The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-10-19

mounted. Thus he made a pair Of clamps
which. when dipped into hot water and
partly dried. felt precisely like a pair OF
human hands IL attached TO a persons
arm. for instance. Standing behind his
subject, he grasps the latter by the upper
arms TO prove that his hands are not in
use. After so doing he substitutes the
heated false fingers for his own. being
|. careful that the counterfeit thumbs are on
TIE side nearest the subjects body The
spring in each clasp exerts about the same
pressure az the normal hand grasp. Thus
the mediums hands are free, while the sub
ject still feels confident that they are In
their original places. The medium now
writes messages upon a slate on a table
alongside. whacks the subject on the cheek,
presses a rubber glove packed with Ice
against his forehead and causes various
other spirit phenomena.
This clamp arrangement is useful also in
chain sittings when a plurality Of subjects
are grouped around a table or otherwise
arranged In a dark room Each of the me-
dium's ~neighbors distinctly feels his hands
pressure. yet tambourines are being played,
the table Is dancing a Jig and the shades
of the beloved departed are pounding their
bony knuckles against the table. How
wonderful
WARDROBE IN A WATCH.
A spirit wardrobe to be carried in a watch
case is another novelty. This idea comes
from Australia. The medium enters the
cabinet-a bare corner Of wall curtained off.
Nothing is inside. Every one in the au-
dience inspects ii. Enter Mr.. Medium.
Presently the spirits appear standing be-
fore the ca~binet-bearded men, faxen-
haired women. rosy-faced children. A hard
ened skeptic in the bald-headed row is
converted. The bewhiskered spirit Is the
deceased grandfather, uncle. father or
brother of nearly every sitter. The blonde
woman certainly fits some dead one in each
SPECTATORS family. AS for the rosy-faced
cherub. he Is known to all. The light Is
very dim, to be sure, but all the better for
the phenomenon Of recognition.
The medium enters the cabinet in his
shirt sleeves to dispel any suspicion that
he has another wardrobe tucked away in
the folds Of his coat. Indeed, he might have
worn nothing. on entrance, but a pair of
shoes and a watch and chain. But that
watch Is all important. 1t Is a flake
watch" Into the hollow case have previ-
ously been tucked away yards and yards of
silk gossamer made into a white robe. This
gossamer silk. more hlmy than the very
flmiest chiffon, is now woven at great cost
for the express purpose. II only one spook
Is to materialIze at a time only one such
garment is needed. II two or three are
to appear together the necessary robes are
tucked away in the gas Jet. which, unsus-
pected OF any sinister function, protrudes
from the wall inside the cabinet. From
this jet the gas has been cut off and
its pipes can be stuffed with gossamer
silk.
The heads of the dear departed are ex-
tracted from the hollow. metallic heels of
the mediums shoes. They are of rubber,
similar material to that from which toy
balloons are wrought. but more skillfully
painted. The whiskers and the flaxen hair
and the rosy cheeks are of rubber. In one
hand the medium holds the inflated head of
the h~axen-haired lady from which is draped
the uncertain hlmy form. In the other hand
he has the r~osy-cheeked cherub similarly
draped. over his own face is stretched the
rubber mask Of the much-bewhiskered old
man whose features change with his own.
Or he can be a fiaxen-haired lady himself.
IL his Uranium be not too big. Marvellous
is the manner in which he can make these
6ubJtCtc W tHC QtcdDBtdItn6 ait III kuC
dim light. And when the light is turned
up. there he is and the cabinet is bare.
The rubber heads are also used at table
seances being inflated at the ends of tele-
scope tubes which may be folded and re-
turned to the pocket of the medium. Cow
cred with a little phosphorus. they are
highly effective in the darkness.
The success of the table seance depends
primarily upon the battery" or ''chain,"
all sitters holding hands about the board.
This chain. of course. serves the medium a
two-fold purpose. 1t assures him that all
hands are out of mischief. and 1t deceives
his subjects into the belief that his are
likewise safely accounted for. But he de-
ponds upon prestidigitation to free at least
one OF his hands-the right, unless he be
left-handed.
II SITTERS FOOLED.
The usual chain is effected by each sitter
grasping with his left hand the right wrist
of his left-hand neishbor. Thus Is formed
q chain under the table or a battery"
across the room. The medium is somewhere
I'm the midst OF the chain to prove that he
Is guarded on each side. The chain being
completed. he makes an excuse TO with
draw his hold and blows his nose, probably,
to Danish suspicion. Then he frees his
right hand for a second, during which he
crosses his knees. Then he requests that
his right-hand neighbor resume the hold on
his wrist. But instead of giving that neigh
Dor his right wrist he offers his left. Since
the beginning Of the seance he has gradual
ly worked his left. hand until 1t grasps
the sitter on his left by the fingers rather
than by the wrist, but that ~sitter's hand
has become so by the grasp that
the gradual change has been imperceptible
But now, since his fingers are held, the
left-hand neighbor cannot feel that the
right-hand neighbor now holds the wrist of
that same left hand of the medium which
grasps his own. The sitter on each side
still feels a hand resting on the mediums
knee and feels satisfied. But the medium
has gained the freedom of his right hand
and the materializations
Another battery is formed by a chain
of hands kept on top of the table. Each
sitter, including the medium, has his two
thumbs crossed and his little fingers cross
ing those OF his two ~neighbors. The me-
dunn suffers conclusive twitchings which
betoken the approach OF the spirit power.
During these jerkings he frees his right
hand. az II by sudden accident. 1t seems
but a second that ii Is released. but In that
second he has extended the index finger of
his left hand. crossing 1t over the little