Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-21

besides the many rope ties are numerous.
but 1t need hardly be said that the me
dunn has found a way of escaping every
one Of them without detection. Many inves-
ttgatOrs not content with fastening him in
his cabinet actually hold him with their
own hands. In tests Of this character there
are many ways Of escaping the hands
Of the holders there are mediums. All
that Is required by the medium is the free
Of his right hand. and 1t does not mat
ter how closely his feet. head and left hand
are held In the usual case the medium
and sitters form a circle around table,
all joining hands by placing their extended
fingers in contact with those of their right
and left hand neighbors. Each individual
in the circle places his or her two hands on
the table, palm side down. and crosses his
own thumbs. The extended little fingers of
each hand are In contact with the little
fingers of the sitters Immediately to the
right and left and are either holding or
being held by these next neighbors. A COM
plete circle in which there Is no break Is
thus formed. If the medium attempts to
remove his finger 1t will apparently be felt
by the person holding that finger. or held
by it. But the medium easily frees his hand
in this manner:
Tw1tches During Control
He Is seized with violent witches soon
after the lights out. These are sup
posed to be due to his getting under CON
troll but their real object is to get his
hands nearer together until he has one
over the other. Then with an extra strong
spasm he jerks his right hand away alto
gether. But his right-hand neighbor feels
the finger again under his own the instant
after 1t Is withdrawn and Is satisfied. Now,
in reality, the medium has substituted the
first finger Of his left hand the moment
the right hand has been withdrawn. and
1t is this that the sitter so carefully guards
as the original little finger throughout the
remainder of the seance When the seance
Is ready to close the medium Is again
controlled and the little finger Of the
right hand is replaced with jerk. Another
clever release Is made when the medium
places his hands on his knees his right
wrist grasped by his right hand neighbor,
while the medium himself grasps his left
hand neighbours wrist Just after the light
Is turned out the medium requests the
holder on the right to remove his hand for
4 moment that he may use his handker-
chief. AS soon as he has done so he APP
parently replaces his hand under the con-
troll of his right hand sitter. but what he
does is really this: He slips forward both
his feet, crosses his left knee over the right
and requests his right hand neighbor to
again take his wrist: but he simply allows
the latter to catch his left wrist-that of the
same hand which Is holding the wrist Of
his left-hand neighbor. His right hand Is
now free and the sitter on his right grasps
a wrist which the IneuluIH leilS MIN Is the
right wrist and is satisfied. AS there is
only one knee in use the trick cannot be
discovered by either stter's feeling the
other knee, and thus inferrng that the
medium has removed one hand
Spirit Hands Are Really Feet.
There is also dodge employed by some
mediums to release the feet. The medium
and sitter sit at a table opposite each
other. and the sitter is instructed to place
his toes on the mediums and thus assure
himself that the latter's lower limbs do not
cause any phenomena to result. The me-
dunn has over his toes steel tips which fit
exactly over those of his shoes. and which
are blackened to represent glazed leather.
While the sitters toes are on those Of the
medium the latter has merely to withdraw
his own feet. leaving the false tips under
those Of the sitter. perfectly satisfied all
the while that he is accounting for the me-
diums feet. But the latter kicks of the
loose shoe from his now freed feet, which
are incased in stockings, which, like mtts,
expose the toes. and the latter are painted
to look long, like fingers, and are coated
with powdered phosphorus. These luml-
nous feet are elevated above the edge of the
table and at the sitters sides produce
startling spirit hand phenomena
Slate Writing With Magnet.
The cleverest new inventions of slate
writing mediums were also described to
me by Mr. Darlington. Among these is a
magnet held up the mediums sleeve by a
rubber band and which. while the states
are being held under the table. is used to
guide over the inside Of the bottom slate
a small point made of powdered chalk.
water glue and iron filings. This point is
placed between the sitter's own states and
the iron filings follow the magnet while
the attached chalk writes on the slate In
the re- Mar manner. One slate-Writer who