Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-01-15
I hauInatur9y
The Fays Mystify a Large
Audience at the Ode0n
Last Night
THEY PLEASE and PUZZLE
Many ouerie. Answered, and Appar-
emily With Considerable Accuracy
!, --AMarvelous, Mystifyins and
--Weird Entertainments That
Is Worth Seeing, and
Keeps the Audience
Laughing.

Keeps the Audience
Laughing.
Thaumaturgy-aw wonder worker NIL
racle-producer, marvel; such Is the
definition Of the word according to the
translation from works on ancient
Greek and Latin words and phrases,
according to the billboards announcing
the appearance of the Fays. 1t means
q mental phenomenon. The phenome-
non is being sprung upon the good peo-
ple OF Marshalitown all this week, at
the Odeon, and it is undoubtedly the
most marvellous. mystifying and weird
entertainment that has ever been wit
messed in this city. To begin with,
using the words of the old Irish Wom-
an, who was describing seance she
had attended:
.whist!" said she. 1.-THE satrits are
here"
..True to you, num-" says I, "for
smell EN-
The spirits the old woman referred
to were intoxicating ones, SO to a GER
tain extent were those used by the
Fays, but not in the same way. The
Fays are certainly very clever people
and any one who goes to see them VIII
be well entertained for the performance
is surely fascinating and entertaining
In. the extreme.
A great many people are so taken
with the Fays entertainment that they
70 to see it night after night. Some In
the audience really think that they are
In league with the powers that be,
above or beneath, and one old gentle
man went so far as to say that he was
sure that they had sold thier souls to
the evil one. Explain away the, mys-
terry II you can; and yet 1t remains that
the Fays are very clever people; for
night after night people seem to be-
come more interested and mystified.
Il !. In the Morse language according to
Rider Haggard, FEY" means gifted
with second sight, and in English,
(fay) is q fairy, who Is of course
Immortal. The Fays are an interesting
and successful admixture of these def
nitions applied. She has some kind OF
gift OF mental sight or cerebral presti-
digitation or sometf.ssa9 or other that
answers questions and tells family Sc
crets and keeps an audience laughing
and wondering how 1t all happens.
Last evening Mr.. Fay asked the audi
ence to appoint two OF their number to
come on the stage and make whatever
Investigations they deemed necessary.
A number were named and finally two
selected. They appeared to make very
thorough Investigations, examining the
floor, the rugs on 1t, and the upper part
h0f the cabinet for concealed wires, but
without any satisfactory result.
"A startling thing Mrs. Fay did was
to borrow a silk handkerchief in the
audience. This she rolled In her hands
and then dropped 1t on the floor. Re-
treating a dozen steps she said:
Now, want you to stand up!"
The effect was startling, for as she
. extended her hand the handkerchief
arose in an upright position.
Now, come to me-" said Mrs. Fay.
The handkerchief slid over the floor
in. a snakelike manner to where Mrs.
Fay stood.
The last part Of the performance was
most interesting, for in some way Mrs.
Fay pronounced or spelled the names
OF parties in the audience and told them
the questions they had written and the
answers to the same. These questions
,-3f = AZ
writer's pocket. Miss Fay seated her
self on the stage and covered with a
sheet called the names. read the ques-
tons and answered them.
This part Of the entertainment was
mystifying enough, altho most people
have seen something of the sort at one
time or another. But Mrs. Fay's re-
plies to questions written and retained
in the hand of the questioner went a
great deal farther to mystify her audi
ence. Her replies were not confined to
any one part Of the house, to any par
ticular class of people or to one line
OF questions.
s. Last night Mrs. Fay read not less
than 100 questions. and her answers
were indeed remarkable. That the
Fays possess some power or attribute
not usually possessed by mortals is a
certainty. Her marvelously correct an
swers to the questions asked her last
night were indeed amusing. For fully
an hour and a half Mrs. Fay, seated in
the center of the stage, correctly called
and answered. all sorts of questions,
ranging from the sweet thing" who
wanted to know, you know" when she
would be wed, to the business man who
was anxious over investments and
wished to apply the apparent knowl-
edge that the Fays seem to possess OF
future events to their personal gain.
Whatever Is the method used by
1.-THE Fays" to discover the questions
and give the answers 1t seems to ex-
haust Eva Fay completely. This is the
climax of the warm feature of the show,
and 1t is the readiness with which she
reads the minds of her audience that
has caused "The Fays" to be the sensa-
tion of the hour. They have amused
Instructed and entertained large audi
ences this week, and IL they are fakirs.
they are the cleverest that ever deluded
expectant mortals in this section of the
country
Tomorrow the Fays give a special
matinee for ladies and that obnoxious
biped, known as man, will be most rig