The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1901-02-15
WRITING ON THE SKIN.
Trick Of the Dave, port brothers
and Row Ii u IA Done.

The conversation Of a U.:.e g.oup ia
the hotel corridor had tmu.d On >pl.uu
alistic scauccS. and one Of t..r Iai.y WIS
reminded Of a stony "Sa.ar a. st. II. ii .
doUht. remember the ruru.c cr,u.cl d..
the Davenport hro,h2rs thirty % "a yeas
ago, he said. aud tacir flmlu, uaai
Hesitation of blood red writing on thr +
arms. | saW the same thing done Il.
WASHINGTON ut about that period una 4
circumstances that made it deeply i'm
prcssiye SpiritualiSm was nation /
craze at the time, and among the wei
known mediums at the capital was man
named Webster, who affected to be ultra
exclusive in rc@ard To the people lie ad
mitted to his Spa".os ana who was rcput-
ed to have done all sorts of raculous
things. | heard so much about the man
that my curiosity was highly excited.
and Cndeavorcd to arrange for sitting,
which was matter of considerable dill
Guilty.
AT last. however, succeeded in max
ing an appointment and called at his
house early one afternoon. was shown
into handsome parlor, and after keep
ing me waiting long enough to get my
nerves thoroughly on edge Webster him
self suddenly appeared. He was Il dark,
dramatic looking man, somewhat of the
Edwin Booth type, and without any pref
ace he seated himself by my side and
said abruptly, i have a message for you
from some one in the spirit land some
one who was very dear to YOU Who is
it" | asked. 1t is Captain John -
he replied, naming my younger brother,
who had been in the Federal army and
died about three weeks before at one of
the military hospitals. was momen-
tarly startled, but on reflection it did
not seem very wonderful that he should
have known the name.
"My brother had been well acquainted
in Washington. and very slight inquiry
when made my request for an appoint
ment would have developed the fact of
his death. This was passing through my
mind when Webster surprised me by
pulling off his coat and rolling up his shirt
sleeve. The white and muscular fore
arm he extended TO me was without 4
spot or stain. but as looked at it strange
red marks began to appear here and there
and joined themselves together in con
nected script In 4 moment my brothers
full name was written in crimson charac-
tiers. We were near a window, in broad
daylight, and, although | was considera-
bly, unnerved. | examined it closely. The
writing seemed to be formed by a con
gestion of blood directly under the sur
face Of the skin. In fact. the letters
were raised a little, like enclosing In
a few moments the characters began to
fade, and presently they had entirely dis
a..
before. The remainder of my Seunce was
not especially interesting" continued the
speaker. hut the writing incident per
picked me deeply and remained a mys-
terry for several years.
"Mcanwhile Webster. who had made a
fortune. ruined himself by gambling. took
to other designations and became a COM
mon gutter drunkard about Washington.
One night he met me at Wizards and
begged for n small loan. When refused.
he took me aside and offered to show me
how the arm writing trick was done if |
would give him dollar. | accepted, Of
course, and he took the blunt end of Il
match and scrawlcd his initials on his
wrist, pressing down hard. but not
enough to abrade the skin. For several
minutes nothing was to be seen. then
gradually the letters appeared in raised
red lines, exactly as had been the ease
with my brothers name. 1t was merely
matter of temporarily arrested circua,
ton, followed by temporary congestion.
Anybody can do it who has fairly senS-
tive skin and blunt piece of wood. He
had written the name just before entering
the parlor on the day of our seauce."-
New Orleans Times Democrat.