The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1905-11-21
! East Indian !
Magic Explained
Some Interesting Points Relating to
the Psychic Powers Of Man,
Hypno- Telephasically I
Demonstrated. I


There are undiscovered potentIaliiies
N every human mind which only await /
tine magic word Of a positive command
to be awakened from a state Of lethargg
70 the realization of supremacy and
power. may say furthermore. that
possibility which cannot be accomplished
by the one who recognizes the unlimited
power Of the mind and directs II with ir-
reslstibie energy toward the thing de-
Many Of us encounter. and others read
Of instances of wonderful psychic abii-
ties, but even 80, do not imagine That u
made its debut without considerable ef-
fort. This may be more fully realized
when we take into consideration the ex-
tended time required for the development
Of the Eastern adopts. of which l viii
speak later, One of the most wonderful
exhibitions Of physical skill that ! have
had the pleasure Of Witnessing away from
my native soil was while touring INDIA,
some twenty years ago. In company with
a well-known American magician WHO
was In search of mystic material 70 add
to his already extensive repertoire Not
being engrossed In the subject OF psy-
chology at that time, but familiar with
tonished and. may say. amazed. at the
sight we beheId at an open-air seance
given by one of those Oriental wonders,
the yogi, or Indian fakir.
The occasion, II / remember rightly.
was the yicerOys natal day, gay OF
general festivities Upon approaching the
was particularly attracted 10 one of these
fakirE, a Wiry little fellow. who, upon
giving a shriil whistle, threw what we
supposed TO be "A rope. IN the ar Hnicn
straigh teped itself out in its upward
flight, instead Of falling TO the ground,
as one would naturally suppose and was
left dangling. II from the sky Pres
emily the fakir clapped his hands, gave
another whistle. and out jumped small
boy from somewhere, no one being within
ten or fifteen feet OF the fakir, ard he
being clothed in nothing but a small
breech clout- The boy. being IN full view
of the audience, was picked up from the
ground BY the fakir and tossed into the
air towards the hanging rope Catching
hold of the rope. the boy began 70 climb.
monkey-fashion until he was lose 10 view
in the clear sky. After lew moments
up went the fakir until he, too was
lost to view All eyes at this time were
riyeted in space. watching Tor their re-
boy, head, arms, legs, and trunk Wnicn
fell with dull thud upon the ground
and again upon looking toward the rope
We saw the fakir descending. at first
looking like a mere speck IN the heavens
but gradually becoming larger as he
neared the ground Upon his reaching
the ground the dismembered portions Of
the boy gathered themselves together,
ran towards the fakir and instantly disap-
peared, leaving the whole assembly IN
wonderment.
The next phenomena brought to our
view was the mysterious basket trick.
modified form of which may be seen upon
produces a small, fragile bamboo basket
which may be examined by the spec
tators- After thoroughly inspecting same,
the wizard places II upon the ground,
in full view of the audience. closes the
lid. opens Il again. still showing IL 10 De
perfectly empty. The lid is again closed.
| but in a moment begins to raise and a
young girl appears inside the basket
| The fakir Immediately approaches the
! basket forces the girl down with the
| lid, and upon drawing long, sharp
| pointed sword. pierces the basket on all
| sides, thus causing the girl 70 scream.
Each time the swordl is Withdrawn We
could see the blood streaming from Its
blade The grOans of the child and the
/ sight OF the blood were sickenAng N
the extreme At the last dying gasp OF
/ the child was heard, the fakIr Opened
| the basket. showing it perfectly empty,
| the child having disappeared Upon ex-
aiming the basket once more We found
/ no evidence of blood anywhere IN the
basket or upon the ground
We looked at one another in amaze
ment. My companion said 10 me. Are
we awake. or are we all asleep.
could say nothing: candidly speaking. I
| was dumbfOunded
The scene ended there. and ! have
never Witnessed anything like it since
Other instances OF these wonderful ex-
hibitions of skill have since been re-
ported by various travellers. The report
of officers of an English warship- In COM
panv with several English civil officials,
is full and complete regarding these won
derful psychological manifestations one
I Oflcer says lne ErSt time A saw eut
OF these brown fellows doing his tricks
! I'll tell you il opened my eyes as wide
as saucers- We were lying IN an Ea 81
Indian port. several miles cut, when ne
! came swimming through the surf and
| scrambled up the anchors chain, as MIN
bic as a monkey. He wore no clothing
| except a narrow cloth around his lOins,
and mad nothing else upon him but red
| cloth about yard square The nrst thing
| be did was to pick UP from the deck a
bali OF Irvine which some sailors We're
L sill nj a =
from the ball it went straight UP IN the
air. instead OF falling TO the deck in
accordance with the law OF gravitatlOn
He next took from the hand OF an oThcer
a half cocoanut. and holding this alott
caused twelve buckets of water to flow
from it, Mind you. this fellow came
| have had confederate OF any means OF
| assistance on board. because we had Just
come TO anchor after a yoyage OF several
thousand miles. Everything he used in
his tricks belonged TO the officers and
| other men on board. An audience crowd
ed close around him, and there was no
possible chance for deception. The fakir
then took a large earthen dish. poured
| into IL a gallon of water, and held il
in his left hand. the other being lifted
to his forehead. The vessel began to di-
minish in size and snrank until 1t en-
tirely disappeared Suddenly, we saw
a brown object. no larger than a grain
until the dish regained its original di-
mansions. filled with water. which he
spilled upon the deck. His last perform
ance left US so amazed that l. for one
went into a splitting headache from
thinking about it He kept up for In
spection the red cloth which he brought
with him In order to keep il from
getting wet as he swan out. he had II
tied to the back of his neck in a tight
little bundle. He passed il along and
every one examined it closely. There
was, evidently. nothing unusual about il
II was a plain piece of goods of coarse
texture After spreading il out nat upon
the deck he walked around it several
times niuttering to himself and turning
his eyes upwards. Something began to
nave beneath the cloth. Ii grew in size
az we looked. and out hoped monkey,
chatter1ng and grinning like a little saw
age. In another minute an ugly cobra
poked its venemous head from under the
edge OF the cloth and wriggled out in
plain view. A much larger object began
10 stir beneath the mysterious red cloth.
and a girl about twelve or fourteen years
old arose to her feet and stood smiling
there among us.
The looks of amaxement on the faces
OF the men in that group IS something 1
shall never forget Before any one could
stir the fakir clapped his hands, then his
creatures vanished into air Quickly fold
ing I'D his little cloth he leaped into
the sea and swan away with the grace
full easy strokes of strong swimmer.
al another time my astonishment was
even greater when l saw what is known
as the mango tree. / was present at one