El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-02-14

the two states together, after another
has placed a piece of chalk between
the frames. A third is asked TO assist
in much mysterious work with hands
on the shoulder and so forth. Finally
the states are united by q fourth person
and, behold, there is the message and
the piece of chalk resting at the last
stroke of white. Last night the mes
sage was from John Brown, saying that
he was still marching on, or something
like that. Then the states are inspected
Immediately by anyone in the audience.
Which.
Such is the slate writing mediums
accomplishment 1t may be done in one
of two ways, by chemicals or by the
false bottom system, so common to the
art. Spiritualist Sawyer does not en-
ploy chemicals. This is certain. Then
he either employs a false bottom or
spirit assistance. The false bottom
system is done in this way: A thin
piece of slate with-when a table is
Employed thin veneer of wood glued
on one side. fits into the frame of the
first slate to be cleaned.
Before the slate is laid upon the table
a finger securely holds in place the
false bottom, the thin piece Of slate in
the frame. When the slate is placed
on the table. for the second slate to be
cleaned, the bottom drops, and when
the frame is lifted and placed against
its mate, the piece of slate SO carefully
cleaned is left on the table. but upper
most is the veneer Of wood, becoming,
as far as the eyes Of The gallery is cor
cerned, a part of the table top.
This is the way hundreds of Sc
called spiritualists are today perform
ing slate writing tests. Last night
II III .+~fw
in the left hand front box. by the
perspective thus afforded, saw very dis
tinctly writing on the slate as it was
lifted from the table before the states
were placed together. Immediately
after the slate manifestation the
assistant removed the table from the
stage, soon returning with it. In a
moment Sawyer was pounding its top
TO show that it was solid. OF course 1t
was solid. Why was it first removed
from the stage and then brought back
to be pended?
The Adding Trick.
After making preliminary remarks
about telepathy-and pronouncing the
word fncorrectly-Sawyer offered this
experiment as proof of his powers: He
placed piece of paper on one of his
trusty states and walked for the second
time down into the audience. He asked
some persons to write numbers on the
paper ending in this at the far rear of
the floor. He quickly walked TO one
of the front rows and asked a man to
add the column. In the meantime his
assistant had hung a blackboard on
the stage, standing with his back to
the audience. When the figures were
added and the result shown to the
telepathist" the assistant on the stage
slowly wrote the result of the column
of figures apparently created by so
many persons of the audience.
How To Do 1t.
This trick may be done by anybody
for Sunday evening amusement at home
in this way: Take two calling cards
and place in a column on one number
of figures. Add the result mentally and
tell ii to your assistant. Ask each
member of the family to write a figure
on the white card and this done pick
out a skeptical one to add the column.
But hand him the card with your own
figures, not the one created by the
family. He shows you the result and
your assistant knows that already.
In walking from the rear of the thea
ter last night, Sawyer held the piece of
paper on the slate downward. That is