The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-06-07


Mngicinns abound at the present day in
all the great ccntcrs of civilization-chiro
mancers, spiritualists seers of the orys.
tai, mahatmas, thought readers, astrol-
ogers interpreters of the cards and the
coffee grounds. But they give no assist
ance 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 fellow
creature more heartily appreciated than
the restoration of his lost property. More
over they are all anxious to make prose
lytcs, and what means could be more effect
ive2 Savants and personages whose con
version would be triumph have pro
claimed that they arc 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 arc 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-
tion. We may take for example the evil
demo of Mr.. Swettenham, G. 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 "in jiffy," but they did
not keep appointments made. 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 A large
earthenware bowl was filled with water
and piece of cotton was tied over the top
as 1t were a drum. Mr.. Swettcnham
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 q 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 So the slip was withdrawn and
another substituted Four names thus dis
missed, fifth was laid upon the cotton.
"Tho reading had scarcely commenced
~
round, the supporters letting their hands
20 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 nune Of the person already mentioned
by the chief. Mr.. Swettenham did not
tell him so, but asked for a repetition of
the ordeal Always the same result fol-
lowed ut was u 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,
rs he expressly states, of Mr.. Salt, her
majosty's consul general This gentleman
had been robbed. He sent for a 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 collusion was impossible. Taking the
child's right hand, he drew n diagram up
on the palm and in the center of it made
II little pool of ink Into this pool he told
tho boy to look stoadfastly. Then he
burned incense and written charms, at the
same time commanding various objects to
appear in the ink. Each Of these objects
tho 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,
1fnf., l. to-
No one could question the absolute truth
of this story as told, and upon such au-
thority, certified by a high official, 1t is
very striking. But the boy must have been
familiar with the ink business" by re-
port at least, seeing that it is tho regular
practice of the magicians in Egypt. He
and all his fellows may very wen have
known who it was that stole Mr.. Salts
goods, and of course he could describe a
laborcr 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 robberies in Cairo remained un-
detected If 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,
rs most people know, And they charged
u very small fee. But we do not hear that
plundcred householders applied to them.
Certainly thore was an agha of police who
had little need to use magic; native
shrewdness served his turn. Once upon a
time a woman came to "a poor but honest
pawnbroker and borrowed 500 piasters
upon head ornament-this story also is
Lanes The pawnbroker did not take
her name or address. When he examined
the article, it proved to be gilt brass, He
ran wailing to the agha, who pitied him,
but there was no clew to tho identity Of
the woman 1t was a pretty puzzle-the
most experienced and ingenious of our
magistrates would have "giyen 1t up"
But the agha said: $50 home; take all
thy property away and lock thy shop. To-
morrow be there early, and when thou
hast opened thy shop, cry, Alas, for my
property Then take in thy hands two
clods and beat thysolf with them and cry,
Alas, for the property Of othersr and
whoever says to thee, What Is the matter2'
do thou answer: A pledge that had from
a woman is lost If it were my own,
should not so much lament it, " and SO
on The pawnbroker did as he was told
Presently the woman heard of this and
came on donkey, demanding her orna-
ment. Unable to get it, she applied to tho
agha for n summons, as we say. "What
was thy nnament2" he asked. IA kurs
Of red venetian gold f." said she. "Was it
like this?" said the agha producing the
brass article The woman was dumfound-
ed She gave up the 500 piasters, and the
oxecutioner cut off her heads on the Ru-
meylet within an hour.