The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-03
MIND READING.
Drawing Room Marvel Sure to As |
tonish People.

tonish People.
The conversation turned on mind
reading. Tom, aged IL, had a volume
in his hand in which he seemed very
much interested, but this, no doubt,
was part of the game. He asked what
"telepathy" meant | am sure there
was no such word in the book, for il
happened to be Grimm's Fairy Tales;
besides, he held it upside down, and
as further zorro lucrative evidence I
saw Preston hand him a quarter of a
dollar shortly afterward. Preston is
the oldest of the boys. He is is years
old and is attending college.
Preston's trick was to read the writ
ing of others without having seen it.
Incredible as it may seem, the means
Preston used to successfully perform
this trick are quite as simple and cas-
lily commanded as the trick itself is
surprising and apparently inexplicable.
The whole secret lies in the fact that
the squares of pastebOard furnished
the audience to write upon are pro-
Vided with transfer paper, secured,
colOred side down, on both surfaces.
Transfer paper is thin paper, covered
on one side with color that can be
transferred to any plain surface, upon
which the paper is laid, face down,
with pressure. Any mark made by
point upon the uncolored side of the
paper will be printed upon whatever
surface is beneath it. 1t can be easily
made by grating or Scraping red chalk
or black crayon over the surface of
tissue paper, and afterward brushing
it over and rubbing it in with a Wad of
soft cloth or with the naked hand. 1t
can be bought ready prepared quite
cheaply at many StationerS', and at
all art supply shops.
To make the pasteboard rests, pro-
vide yourself with stiff pieces of paste
board or bookbinder's board, some
where about six inches square. Lay
upon each square of white paper the
same size, and cover this with trans
fer paper, face down; paste down with
a strip of paper at the edges; turn
the paSteboard over and treat the
other side in the same manner. 1t is
we'll TO pretend to exc out an INSULT
Gent supply of these with a music
book or two. or a portfolio and an at
las, which are all neatly covered first
with white OF light-colOred paper and
then with any sort of thin paper thor
oughly gone over on the inner side with
red chalk or black crayon.
When the performer is alone in the
adjoining room he has only TO take off
the outside paper from the pasteboard
squares or uncover the books which
have been brought there after being
used by the audience, memorize the
transferred writing. or simply cut it
out with a knife or scissors, slip it into
lis pocket and read it in the subdued
light that penetrates his enveloping
drapery. 1t must be remembered that
it is not necessary to read all the
strips; some may be too illegible to
make anything of. though the prepared
paper. if we'll made, transfers tta
slightest mark inscribed upon it. You
can at any time excuse yourself, say
ing you are fatigued, or the power has
exhausted itself, or that there is an
antagonistic atmosphere emanating
from someone in the audience that
prevents the full exercise of your clair
voyant faculty. or something of the
lind, and close the seance triumphant
ly after having read such strips as
you care to. The trick, as far as I
nov, is a brand new one, easily per
formed. and very effective. Try it
]. c. Beard in Hypnotic Magazine.