Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1897-12-31
DETECTIVE MAGIC.
ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DIFFERENT
ORIENTAL SOURCES.
Finding . Thief BY Means Of Bowl Of
wsser-what tho Boy Saw In Drop
Of INFLOW . Dishonest Woman Was
Neatly TRAPPED.

Of lnk-How . Dishonest Woman Was
Neatly Trapped.
Magicians abound at the present day In
Ill the great centers Of civilization-chiro-
manccrs, spiritualists, seers Of the crys-
tai, mahatmaa thought readers. astrol-
ogers, Interpreters of tho cards and the
coffee grounds. But they give no assist.
ence to the police, says the London Stand
ard. The divine power which animates
them refuses to do such mean service 1t
is a pity. They may scorn the profits
which would flow in But philanthropy is
their strong point in general. and they
could confer no benefit upon a 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
liver Savants and personages whose con-
version would be triumph have pro-
claimed that they are ready to believe all
that is asked of them If the adept will per-
form that miracle But the spirits or some
thing forbid, and it is no use to argue.
Fortunately there tire nasicians 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, e B., now
resident of Perak Hopeless of recovering
some valuable property which had been
stolen from him, he followed the advice OF
friends and sought a wizard. Two pro-
fessors assured him that they would do
his business lin q jitfy,' but they did
not keep appointments mado. A third
performed his operations privately and de-
nounced the thief to Mr. Swettenham.
who expressed a wish to see the process by
which he had been identified large
earthenware bowl was filled with water
and piece of cotton was tied over the top
-as 1t were a 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
nssuredly no ono present could under
stand. going into corner to do so, folded
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
missed, a fifth was laid upon the cotton
Tho reading had scarcely commenced
when tho bowl began to turn slowly
round. the supporters letting their hands
10 round with it until it twisted itself out
OF their fingers and fell on the floor with q
considerable bang and great spluttering
of water through the thin cover. 1t was
the name of the person already mentioned
H. IL hon n
tell him SO. but asked for q repetition Of
the ordeal Always the same result fol-
lowed. 1T was curious coincidence Ger.
tainly The 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 his
"Modern Egyptians, upon the authority.
az 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 noS
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 a diagram up
on the palm and In the center of 1t made
q little pool of ink. Into this pool he tolc
the boy to look steadfastly Then no
burned incense and written charms, at Tho
same time commanding 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, countenance 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 q high official, 1t is
very striking. But the boy must have been
familiar with the ink business by re-
port at least, seeing that IL 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 a
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 Eyes" One must ask
why any robberies in Cairo remained un-
detected II this professor could name the
thief with the assistance Of any little boy
who came along.
There were plenty of his sort Lane had
some fascinating adventures with them,
as most people know. And they charged
a very small foo Rnt wa d0 not hear that