Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-18


finger nail on the slate which indi-
Gates the sound of a slate pencil writ
ing on It.
Some mediums practice shap trick,
which is to arrange with q stationer
or some one located near their rooms,
who Keeps states in stock, to sell a
kind prepared by them to certain GUS
toners. For instance, a number of
states are prepared of the kind kept
by that party, with some general mes
sages and pictures which Will fit any
one. These are neatly wrapped up in
pairs and put away in a handy place.
When some person of suspicious ma
ture comes into the mediums room.
bringing with him his own slate, the
medium sits with him for a time and
then the guide" tells him the slate Is
no good and that results cannot be OBJ
tained with It,
The Nitrate Pencil
The medium then mentions that such
and such store nearby keeps a guam
tity of states that always seem to give
the best results and suggests that he
go there and purchase one. He also
suggests a certain make, and by that
token the merchant knows just what to
give him. He first shows him q pair
from stock and allows him to examine
them carefully. He then wraps them
up, but secretly exchanges one of the
prepared states for the pair purchased
The subject goes back to the medium
with them and gets beautiful message
and picture on the new slate, and is
certain they could not have been done
by mortal hand. The storekeeper is
given a neat little rake-off for his
trouble; the suspicious of the subject
have been allayed and a new lamb has
been captured for the fakers fold.
Some of the mediums use pure nitrate
of silver pencil in slate writing and the
results are first class. When a person
breathes on writing which has been
dCne with one of these the lines disap-
pear. When wet with salt water they
return again and show up plain and
clear.
l know a number of mediums who
are experts at "toe writing" That is,
they wear slippers and have the toes
of their stocking cut off. They put a
slate on the floor beneath table, sit
with the subjects hands in their own
and a written message comes on the
slate. With a bit Of pencil between
the great toe and the next, the medium
has done the writing.
If person is once taken in by these
tricks and convinced that the medium
has given him knowledge which could
not have been obtained except from a
spirit, that person is thereafter a firm
believer in the mediums powers and is
ready to accept anything he says for
gospel. He is then what is termed an
"easy mark" and is easily separated
from his money.
Spirit Flower Fraud
Flower naturalization is a pretty
phase of mediumship. This is done in
cabinets or in dark circles. The
medium is always willing to allow the
subjects to search him, and nothing is
found on his person. The lights are
shut off carefully and then beautiful
flowers with the dew on them and as
fragrant as If just plucked are handed
around to the audience. 1 have had
people tell me that flowers which they
asked for mentally had been handed
them. The production of the flowers is
dcne by very simple means. They are
purchased as fresh as possible a short
time before the seance and concealed
in such manner that the medium can
reach them without trouble. / have
known them to be concealed in a chair,
or even in the cabinet itself. If any
skeptical person wishes to search the
cabinet confederate of the medium
takes charge of the flowers and returns
them when the lights are extinguished.
This is easily done without detection
Frequently q confederate, who vehe-
mently asserts disbelief in such phe-
nomena may be allowed to sit next the
medium and hand the flowers to him,
This game of the alleged skeptic is
used in nearly all seances of every kind
with. good effect and accounts for many
of the alleged phenomena which are
said to occur under rigid test conditions.
Dupes Are Defenders
Recently a flower medium who ad-
vertised extensively of the wonders
wrought by spirits at her seances was
exposed in a thorough manner by be-
lever who became skeptical This man
set himself to watch her and find out
whether the work was straight. He one
day saw an assistant purchase the
flowers and take them direct to the
seance room and there saw them
"materialized." Yet in spite of these
proofs, of which any person can learn
by little study, many continue to be-
lieve in the wondrous tales the bogus
mediums tell OF themselves and the
marvels they perform. Many say that
some persons can materlalize flowers
and that only few are, frauds, and
they remain firm believers in their
favorite medium, who continues in his
nefarious trade and is protected by his
''easy marks" from prosecution.
The Typewriter Deception
One letter which 1 received this week
questioned me in regard to what is
known as spirit typewriting. The
writer stated she had attended a seance
at which spirit" had written on a
typewriter and one of the messages had
been given her This spirit was the
medium or one of his numerous as
sistants The messages had been writ
ten previous to the seance and were
carried by the medium In his pocket.
During the seance the typewriter is in
the cabinet and the noise of the keys
is made by one of the assistants to the
medium working them. A lot of blank
paper is shown those present first, and
when the messages are handed around
they are supposed to believe that they
are on the same paper as was first
shown them.
Another transparent fake which was
very popular in former days was spirit
telegraphy. A telegraph sounder was
placed In box and would rattle off
messages presumably from the spirit
world and none blt the medium could
a 10.