The Portland daily press., 1897-11-20
DEFECTIVE MAGIC.
illustrations From Different Oriental
Sources.

| Sources.
Finding Thief by Means of a RnwI of
Water-What the Boy Saw In r. Drop
of Ink-How a Dishonest Woman Was
Neatly Trapped.
Magieians abound at the present day in
hl the great centers Of ciyilization-chiro-
inancers, spiritualists, seers of the crys-
'ai' lhanatmas, thought readers, astrol-
ogers' interpreters of the cards and the
coHee grounds. But they give no assist
ance TO the police, says the London Stand
ara The divine power which aninates
.hen refuses to do such mean service. 1t
Is pity. They may scorn the profits
which would flow in But philanthropy is
tnelr strong point in general, and they
fould confer no benefit upon fellow
creature more heartily appreciated than
the restoration of his lost property. More
over, they are all anxious to make prose-
lytes, and what means could be more effect
I've? Savants and personages whose con-
version would be triumph have pro-
claimed that they are ready to believe all
1lieSu lS dskGu "a bAiClll IL uilS duSpu VIII per
form that miracle. But the spirits or some
thing forbid, and it is no use to argue.
Fortunately there are magicians else
where whose protecting genius is not so
particular and very striking feats have
been attributed to them by persons whose
honesty and intelligence stand above ques-
ton. We may take for example the evil
dence of Mr. Swettenham, G. B., now
- 1f
some valuable property which had been
stolen from him, he followed the advice of
friends and sought wizard. Two pro-
fessors assured him that they would do
his business Sin jiffy," but they did
not keep appointments made. A third
performed his operations privately and de-
nounced the thief to Mr. Swettenham
who expressed wish to see the process by
which he had been identified. A large
earthenware bowl was filled with water
and piece of cotton was tied over the top
as it were drum Mr.. Swettenham
wrote the name of every person who had
been in his house when the robbery was
committed folded up each paper and laid
one of them on the drum.
He wrote the names in English, which
assuredly no one present could under
stand, going into a corner to do SO, folde,-
the slips exactly alike and shuffled them
together. Two men supported the bowl
upon the tips Of their fingers, and the wiz
ard read chapter of the Koran. Nothing
happened. So the slip was withdrawn and
another substituted Four names thus dis
missed, fifth was laid upon tho cotton
'eThe reading had scarcely commenced
when the bowl began to turn slowly
round, the supporters letting their hands
60 round with it until it twisted itself out
Of their fingers and fell on the floor with a
considerable bang and great spluttering
Of water through the thin cover 1t was
the name of the person already mentioned
by the chief. " Mr. Swettenham did not
tell him SO, but asked for repetition Of
the ordeal. Always the same result fol-
lowed. lit was curious coincidence GER
tainly. Tho name disclosed was that of
the person whom there was most reason to
suspect, but beyond that / learned moth
ing" Most people would describe the sue
cess In terms more impressive than Curl
Gus coincidence.
Lane told an interesting story in HE
"Modern Egyptians, upon the authority,
as he expressly states, of Mr.. Salt, her
majesty's consul general. This gentleman
had been robbed. He sent for famous
magician, who undertook to show the
guilty person to any boy who had not
reached the age Of puberty. A number of
boys were working in Mr.. Salts garden
He sent for one, thus satisfying himself
that collision was impossible. Taking the
child's right hand, he drew diagram up
on the palm and in the center of it made
a little pool of ink. Into this pool he told
the boy to look steadfastly. Then he
burned incense and written charms, at the
same time oInmanding various objects to
appear in the ink Each of these objects
the boy saw, as he declared. Finally the
thief was summoned. HE described his
stature, oountenance and dress, said he
knew him, and directly ran down into the
garden and apprehended one of the labor
ers who, when brought before his master,
Immediately confessed his guilt.
No one could question the absolute truth
Of this story as told, and upon such au-
thority, certified by a high official, it is
very striking But the boy must have been
familiar with the ink business, by re-
port at least, seeing that it is the regular
practice of the magicians in Egypt. He
and all his fellows may very well have
known who it was that stole Mr.. Salts
goods and of course he could describe q
laborer working in the garden whom he
had just quilted. The things he had seen
in the ink were named-it was only neces.
sary, in fact to say "Yes." One must ask
why any robberfes in Cairo remained un-
detected if this professor could name the
thief with the assistance of any little how
who came along.
There were plenty of his sort Lane had