The Irish standard., 1908-08-29
CRAFTS OF MEDIUMS
Some of the Frauds so Success
fully Practiced
In This Country by Self-Styled
Fortune Tellers.

Il suppose l have one Of the queer
est fads OH EARTH said the man on the
hotel sofa. My passion and hobby is
mediums. clairvoyants. psychic card
readers and others OF that ilk. Not
that I'm spiritualist The graft side
of the medium business is what inter-
ests me-" says a writer in the New
York Sun.
There are poor pickings for me in
New York now. because the police
have been interfering with the medium
business. Still, I can find a cheap lit
tie test circle here almost any time,
and I even know a place, just off the
Tenderloin. where you can see real
ghosts develop in full view of the au-
dience. To see it in full blast. though.
you must go to Boston, or. better. to
the far Western cities.
Most people suppose that mediums
all profess to summon up real ghosts
that, in the language Of the profession,
they materialize. That is not true. To
one materializing medium in these
diums.
The test medium holds forth usual
ly in cheap hall. The admission is
low, for her patrons are poor. Usu-
ally it runs from 10 to IS cents.
She starts off with hymn. Then
she borrows an article from each per-
son in the congregation and begins her
tests
For example. she'll hold up a glove
and ask who owns 1t. When the owner
has spoken up she'll hold the glove to
her forehead and say something like
this:
"I hear the name John. Have you
a John in the spirit world?'
IF the owner of the glove has a
John among the departed, the medium
sends some beautiful communications,
and then tries to draw him out. With
a cleverness born of experience she
picGeS together MS oCCupdlloII, HIS
troubles. and his wants, and tells him
all about them.
Hes paralyzed with establishment,
and so are the rest of the circle; for
people who go to seances are not criti-
cal. and they go with a great desire to
believe
One of the hardest things for test
medium to do is to call at once the
name Of the dear departed in the spirit
realm. If she starts off with John,
and runs through Jane. and Katherine.
and Lily, and none of them hits the
mark, then the most credulous seeker
after spirits is inclined to pronounce
her a fake. On the other hand, if she
hits at once the name Of the very
spirit which the speaker most desires,
she's pronounced a great success.
Their best mediums of getting at
names is a sort of Mediums Union, an
unorganized society for mutual help
which exists in every medium ridden
town.
Mime. Fake, the medium. has new
visitor. fat woman in black, We'll
say. who wears her front hair in, gray
frizzes and has a slight limp. Nine.
Fake tries out half dozen names on
her. Perhaps she gets down to the
sixth before she finds that Robert fits
some dead relative of the old lady in
black.
Before Mrs. Fake gets through
she's learned further that the old lady
has dead sister named Annie The
old lady, remembering how long Mrs
Fake has been in getting those names,
goes away declaring that she's no good.
Mrs Fake knows that. and knows
that the old lady won't come here
again, but that she'll surely go to an
other medium. for when person is
bitten by the spiritualistic bug he usu-
ally keeps going to mediums until he
gets satisfaction.
$50 Mrs. Fake notifies every medium
in her crowd. giving a close descrip-
tion Of the old lady, together with the
names Of her spirit friends. and any
other accurate information which she
has been able to drag out. Next Sun
day night. when an old lady in black,
with frizzes and limp. shows up at
the Home of Truth Circle, conducted
by Mrs. Soakem, the second sight Won
der, the old lady is told right off the
bat that Robert wants her, and a beau.
tiful spirit named Annie is over her
! shoulder calling her sister.
"she goes away firmly convinced
that Mrs Soakem is wonder and that
immortality is proved. In a Western
city I've seen printed blanks used to
distribute such information among me-
| diums..
That isn't their only method of get
ting names. though. Some of them are