Omaha daily bee., 1910-05-14
tuasm and Magic
Vh1mxC Xnf1 W0mf tn ~ Sealed Letters
1u1uRN 4Vu w 0uk W AAuVV M

asked to write a question on slip and
hand It i'm carefully folded and rolled into '
a tiny pellet All the pellets are placed ID
Letore the medium in little basket He
tells what one question is and then opens
the pellet to verify 1t, \ sitter acknowl'
edges II to be his Then he tells the others
one by one with never a slip or n word
missed II is very puzzling but the eN'
planatiou is easy. The medium. knows In
advance the question the confederate Will
ask He also knows his pellet by an un-
detachable fold known only To them. lie
announces this question and then picks
UP a pellet to verify It, But the pellet he
takes up and opens Is not the one written
by the confederate lie announces that
he was right. lie has thus gotten one
pellet ahead of the game and he reads
the message on pellet number two and
dc clares It TO correspond with pellet num-
Der three BY thus opening a pellet ahead
Of the one he processes to have read he
is able to see every pellet in advance OF
announcing its contents.
2 one Of the most mystfying tricks OF
the average medium Is to have the sitter
write down the names OF half dozen
people. some real some fictitious, and one
dead After the names are written they
are cut apart by the sitter, handed to the
medium, who folds the slips and places
them in basket beneath the table OF in
human skull ON top Of the table. The
sitter takes them out, one by one, and
when the name OF the departed friend
appears the medium promptly announces
the fact and tells the name
This trick is one of the most legitimate
and at the same time the most surprising
nP oil Ia
brought into play. The medium really does
divine the very thought of the sitter; but
he does it by the use of his most carefully
trained powers Of observation. He knows
that in writing the names Of persons the
sitter already has made up his mind about
the departed friend. The others no will
think about momcntarily before writing
them down. The medium watches the writ
ing operation intently. lie notices 1t may
be only an instantaneous hesitation before
each name until the real one comes and
that goes down without the slightest pause.
The medium notes which name this is in
its order on the sheet of paper, and when
the list is cut into slips and handed to him,
he gives that one an .unobserved different
fold. When the slips are all placed in the
basket and shaken up and the sitter draws
them out one by one, the medium recognizes
It. by this method of folding. Having seen
the name when folding the slip he carries
1t In his memory until the slip is produced
from the basket. only the most expert
truth seeker ever has been able to unravel
this test, and 1t has converted its thousands
to spirtualism.
Many a sitter has carried to a seance a
message in a sealed envelope and has taken
away from 1t the message undisturbed, and
has found his answer to that message wri-
| ten on the inside of the envelope itself. He
/ is at a loss to account for this by natural
means. AS a matter of fact the medium
has a half dozen ways in which he may
read the message. In some he may read 1t
| by the use of an egg tester, which often
! will show through several thicknesses OF
paper. Or, "a little alcohol and sponge Will
make an envelope temporarily transparent
The medium asCertains the questions and
then by the art of mirror, or reverse;
writing, places message on a slip of paper
, with copying pencil, The lower flap of ain
| envelope is usually easy to open. He opens
it, slips in the me sage, face to the envelope,
and by running his hand over a piece OF
paper on top of the envelope makes, the
message copy itself on the inside of the
envelope. He then withdraws his slip of
paper, seals the lower flap and returns the
\ letter 70 the sitter
In one brightly conceived method of mes
sage reading the sitter writes his questions
on tablet. He then lays it face downward
on table In this table there is a tiny
trap-door, slightly smaller than the writ
ing pad upon which the questions are
written Straightway the medium reads the
message, and otherwise describes it, and
the sitter has his last doubt removed. He
goes away absolutely convinced. The
medium simply let down the trap door
after the pad had been properly placed
over 1t, and series of reflecting glasses
made the questions visible to him, but not
to the sitter.
Sometimes the medium takes the sitter :
pellet holds 1t to his forehead and shortly
after answers the question it contains. Sub
stitution is effected here, and it may be
said that there are a hundred different
tricks which depend on clever substitution
When sitter displays tendency to divine
the tricks of the medium there is always a
convenient refuge behind the excuses that
the sitter does not lend himself to the opera a.
ton of the occult forces, that the medium
Is exhausted or one or another of a dozen
excuses
BY frederic j. HAsKIN..
romorrow-spiritualism ana Magic. vi
-RoPe-tying and Rapping.