her but one thin ner
vous nana loaded with rings. She calls out
IN quick succession the names of fortv or
nfty OF the questioners eack evening reads
correctly the questions which they have Sc
cretiy written and hidden away in their pock-
ets and gives them appropriate answers
Where the answers involve things unknown
TO the questioners or yet to come to pass it
frequently turns out that she is correct
NOW, now does she know sitting under her
sheet on the stage, what all these people have
written? The fake theory does not expIain
the phenomena. Our leading merchants law
yers, Judges, doctors and preachers are not
confederates of the little blonde woman. We
must throw this explanation out of court.
The popular explanation of such perform
ances as this is mind reading Rut what
is mind reading? Years ago people lised IN
attribute everything mysterious to magnet
Ism. IL was good, big word, new at that
pme ana Il let them out of many difficulties
evidently the little woman in some way sees
the questions people have hidden in their
pockets. Now science recognizes only one
way OF seeing and that is by the reflection
OF oD)eets upon the retina of the eve and the
conveying Of impressions to the brain through
the optic nerve. As the woman does NOT
see the questions with her physical eye she
must nave some other sense of perceDtion
mere must be eyes of the soul which see
quite independently of the eyes OF the hodv
Ihen there must be soul; that is to say
in the body and able to see and comprehend
things not visible to the physical sense of
seeing Ii there is any other explanation I
should be glad to hear it.
Living with his wife In a ground f.,or
nat on the South side in Chicago is fail
slender young man with peculiarly shaped
head-yery narrow and very high above the
ears Tnis young man sits on one side of a
little table, which is furnished with pads of
"hiIe paper and dozen well-sharpened
pencils. The visitor sits the other side OF
the table. The visitor may if he pIeases
write a number of questions on slips OF
paper foio them up and put them under an
elastic band while the young man is out of
the room. 1t Is not certain that these uues-
tions will be answered, or that the names of
the dead people to whom they are addressed
will be written by the young man Other
names may be written, but they will ali he
known to the visitor. The young man fusses
around with his numerous pencils to find one
that is sharp enough to suit him; then with
out any trance business any sort OF hocus-
pocus, he begins to write little letters ad-
dressed to the visitor and purporting to come
from the spirits Of the dead, The curious
thing about the performance is that he signs
the full names of various relatives and
friends of the visitor some of whom have
passed out of this life long years ago. The
names may be those of grandparents, uncles
aunts, parents, brothers or sisters or per
sonal friends. We viii assume that the yis-
itor Is an entire stranger to the young man:
yet the names Of his former kith and kin
are written plainly and the letters seme-
times make reference to events that took
place long ago in the Lifetime of those who
no longer abide upon this planet. While writ
ing these little notes OF affectienatea greet
ing the young man frequently addresses him
self to Invisible presences in the room He
seems to see people standing about him, and
talks to them quite famiiiariy.
This is the phenomenon and 1t may be wit
messed by any inquirer. You pay 81 for an
hours sitting and 1t Is certainly worth the
money. What is the explanation? Are we
indeed eHeempassed by "a elead of wit
nesses." as Paul Believed?
f ". S5na1Iav