The mirror., 1914-06-25
CLEVER TRICKS
OF THE MEDIUMS
An Expose Of Some Of the Methods Used
by Spiritualistic Mediums and CIaiHoy-
ants to Fleece Innocent Dupes out Of
Their Coin.
ALL ARE RANK FAKES
The Pathfinder

According to d. p. Abbott, who
has investigated the methods OF spIr-
itua!istic mediums, fortune tellers,
clairvoyants. any person who prof
esses to read the future is an in
poster, and he Claims he can
perform any feat that any medium
in the world can perform. In his
book, Behind the Scenes with the
Mediums" Mr.. Abbott tells of the
clever work of certain medium he
visited.
When victim entered the room
of this medium he was directed to
write his question on a small piece
of paper and fold it in half three
times. The medium then took the
paper, placed it in an envelope,
and, holding the envelope to the
light, directed attention to the fold
ed paper, which was visible through
it. He then took match from his
pocket, lighted it and applied it to
the envelope and paper which he
allowed to burn to ashes in sight of
his client. 1t was certain that the
envelope had not been exchanged
for another and that it had been &C
tually burned,
The ashes were next emptied into
a bowl of water. A number of very
small states were then brought out.
One was several inches larger than
the others and had all padded edges.
These he allowed his client to ex-
anime and clean to bis own salts
faction. They were then stacked
on table, one on top of another.
with the larger slate on top.
The Slate Trick
The two then seated themselves
on opposite sides of the table, one
hand of the medium and one hand
of the other man on top of the
states. After short time the states
were removed but nothing was to
be found on any of them so they
were replaced. Then, appearing
dissatisfied with the results. the me-
dunn took up the top slate and be-
gan to write in an absent, dream
like way. Opening his eyes, he
read aloud from the slate and asked
If the question had been answered.
Upon the reply that it had not he
erased what he had written and re-
placed the slate on top of the stack.
After allowing his hand to- rest
on the slate for time he again re-
moved it but found no writing. An
examination of all the smaller states
revealed nothing, so he scattered
them all about on the table and in
structed the visitor to spread large
cloth over them. This was done
and the two sat for time with the
hands of the one over the hands of
the other. The medium then told
the other man that a message had
come and instructed him to read
what he found on the slate. The
medium stood at a distance while
the other read what answered the
question perfectly.
The Explanation
According to Mr.. Abbott's ex-
planation, the envelope in whi ch
the medium placed The question had
folded paper in it and slit in the
back. The question was slipped
from the envelope and left in the
mediums pocket when he reached
for the match later. After the en-
velope was burned he pretended to
hear someone at the door, stepped
into the hall on this pretext. read
the question and came back with an
answer in his mind.
When the large slate was picked
from the top of the stack one of the
small ones was carried along with
it. with the large slate hiding it
from the view of the victim. The
temporary absence of the small slate
was not noticed because of the
large number in the stack. The
small slate was held behind the
large one and the message actually
written on it. What he pretended
to read was not written at all; some
thing entirely foreign to the ques-
ton was repeated instead. His
movements in erasing were of course
a mere prstense. When the large
slate was replaced in the stack the
small one went with it, message
down, as it was found later.
Another medium he tells about
would sit facing her subject with
her knees between his knees and
with slate resting thereon between
them. She had the subject place