The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-07-16
young lady near me answered the
first name, and said the question she
Wrofa Was cnrrocflu atatad Yon


wrote was correctly stated. You
may imagine my surprise, when the
next name called was my own. I
answered to it. The medium then
repeated the question written on the
paper folded in my vest pocket with
substantial correctness, and also pro-
ceeded to give the contents of the
letter, which was among my papers
at the hotel. She added that the
financial matter would cease to
trouble my father within week or
so. that his illness was by no means
serious and that by fall he would be
much better. though he would be
worse before he recovered. And
the matters turned out with him in
that way.
Never Saw Her Before
Now, l had never heard of or
seen this medium before the pre-
vious evening, nor her manager, and
have never heard of them since. l
am very positive neither CT them
have heard of me to this day. l
believe undertand the phenomenon
perfectly. The phenomena of that
kind are quite simple in themselves.
but relate to the functions of the
spiritual body rather than of the
physical body, and are quite COM
prehenslve when once the nature of
the spiritual organization and its
relation to the physical are under
stood. Incidentally. l might say
that my veracity can be established
by people in Washington, as | am
quite we'll known to Congressman
Esch, Congressman Sharp of Ohio,
and Senator LaFollette-none of
whom / believe. will accuse me of
undue gullibility."
Pathfinder Solution
In explaining the probable man
ner in which the trick was done,
the Pathfinder says:
While Mr.. Dickinson s experience
looks absolutely convincing, we
must remember that even more
wonderful things than this are done
every night by the professional
magicians. who make no CLAIM to
having any occult powers.
The hand is quicker than the
eye.' and it is one of the easiest
things in the world to deceive the
human senses. Big money can be
made by fooling people. so that there
are many professionals who devote
their life to such things and they
become adopts In trickery of every
sort they claim occult powers, for
that attracts the public, but in every
case which has been scientifically
investigated, some fraud has been
revealed.
There were various suspicious
points about the performance report
ed by Mr.. Dickinson-things which
place it in the same class as other
professional receptions. First. the
man distributed bits of blank paper
from a book in his hands," This
paper was undoubtedly prepared"
as the maglcians call it; that is, it was
waxed or fixed in advance with
chemicals or the like so that the
man was able to secure a duplicate
impression of each question, on a
thin interleaf, which he palmed"
and secretly placed in his pocket.
Not Mind Reading
We may be sure that if it was a
case of genuine mind-reading, it
would not have been necessary for
the persons in the audience to write
their questions down; the fact that
they were required to write them
down reduces the matter to ordinary
trlckery. If an occulist could read
question and name in the possession
of another person, he could also read
that persons mind directly, without
any writing you will notice
that they will not do that except in
very rare and favored cases.
Then followed a period of NOV
ing pictures" says Mr.. Dickinson.
That is the usual procedure and it is
another evidence of trickery. The
moving pictures are sandwiched in
between the first and second
parts of the undertaking" perfor-
nance in order to give the mind
reader" time to get his answers pre-
pared. The duplicate questions.
the names of the askers, are passed
to the assistant behind the scenes
who chemically or otherwise devel-
ops them and who is then ready to
appear as the medium" and give
more or less satisfactory answers.
The medium was evidently in a
condition of intense mental excite
ment." says Mr.. Dickinson. That
II IL