El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-05-18


gle hat, bake a cake In a SILK top
/ hat, shoot a watch out of gun ana
! pin it on the lenders coat, ana
! thousand other things 10 less surprls-
/ ing and often more myStifying " hen
acting as a mind reader he can find a
piece of money secreted in distant
i part of the city while blindfolded and
with nothing TO guide him save the ur-
( conscious twitching of the hands OF a
reputable committeeman who accOmpan-
/ les him. Or he can find any word IN d
I dictionary previously selected by the
] committee. He can, as an indian Jug
J gler, grow a mango tree from seed
/ while you wait. hide a little boy IN
basket and repeatedly run sabre
: through it to an accompaniment or
! flowing blood and agOnizing cries As
/ a hapdcuff expert he can be bound with
a half dozen pair Of handouts and
! locked in death cell and still escape
/ III double quick time
Natural Means Used
J Yet in every case the magician uses
rome but natural means, nor does ne
! pretend to have the assistance Of spirits
from another world. His tricks are
. sIeight of hand and ne frankly tells you
! that his hand is quicker than your eye.
The magician practices most ancient
! art, and many of his tricks are thou
sands of years old. In ancient times.
/ even more than now, the magician some
( times attributed his skill to his init
mate relations with supernatural pow
/ ers The fraudulent Spiritualistic me-
| dunn of today, using the arts Of leg
/ erdemain to confound and mystify the
/ credulous, is the Hneal descendant of
the mystic priests of ancient Egypt
I and the sorcerers of the middle ages
He is blood brother to the Hindu ia
/ kir and the negro voodoo doctor Of to-
( day. He has existed always and prob
| ably always will exist
PaIIadfno, Mrs. Piper and Home.
Turning from the ordinary CONNER
cial medium. whose chief habitat seems
/ to be the United States, to the com
| paratiTely few mediums who have re-
sisted the best efforts that scientific
men have neer able to bring to bear
! upon them in an effort TO discover
fraud IL is found that three names
stand out in the history. OF spiritualism
beyond all others. These three are
those of Madame Pallahino of Italy,
Mrs. Piper of the United States and D.
D. Home of England.
Home has long been dead. and al
though he was under observation for
a longer period than any other me-
dunn, not once was any trace Of fraud
| discovered In his seances. Madame
Palladino has been under the most
careful scientific investigation for
many years. and yet those who have
Investigated her, with but few exeep-
lions, assert that many of the manifes-
tations she produces cannot be ex-
planned by allegations of fraud. And
yet this assertion is made in spite OF
the fact that she has been time and
! again detected>in resorting to trickery-
Woman Puzxler.
Mrs. Piper is only a trance medium
going off into sort OF unconscious
state. and. while in the trance ostensi-
bly, calling back TO earth the spirits
Of the dead, who. Through her, speak
late Dr. HodgsOn, who contributed as
much to the exposure Of the fraud
and trickery of the commercial me-
diums as any other man in the history
OF spiritualiSm, for years studied Mrs.
Piper carefully and earnestly. and
still was unable TO say at the time of
his death whether she was, IN truth,
an impostor or miracle worker.
Madame PalladinO has been under in
vestigation for many years. Many
scientific men of Europe have been
converted to the theories off spiritual
ism through the manifestations she
has been able to produce at seances
lent herself readily to their efforts TO
demonstrate the truth or falsity Of her
Claims
In all the history Of her mediumship
she has received but one notable set
back and that was at the test seances
at Cambridge. when she was Nnvesti-
gated by Sir Oliver Lodge and other
prominent English scientists. Here
evidences of fraud we're discovered in
many instances and she was placed ac-
cordingly on the black list along with
other mediums who had resOrted 10
trickery. But in spite OF this verdict
against her. the Investigators Of con-
q ENrrr-O III,
ception of Professor Richet, of the
Sorbonne. which Colonel Roosevelt de-
clared TO be the most learned institu-
ton Of the world. have declared that
her phenomena cannot be explained on
the hypothesis of fraud
Noted Society Investigates
This led the London Society of Psy- {
chic research to reopen the case with
her A committee consisting of CARING
ton, Baggally and Fielding was ap-
pointed TO hold another series of Sc
arces with her No man could have
been better fitted for the task than |
Darlington AS an amateur conjurer
he had made life study of spiritual |
ism, and had Investigated hundreds of |
mediums. In all this time he never be-
fore had failed to discover fraud in !
the manifestations of the mediums in |
vestigated
His work Tire Physical Phenomena. |
OF Splrltualism, " which he brings |
together most comNlete expose of the !
methods of mediums demonstrates how
thoroughly posted heNs on all mat (
ters involving fraud, and shows that /
he never believed in PaNadino before 4
he came personally TO INVESTIGATE her. |
Baggally was also noted f6T his sue |
cess in discerning fraud in the meth !
ods of mediums. and as a mS9 could /
not be imposed upon. Fielding was I
also well equipped for the work Grin /
yeStigation.
PeIiadino VinC>cated
They went to Naples in the fall of 1
1908 and conducted a series of eleven I
seances with Palladino. These seances
were held in The hotel at which thev
stayed. The furnishings of the room
consisted of a small rough table. a I
number of cane seated chairs, cur
tain. another small t=ole, a bell, a
guitar, and several other small cob
jects which were placed in the SMALL
enclosure cut off from the other part
Of the room by the curtain
During the seances there was always
oh f~ /