Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-01-26

- 1EAA tSR $3.50
son. Some years g l gave a seance
for Booths entertainment In Philadel-
phia, and before beginning the table,
lifting trick explained, merely to inn
press him, that sometimes the spirit
force was so strong that il shattered
the furniture. No sooner had l COM
pleted the first test than the table
split open with a loud report. 1t sur
prised me as much as it impressed him,
but the furniture man told me later
that cheap furniture exposed TO heat
often did the same thing, n / had
had the table standing near the open
footlights. 1 never explained to Booth
the splitting of the table.
Private mediums do the most harm,
as they deceive their own families and
friends, there apparently being an utter
lack of motive for deception. Why a
Ia or woman should so deceive their
relatives and friends l do not know I'M
less they thereby cater TO their own
vanity.
The apparently wonderful feats Of
strength performed by such fral women
as Lulu Hurst and Annie Abbott are mere
ly applications OF well known laws Of
leverage which are extremely simple, but
which produce bewildering effects when
cleverly applied.
There is no such thing as mind read
ing. Sensational drives through crowded
streets in search Of hidden objects are
based on the natural principle that a per-
son cannot concentrate his or her mind on
the location Of a given subject, keep in mo-
ton and not Involuntary go toward 1t.
This sort of mind reading is muscle read
ing. Bishops feats were based on such
principles. L do believe, however, in tele-
pathy, as the manifestations OF 1t are so
numerous as to compel belief. But tele-
pathy is Involuntary. Aside from these in
voluntary expressions, the mind is a castle
in which no stranger may penetrate"
Mr.. Kellar was asked to explain the IA
miliar phenomenon Of four children rails
ing a heavy adult from the floor above
their heads with their finger tips without
effort, merely by breathing In unison and
concentrating their, minds on the act be-
ing performed.
81 cannot explain It," he said, land I
never saw anyone that could. 1t is a real
ity more mysterious than the ap~ocryphal
feats Of the Hindus, about which volumes
have been written"
dc you believe there is a power OF mind
over matter of which this well known feat
is a manifestation"
II don't know. l never heard a satisfac-
tory explanation Of the phenomenon"
"Can the future be told?'
Fortune telling, TO use a ~fayorite Chi
cago expression, is bunk Because we are
sometimes told things we know to be true
and the knowledge of which in possession
Of another person we canno explain, we
come 10 give fortune telling half cred
ence. Once in Manila ] was caught with
my company in a hotel during a hurricane
that took tho roof off and left us in total
Next to me was a man whom /
could not see, but who introduced him
self to me as a Mr.. Rose, VINO travelled for
an American iron foundry. He said Incl
dentally that he knew some theatrical peo-
pie then in Hougkong and told me who
they Were, the Victoria Lofts troupe.
With this company was a man who had a
somewhat sensational ~carecr-enough so,
in fact, to cause him TO change his name.
Rose told me his history, and 1t CHANGED,
when / arrived in Hongkong a little later
and met the member of this theatrical
troupe, that this particular man saw fit
to make a sighting remark concerning
my professional abilities.
Instead Of ~resenting it, I proceeded to
demonstrate to him that 1 had superhu-
man powers 1 told his past life, while In
a rake trance, and openly told him his
real name. He declared many thing l told
him no one knew but God. He forgot
about Mr.. Rose and probably many other
Americans. Unless he were to see this ex-
plantation no power could convince this
man that / was merely an ordinary Amer
A~NAAg eAAS ~ sbAo SNIA mail 1T llIdL
and if there is any less romantic stock
than the Pennsylvania German 1 don't
know 1t.
1T is true, however, that there is more
character IN the hand than in the face,
and this fact has made the fortune tellers
who read the palm very successful in tell
ing the credulous a good many true things
about themselves. People cultivate arti-
fetal expressions of face by the use Of
ynirrnrG and nfhnru;Ga. l,&
change the story told by the hand. Palm
istry, so far as it's being an index to char
acter is concerned, is almost an exact
science. L can read your true character,
but not your future-nor can any other
human being"
Keller ran away from the home of a min
lister with whom he was living In New
York to become a conjurer. h minister
had taken him TO see the ''Fakir of Ava"
an Englishman well up in his profession
forty years ago, and the performance so
appealed to the youngster that he decided
10 follow 1t. He joined the "Fakir of Ava
at Buffalo, and took his first lessons in
conjuring from him. In discussing the
mishaps that sometimes occur to the pro-
fessional wonder-worker. Kellar tells this
instance connected with his early days as
a magician's assistant:
1.-The 'Fakir of Ava used the trick of
borrowing a watch from some mar In the
audience, smashing IL to pieces, loading II
In a gun and firing II at a mirror, where,
after the shot, 1t was supposed to appear
intact. Behind the glass was a hammer
worked with a string that struck the mirror
when the shot was fired. Accidentally the
fakir tripped over the string, allowing the
hammer to fall and break the glass, leaving
only a plain black surface exposed. In
some way the mishap had to be turned into
a part of the trick. l told the fakir to go
on with another trick, and / wrote a name
on an envelope and FASTENED around to the
audience with it.
Pretending to seek the man whose name
was on the envelope, i asked several IL the
message was for them, and all replied no.
In doing this, however, / had found a very
%corpulent and important looking man who
wore the old-fashioned flap trousers and
slipped the borrowed watch into them.
Soon the owner of the watch became con-
cerned, and at my signal the fakir began
his part. He pretended that the spirit that
controlled the astral bell he used had in
dicated the location I'm the house of the
man who had the watch, and the fakir
asked him to return II. The man indi-
Gated, of course, was the corpulcnt gen
rleman into whose pocket | a slipped the
timepiece. He denied he had the watch.
The fakir insisted that the astral bell new
er lied. T~hereupon the large party arose
In his seat in the front OF the audience
faced the audience and quivering With in
dignation, exclaimed:
81 am accused OF having this watch. /
am an alderman of this city and wouldn't
1acoand IN act An polluginn with thiz