The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1911-04-05

the huge cane which changed into gor-
geous bouquet of hot-house flowers the
moment our Hindu attempted 10 chastise
his little son with it, the white mice which
Chanler produced from the pockets Of BOYS
all over the roomthesc weie wonders
specially devised for the occasion, and pro-
duced roars Of laughter from his apprecia-
tive audience. Then we had the magic
stewpot in which two pigeons, plucked and
trussed, We're placed to cook over a spirit
lamp, with the result that few minutes
later when the lid Of the pot was raised,
two live birds flew out and futtered round
the room,
Then followed the wonderful bottle which
appeared to pour forth whatever liquid the
audience might choose; the daring trick in
which little Rao apparently catches in his
teeth the bullet from the revolver fired by
his father; and the startling thought-read-
ing and "second-sight' experiments which
seemed too puzzling for applause, and left
the onlookers speeches. with aInazement.
Then the stage was cleared for the great
feature Of the evening the production Of
Chanler Raos new automaton, Khokan,
Now, ! can tell you nothing Of the secret
Of this marvellous mechanical figure, which
afterwards drew all London and made
Chanler famous Even to this day, / be-
heve, no one has really solved the mystery.
Of course, as Rao was careful to explain,
there may be quite sufficient mechanism
inside the figure to account entirely for the
movements by which Kholan is enabled to
write down his revelations The puzzle is
as to the directing intelligence which guides
his answers. Chanler himself never ap-
proaches the automaton at all during the
performance, except TO wind up the ma
chinery and to renew, from time to time,
the paper on which Khokan writes his srephes
to questions.
The figure an almost hfe-size representa-
ton Of an Indian fdkU rests upon a trans
parent glass cylinder which apparently
excludes all possibility Of outside influence.
And yet, when once Khokan has been
placed in position with the pencil in hand
and the paper on the sloping board in front
Of him, there seems to be hardly any ques-
ton or problem to which he will not furnish
ready answer.
On this occasion Chanler began by
requesting the assistance of committee
Of vigilance" " BY objecting to the Sixth
Form as too old, and the Fourth as too
young, he secured the services Of the boys Of
the Fifth Form whom he seated on a semi
circle Of chairs round the automaton on the
platform. Then, opening sort Of door in
the back Of the figure he showed them
the mass Of complicated machinery which
moved the hand, at the same time demon
strating the impossibility that any live
person could be hidden in so small a
space The door was then locked, the
automaton duly wound up, and the writing
began.
In Difference, | suppose, to the place and
occasion, the first questions answered we're
Of the nature Of mathematical problems
Khokan extracted the square root and cube
root Of series Of preposterous numbers.
Then he wrote out the value OF n to fifty
places Of decimals. Then he added up
four long columns Of figures written out by
the boys themselves. These papers we're
duly handed to DR. Sear-on, who after a
brief examination, declared, amidst deafen-
ing applause from the spectators, that the
results were all perfectly correct
Then we passed to more general expc,i-
ments, Khokan was invited to give details
ofYarious articles handed to Chanler- the
number Of boys watch, the dates Of vari-
Gus coins, the postmarks on the envelopes
Of letters. All these were furnished written
in somewhat jerky and angular hand
writing, but with absolute accuracy.
Then the boys on the platform we're
directed to join hands, one Of them grasping
the disengaged left hand Of the automaton,
while Chanler requested the figure to write
down the names Of some articles Of which
any two boys might happen to be thinking
simultaneously
There was slight pause after the ques-
ton Then Khokan' pencil was seen to be
moving rapidly A moment later Chanler
took the paper and read out what was writ
ten.
A gold-mounted fountain-pen. A valu-
able pocket knife. Three sovereigns in
gold. These articles lie hidden Khokan
can find them.
A movement Of surprise was manifest
amongst the lads on the platform as the
missing articles were thus enumerated. For
moment Rao himself appeared to be
puzzled BY what he had read. Then he
called his son to help, and between them
they wheeled off Khokan into the adjoining
classroom Little Rao came back to his
place at once. After brief absence.
Chanler also returned to the stage, and
addressed the audience.
fnu, nc SAID, that Khokan believes
that these articles-a gold-mounted foun-
tain-pen, q sportsman's pocket-knife, and
three sovereigns have been put away some