The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-10-03
QUEER DOINGS.
A Dozen Pictures of People
Drawn by Spirits.
Thrown Out of the Cabinet Into
the Audience
AT THECAMP MEETING
Of the Spiritualists at the
Fair Grounds
But Nobody Knows Who the
Portraits Are Of.

There are spirits at the fair grounds
this week,-nOt the liquid kind, but the
invisible kind that raps on tables and
writes on states, and does other things
of like character. Their presence is in
duced by the mediums who are in at
tendance at the SpirituaIist camp meet
ing.
a seance was held Saturday night at
which a number of tests were given.
The presiding medium was Mr.. w. w.
Aber, who came to Topeka from Texas
several months ago and who has been
living during the summer at 416 Kansas
avenue. He was assisted by his wife
flying.
There were thirty or forty persons
present among whom were several
skept1cs. The seance was held in the
large auditorium at the fair grounds
and the audience filed only a small pOr-
ton of the building. This was said to
be adverse to spirit work as the tests
could be much better given if the room
were more nearly fitted to the size of
the audience.
In the center of the platform was a
cabinet with cloth sides, about five feet
square and six and a half feet high.
The front of the cabinet was open and
on a stand we'll back in it were placed
tambourine, bell, a blank writing tab
let and a few other articles. The tab
let was passed through the audience for
examination to assure the SPECTATORS
that it was perfectly blank, and VIM.
Campbell, member of the board of
railway commissioners, examined the
ca binet to make sure that there was no
strings by which the apparatus could be
worked.
Mr.. Aber, the medium seated himself
in a chair in the open front of the cabi-
net and his hands were bound to his
knees while the sleeves of his coat were
sewed to the knees of his trousers. The
one lamp was placed on an organ at the
side of the cabinet so that its light did
not shine on the medium. A curtain
was brought down from the top of the
UNI with the exception of his head,
which was left sticking through an
aperture in the curtain. A gentleman
from the audience was asked to play on
the organ, and no sooner had the music
begun than the tambOCrine commenced
to rattle and the bell to ring, accOmpa-
MED by violent pounding on the stand.
Every minute or two the bell or the
tambourine came flying over the top of
the cabinet, landing in font of the au-
dience. Each time Mrs. Aber picked
up the article and heldtit at the top of
the cabinet until some power within
took it. At one time a small hand was |
seen to reach up and take the bell.
Meanwhile Mr.. Aber seemed to be |
undergoing an intense mental strain, |
and every minute or two called for wa
ter which he drank from q. glass held |
to his lips by Mrs. Aber.
After a short time Mr. A Der asked that |
the organ be played softly. Immedi- !
ately the pounding stopped and in !
moment there was a sound of paper
tearing and a folded sheet from the tab |
let came floating over the cabinet. This /
was followed by another and another, |
until probably a dozen sheets of paper !
had been thrown out. These were |
gathered up by Mrs. Aber and carefully |
laid together. handkerchief were al |
so taken from the audience and placed |
on the mediums head. Some power /
within drew them inside the cabinet |
and in a minute they were thrown out |
again. These were carefully examined |
for messages but none could be found. /
After another interval of pounding |
it was announced that the spirits We're |
for that evening and the cur |
tain was raised. Mr. Aber was found |
tied and SeWed exactly as he had been |
before the seance commenced, but he |
seemed very much exhausted.
The sheets of paper were then exam
ined. Inside each one was a name, ac-
cOmpanied by picture of some person. J
The names were of persons who were in 4,
the hall, but in some instances they
were entire strangers to the medium or
those who had the seance in charge. /
The pictures were generally quite dim
and one sheet of paper was entirely
blank The recipients, or most of them
at least, had no idea who the pictures
were meant to represent
It was announced that the camp
meeting will continue for some time
and seances will be held nearly every
evening.