The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-02
1ALE OF IBE NAaG Rand
IN LONDON OF RICHARD
CELL
WAS IN STRANGE CHARACTERS
Last Writing of NecrOman-
Ger Was Done After
the Man Was
Dead.

Ger Was Done After
the Man Was
Dead.
Chicago Inter Ocean.
strange story has just been made
public by Barry Pain, the weil-kn0Wn
English author 1t refers to a mysteri-
Gus parsonage who died many years ago.
- but it was only recently that a London
physician, one of the few who knew the
weird story, told it to Mr.. Pain. The
secret had been kept faithfully by all
the witnesses for various reasons, chief
among which was the fear that the tale
would be received in a manner that
might injure the professional standing
OF those concerned.
1T is possible" says Mr. Pain, that
some may remember the case of Richard
Cell, who was the subject of a few news
paper paragraphs in May and June, 1873
He was an uneducated man, the son of a
North Country miner. He came to Lon
don to exhibit what was supposed to be
q trick and to make what money he
could out Of it. Richard Cell was ac-
customed to drink hard, and he was GER
tainly not honest. His trick was never
quite satisfactorily explained, but the
man had discredited himself, and re-
spectacle students Of psychology did not
think it worth while, as a rule, to have
anything to DO with him.
His trick was this He took seat in
q room, and a high screen was placed
all around him so that he could not be
seen. In the same room, but at dis
tance from the screen, a table was placed
with a sheet of paper on it. On the paper
was a model of hand rather less than
life size, made apparently Of some kind
Of punltce stone. This hand held a pen
Gil. Questions were asked by the people
In the room, and the hand, moving with
NO TRICKERY COULD BE DETECTED
THE trick was done in any room, and
any screen and table could be used The
model of the hand could be examined by
anybody and at any time; for instance, it
might be raised from the paper while it
was in the act of writing. 1t Was shown
that the hand could not be Influenced by
powerful magnet, and this disposed Of
. the first explanation suggested But be-
fore he had been in London a fortnight
Cell was fined in a police court for being
drunk and disorderly. And people who
had been inclined to take him Seriously
left him alone.
They could not think it possible that
man Of that type should be possessed
Of any abnormal psychic power. They
took view which by many people would
sui be held to be quite natural. At the
same time an unprejudiced inquirer might
be disposed to ask why abnormal powers
of this description should be confined to
the respectable and ascet1c. Is it not, in
TACT, little absurd to lay down rules
nothing? That was the opinion of few
doctors who had interested themselves
In Cells case. They paid his fine at the
police court and looked after him; they
also investigated his trick, If it could be
called a trick.
Toward the end of June, 1873, Cell died
suddenly in a house In Harley street The
cause of death was some form of heart
failure, and the jury found a verdict ac-
cOrdingly. The actual circumstances Of
the death were not disclosed at the in
quest
But one of the doctors who was pres
ent has at last told me what happened
EXHIBITED BEFORE SCIENTIFIC
MEN.
Cell had taken no stimulants that day;
he was shaky and complained that he
felt bad But he was quite willing, and
even anxious, that the test of his powers
should proceed. He was very proud of
them and quite realized that a report
favorable to their genuine character COM
ing from scientific men would be of great
value to him. His one object was to
make money out of the trick; he said that
he neither knew nor cared how he did it.
The answers to questions that had been
written by the model hand so far had
contained nothing extraordinary. They
We're answers that might have been writ
- ten by Cell himself directly, and they
even reproduced the miSSpellings which
We're habitual with him.
The test took place at o'clock in the
evening in the drawing room of the
house, on the first floor overlooking the
tors present, one Of whom was the ten
ant of the house. Cell took his place. as
usual, in the middle of the room, and a
heavy gilt leather screen which had baen
brought from the consulting room was
placed around him. The table on which
the hand and sheet of paper We're placed
was 10 or L feet distant from the screen.
TO the first question the hand wrote a
childish answer at once. Then one of
the .a,-( doctors asked: What is my age?'
TIE hand tTembled, but did not move
Cell spoke from behind the scraan and
asked for something to drink. A glass
- OF water was handed to him behind the
screen. The question was repeated ard
the hand began to write, and suddenly
stopped. Other questions were suggested,
but the hand remained absolutely mo-
tionleSS. The host turned round toward
the screen and called out: What's the
matter with yoI, Gell? Immediately the
hand began to write.
A WEIRD DENOUEMENT
ut wrote from right to- left
and IN a character which was
Which any of the '' doc Tors p Mtsn
ent was acquainted. The writing was
done with great smoothness and regu-
larity. Suddenly the hand shot over the
side of the table, fell on the floor and
broke in fragments. The host called out
again, What's the matter with you
Cell" There was no answer, and for a
moment or two there was absolute 81
lence in the room. Then one of the men
said: We had better look into this
and went up to the screen.
In attempting to pull it back the
whole thing fell over with a crash Be-
hind it, on his chair with his head back
and his jaw dropped, sat Cell, stone
dead! He was in his lifetime an ugly
man, and now, with the gas faring above
him. he looked very CHASTITY. He was
wearing, l am tod, dirty light suit and
tie Of striking colors, with an impossible
diamond in it.
THE body was quite cold and rigor
mortis had already set in. One would
have said that it had been dead at least
three hours. There was little or nothing
to be done, but the doctors discussed it
and never mentioned what they were all
thinking. That was only said when they
came down stairs afterWard. All We're
agreed on one point-RichaYd Gel must
have been dead while the hand was Still
writing. 1t can never be proved said
one of them, but I believe he died Just
before the hand reversed and wrote in
the strange character from right to left
THE writing was shown subsequently
to a well known Orientalist. As he pick
ed up the paper he said: 9Tyhy this is
Sanskrit' On looking at it more closely
he saw that this was wrong. But it is
obviously an Oriental language he said
I'll take it away and let you know in a
- day or two what it is
But he never did He was found dead
In his study with the paper before him -