Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-04-18
Spiritual .Intsrvisw'' Of the Cedar
Rapids Newspaper Men .
Lengthy Affair.
Reporters Claim to Have NJ arked the
Mediums and Tell How They
Did 1t
Particulars Of the Ssance as 1t Ap.
peared to the skeptical
Journalists.

In these columns Tucsaaj; evening.
was the subject Of a page article. in
Guiding Illustrations. in Tuesday even
ing's Gazette. The paper contains
libelous portraits Of Messrs. Winans
and Norman, the mediums who figured
as the base of the article. which in part
is as follows:
A block from the principal business
street of Marshalltown, and within q
stones throw OF the magnificent coun-
W court house, whose electric lights;
cast a glare over the entire square, is.
No. 3 East State street. 1t is a two
story brick building of unpretentious
mein. the first floor berg occupied by
grocer and the upper by Professors
Winans and Normann. The building is
double, with q long hall running from
front to rear in the second story. On
the west side of the hall is small as
sembly room neatly carpeted and filed
with chairs. What this room was for
matters not, since 1t was not vislbiyi
used by the operators. In the east half
Of the upper story N'inars and Nor
mann have their living apartments.
"A huge life size portrait of Professor
lNormann, who seems to be the strong
man of the two. greets the eye Of the
visitor as soon as the opens the door.
Beneath the air. brush face the profes-
sor is smiling gently, with that desper-
ate smile sometimes found on the feat
ures of 81 portraits.
The visitor stated that he was pass
ling thru the city with a friend, had be-
come interested in the science and
would be pleased to attend the meeting
THAT night. He wished three tickets, he
said, another friend being expected in a
Illittle later from the east, provided TIE
freight pulled in on time from Montour
:. You attended these seanccs
before, have you not??' asked Winans,
|suspiciousy.
THE visitor said he had heard part
LOT the demonstration given by Max
Hoffmana few days ago.
ION catching the Jingle Of silver, how
ever the professor,s doubts fled. and he
produced three tickets of admission as
three silver dollars were dropped into
his dewy palm.
He somewhat strongly limited that
the shower prevented the hope of per-
but he would do the bestshe
could. Normann opened the meeting by
inviting the devotees into the front OF
street. room. Camp chairs had been ar
ranged in a lunch counter horseshoe
form. backs toward the street and the
|little red light above and facing the
lIchenille curtains. Winans. In the lamp
Hight still, removed his collar and tie
and sat down in a rocking chair just
back of the door opening. 1t was whis-
pered about among the faithful that the
spirit was about to move. WTinans'
hands were crossed in his lap and he
screwed his head bout to an angle of
As degrees farenheit. assuming q far
away, flighty look Then he rose and
said:
Friends, we are here tonight to see
manifestations from the spirit world.
We do not promise anything. We invite
honest skapticism but would-be inves-
|tigators, cynics and such are not want
ed here, and II they do not wish 10 cOn-
form to our rules they may now retire.
We have heretofore materialized
With the aid of 3 cornucopia Of mos
quito netting placed over the medium.
I see that there is not an equal num-
Der of ladies and gentlemen present so
that plan will have to be abandoned.
Instead the subject will be saved with
linen thread into chair and Will have
a handful of oats in each hand. 1t is
necessary that none of You try to handle
the spirits. 1t has a bad effect on them,
and they will not appear so plain to you.
T 1t also has a bad effect upon my medi-
UNI. He is not strong, anyway, and IT
is liable to cause him hemorrhage.
Please remember also that by the faith
You have in the spirit world, in that
depth Will the spirits appear to you. II
you are skspticai they VIII not disclose
themselves,
With that Winans took his seat in
the rocker, and a committee of three.
two of them from the Gazette staff,
We're requested to come forward and
see that there was no fraud about it.
Ncrmann himself sewed Wirans in the
chair, taking a stitch thru each panta-
loon leg and running the thread about
the rounds of the chair. afterward tying
| it. No one was invited to do this work
but the COMMITTEES was permitted to
now y.ou-see-it-a -now-y ou-don't' A
newspaper was then placed in Winans'
lap. his hands extended and the oatmeal
poured in until both hands We're full.
Then he closed them, placing one on top
of the other. Normann drew the che
mile curtains and the lights were out in
moment But for the sick room glow
OF the little red light at the front of the
room OF faithfuls the house would have
been pitch dark. Normann seated him
self at the left of the portiere arch, and
winding a music box threw over the
lever with click and the machine be-
gan to play and Beautiful Danube was
launched like the Lorelei to lure the
gentle spirits from their charnel house.
The piece was played and played until
the skeptics We're even almost able to
tell what kind of meat Strauss ate for
breakfast when he put on the finishing
touches. Probab bly, half an hour elapsed
before there We're any materlalizations.
After that time squeaKy-voiced per-
son whom the stout woman Of the hall
way called 'maudie, sort OF committee
on arrangements between mankind and
the spirits. broke loose. It was the voice
OF Winans, released from the chair in
which he had never been tied, cleverly
ventriloquised to that of girl OF about
years. And during the entire seance
| .Maudie' was in evidence. She was now
apologizing for the delay of the spirits
now making some Jocular remark but
the miserable grammar OF the child
4 whose Language was worse even than
the first kindergarten pupil, was no.
4 ticed. And the spirit child knew thing
or two about the slang OF the wicked ole
world, for she used 1t freely.
ssIhe first shirt to annear was wh al