St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-06
MRS. IsA w1LsoN-KAYNER, MEDI-
UNI, GIVES A TEST OF HER
POWER.
HER HANDS INCoMBUsTIBLE,
BUT SHE WOULDN'T PLACE THE
BACK OF HER WRISTS ON THE
FLAME.
SOME EXPERIMENTS WITH PAPER
Witness as by the Lady Her
self.

Mrs. Ira Wilson-Kayner, of Chicago,
a medium Of reputation among the
spiritualists, gave a fire test" last
| evening at the residence of Mrs. DR..
Mary A. Tussey- Barkaloo, 624 Wabasha
| street, in the presence of two news
paper men and a few others. Several
physicians had been invited, but the
profession was represented only by
Mrs. DR.. Bessie Haines, a neighbor OF
Mrs. Barkaloo. The fire test medium
is plump, middle-aged lady, with
fresh complexion and snowy hair. Her
face indicates implicit belief in the
honesty Of her own exhibitions. At
the conclusion Of her efforts she entered
gentle anticipatory protest at any
frivolous references being made to phe-
nomena which bears religious sig
nificance to the believers in spiritual
| ISM The reporters, however We're
present on invitation to view simply
the physical aspect Of the heralded
fire test. Mrs. Kayner announced that
she would be controlled by the chief
Of band Of Egyptians, whose des
sicated but intellectual countenance
was doubtless disfigured by bitumen
and fine linen long before Pericles knew
the politics Of his own ward. With
the aid Of this cycle learned mentor
Mrs. Kayner proposed to divest the
blaze Of a lamp of it's infiammable
flame as innocuous to the reporters
| tender cheeks as to their calloused
hands. The latter promise was not
fulfilled.
The newspaper critics were invited
to see that the mediums hands were
! free from all chemical preparations
of fire proof tendency. A dainty bath
rivaling the soft delights Of Arabia the
Happy was therefore prepared on q
small parlor table alongside the me-
lodeon. The Master Of the Soap
brought forth a virgin cake of white
Lily" while the Lord Of the Red Towel
prepared to lave Mrs. Kayners chubby
| fingers in a porcelain bowl Her hands
were soft, fair, delicate and apparently
free from any coating, but she OBJECTED
at once to their being washed in hot
or even in warm water. Cold water
was substituted. An ordinary kero-
sene lamp was then placed on the erst-
while altar Of the toilet rites. An at
tractive young woman seated herself
at the melodeon. The reporters occupied
seats at one side Of the table, Mrs.
began to whimper forth pathetic bal
lad, Mrs. Kayner took sight at the
Psyche knot Of the musical maiden,
and peered thus into the far off face
the sage at the Nile cataracts or in
the ca,tacombs of Karnac. Her hands
| twitched, her eyes closed and her lips
| began murmuring the language Of
Pharaoh's daughter. Few reporters
are fluent in the ancient Egyptian, but
these recognized several English
baby" words, intelligently adopted by
the builders of the pyramids, as well
as that convenient expletive Of ex-
postulation nit! nit!' without the
'aber." Uttering much ante-classical
endearment, Mrs. kayner fondled the
red hot chimney, removed it and ran
her white hands slowly through the
| flame. Presently SCOT had tainted the
delicate fingers, but there was no evil
dence of injury or even of discomfort
resulting to the medium When the
replaced chimney had become too hot
even for the hands Of those around the
| table, Mrs. Kayner pressed her cheek
solidly against the fervid glass and
maintained the contact for almost one
minute.
Meantime the rosy salamander con-
tinued her Egyptian soliloquy and pail
little heed to questions. But as she
had explained in the beginning, she
was temporarily deaf from an infiem-
nation of the ear She next took some
fine tissue paper from a reporter S
pocket and passed it uninjured through
the flame. A silk fourth hand tie
escaped damage also. A fine silk hand
kerchief caught fire, and the medium
patted the flame in childish raproof,
observing as his mama said to Sesos.
mimmy co." Meaning that "the
horrd flame was. drefful nasty, so it
was" Then she succeeded better TAX
ing pair of celluloid cuffs, a piece
from which burned brightly, Mrs.
Kayner terrified the circle by threaten
ing to put a whole cuff into the flame.
An explosion was anticipated She
made divers motions and uttered vari-
GUS charms before passing the cuff
safely across the flame. But one Of the
reporters had observed that all the
articles were passed transversely
through the flame; that they were held
close down upon the burner in that
central portion Of every flame where
even a match will not light, and that
all stray edges and both ends were
protected from exposure to the blaze.
He took first a piece Of copy paper,
and burned up fact in placing the
paper carelessly upon the flame. Next
he tried the mediums method and the
paper did not light. He was encour-
aged to test the celloiloid cuff, and
even the tissue paper, and had such
success Cnat the meQlum 1ntlmateQ, IN
the celloqulal lialect Of the shepherd
kings, that her control had obligingly
transferred his power to the press pro
tempore. But she presented piece
of tissue paper and asked the reporter
to hold it upon the fame without
taking her own precautions. The
paper caught fire. At the reporters
repeated request she held the paper in
the same way with the same result
After a dozen trials she at last got the
paper quickly across the flame without;
causing a blaze. Finally, following q
hint from the newspaper man, Mrs
Kayner put her wrists alternately III
the flame, and held them there several
moments. But she steadfactly refuse
to expose the upper part of either
wrist, alleging that she was lame and
! could not turn her arm.
Mrs. Kayner closed with a slate test
but inaSmuch as her friend. the
Egyptian, confined himself to pyro-
technics, she did not succeed so well.