The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-09-27
A PEASANT WONDER.
Eusapia PaIadfO Again Startles the
Scfentists-Her Power Increasing
AT a Recent Test She Caused Ar
ticIes of Furniture to Sail
Through the Air as if They Had
Wings.


whole of the scientific world has heard OF
Eusapia Paladino by this time. To those
interested in the phenomena of psychol-
ogy the fat, dumpy Italian peasant wo-
man has been a veritable gold mine of
surprises. Unbelievers in the supernatural
would almost be willing to change their
minds could they see her perform the
marvellous doings which within the past
year have convulsed cold, clear-headed
men of science in all the great centers of
Europe. She has been studied and
analysed over and over, but not one of
these men of brains have been able to
logically account for her mysterious
powers. If she had lived g. hundred years
ago she would probably have been con-
demned to the stake as a witch. AS 1t is
she is the greatest living puzzle before
the eyes of the world today.
Her strange powers are easily described.
but no explanation of their source can be
offered. She possesses some peculiar force
in her body which is potent enough to
move weighty objects standing at some
distance from her. 1t is described as d
species of electrical current, emanating
from her body and taking hold of the
desired object and moving the latter about
as she wills. Her force is not confined
TO a single object at the same time. She
can move a dozen things from different
:
through the air al the same instant This
has just been demonstrated, and it adds
a new chapter to the already long list
which the scientists are trying to puzzle
out.
CHARGED WITH FRAUD.
Some time ago Eusapia was taken to
England, and she gave a number OF ex-
hlbltionS in the presence of number of
English, French and German scientists,
who adopted a variety of precautions to
detect her in any fraud. No fraud was
discovered, but her doing were so remark
able and unnatural that some of the
scientists after vainly attempting to trace
the cause of the phenomena, decided that
there must have been fraud land SO stamp
ed her as a vulgar trickster. But these
that little attention was paid to them.
and the fame of the Italian woman today
is greater than ever
In Paris she has just given an example
of her powers which is regarded as more
remarkable than any of the others, be-
cause 1t shows the surprising energy of
the force she eXerts. Heretofore she has
only attempted to move small things, like
causing a let ter weighing machine to move
UP and down, and humping the keys of
a piano placed at some distance from her.
In this last exhibition there were a
number of scientific men present, and they
adopted many precautions against the eX-
ercise of fraud or the introduction of any
outside agency. The wife of one of the
scientists had dressed the peasant woman
in a tight fitting gymnasium suit TO guard
against the possibility of her using any
concealed mechanism in performing her
wonders.
HELD HAND AND FOOT.
In the drawing room. where the tests
were made, Eusapia was seated in a light
bamboo chair, entirely devoid of anything
which would conceal the smallest thing.
The peasant woman always falls into a
trance when giving her exhibitions, and
when she had reached this stage one OF
the scientists got down on his knees on the
/ floor and held her legs firmly in his hands
Another caught hold of her hands and
held them in tight grip, while another
stood Immediately at the back of her
chair to watch for any suspicious move
ment. fourth stood right in front of her
for the same purpose. and others were
/ grouped around eager to catch her in any
deception.
Then the excitement began. The trance
like sleep deepened. The first thing to feel
the force of the woman was heavy arm
1 chair, placed in a recess OF the window
I 1t began to move about in Spasmodic
/ jumps, and then a toy piano, standing
! near, began to play The heavy window
I curtain swelled out into the middle of
/ the room and twined itself about the head
/ or one of the watchers. The leg of a dis
/ tant table pounded three times on the
I floor and the heavy arm chair moved up
and down. One of the watchers felt some
/ thing like sharp blow in the small of
mis- back, and another, bald-headetl
man. cried out that something had hit
4 him on the top of the head like the five
/ fingers of a hand. Another was pinched
| on the right arm.
THE STRANGEST FEATURE.
All this time the toy piano was clatter-
| ing away, the table leg was pounding on
up and down. The sleep of the woman
seemed to grow deeper and the noise
greater. Then came the strangest part OF
the test. The window curtains broke loose
Eusapia. Then the toy piano sailed
through the air, striking one of the
watchers on the head and landing near
the curtains. While the piano was still
and It started on a flight through the air.
first backward and upward, and eventu-
ally landing in the lap of man who had
been sitting right in front of her.
This is regarded as the most remarka-
bic Of the many examples which the wo-
man has given of her powers. Her his
tory, aside from the strange force she
possesses. is simply told She was born
parents. When years old her father
was killed by brigands, and this fragedy
had strange effect upon her nerves,
which, in measure, may account for
her powers. She became historical and
was often the victim of Authorizations
seeing strange faces staring at her from
the walls and ceilings. Then she began
to fall into frances, and splrltualists who
heard of her induced her to take part in
seances when the was but IL years OF age
She tired of this after awhile, but wnen
% years old she again came under the IN
! fluence of a spiritualist.
Now she has little or nothing 10 do viii
spiritualism. Her strange powers frs
attracted attention about seven years ago
and since then she has been in every
large city of Europe at the invitation OF
scientists. who have found in her most
interesting study.