The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-03-19
CHESS PLAYING MYSTERY GO.
ING no CoNEY ISLAND.
r. the amazing work Of Baron
i Kempelen Of Presburg. Hun

II Kempelen Of Presburg. Hun
gary. has been mystifying
people. Next summer II will probably
puzzle almost everybody who will take
The time to study II In preference TO
eating hot dog or looping the loop at
Coney Island. For the famous auto
matte chess PLAYER was forced to move
on from his-its last abiding place
when the last turn OF New York's
grea, Kaleidoscope obliterated the Eden
Musre. where he--it had been for al
most a generation. Wax ina ges. his.
toric relics. gaudy gimcrscks and
scientific marvels all went together
under the a~uctioneer,s hammer and the
au;omaton was sold In the collection
OF junk. No n but a Snowman
would buy II.
There have been images Of men tina.
walked and talked in more or less
lifeiike fashion. but the only machine
that ever rave a deceiving imitation OF
mental processes wss the image Of the
old Turk that came to Castle Garden
about the time that =. T. Barnum in
troduced Jenny Lind to America. The
wonder il that BaVum didn't get him.
And for almost . hundred years be-
fore that he had fooled scholars In
Europe. 1t was in 1863 that the Hun
garian nobleman completed his mas
terpiece Of mechanism and exhibited
II to public view.
The radical difference between this
and all other machines ever exhibited
before. or since. was and In that this
one appears TO think profoundly and
spontaneously. For the grave old
Turk who rat on top Of the machine
Played a mastery game Of chess
against any and all Corners. and no
n was able 10 demonstrate that the
mind Of any human being controlled
his movements. Apparently they
We're 90 used b. the unaided action OF
Elaborate machinery operating in full
View Of the audience.
Books have been written about him
without explaining tho mystery :
learned books. too. One appeared in
Paris in 1885 and one in Dresden in
1853. They both practically admit
ted the claim that the machine was
endowed With magical powers. and
this led up To an investigation of
the claim by sir David Brewster in
his celebrated Letters on Natural
Magic" But wen Sir David failed
to clear up the mystery. though he
indicated his belief that the chess
playing was actually done BY some
living person who IN some manner
directed the motions Of the Turk. As
to how this was done he did not even
offer q conjecture.
II is not. in fact surprising. tina,
he failed 10 do this. for even down
10 the las, day that the Turk played
chess in the Eden Musee no one ever
discovered just how the trick In done.
The secret has been well guarded and
it seems impossible. as tho audience
sees ii. for any deception to he prac.
tised. No other trick OF any profess
sional prest!digitator or ms sician has
ever d"hed detection so long n 80
successfully as this has done.
A. the spectator sees IL the me.
chanical chess player has all the APP
pearance Of a real automaton. Even
after a critical examination Il In prsc-
t!callv impossible 10 deny from the
evidence Of the senses that 1t works
by any other means than the ma
ChinerN which Is seen in operation
Eavesdroppers there have been who
declared that they have seen vel
known chess players conceal them
selves inside the case containing the
mechanism, hut there are objections
20 this theory,
This csse is hardly larger than
full sized coffin II may he inspected
inside and out without revealing
pace enough 10 conceal q child, much
less q grown man. The case IL sup.
ported OIL four legs. 40 that there Is
an open space between il and the
floor.
TIL" interior ~ II Is divided appar,
"utly in I'VE compartments, though
as Edgar Allan Poe discovered. there
are in reality only four. Each one ol
these is opened IN urn by the OK,
hibitor, and each IL seen plainly By the
audience to he filled with q mass oI
intricate machinery which actual,
moves when 1t IL wound up. as is don,
before each performance. There
seems to lie 10 possibility OF conceal.
ing n person inside. m there Is
apparently no connection with any
outside motive power. Yet II plays
chess "s.l enough to defeat nearly al
who play against II.
After having SUCCESSFULLY defed de.
lection in all the capitals " Europe
II was exhibited In London in 1884
it was brought to America by 4
Mr.. Mae,zei as one Of a collection OF
automata which he exhibited In va.
\ rlous cities during "A series OF years.
\ II was when IL was exhibited in New
York that II attracted Poe's attention
and he Was 50 profoundly impressed
b. the mystery of it's performance
that he set himself seriously at work
to find the solution Of II, The result,
Of his labor. while that was successful
in a way. WAS in another way only
I'm enhancement Of the mystery. and
u mys,ery II remains to-day.
In other words. Poe was able "a
demonstrate by merciless logic tina, II
was II mathematical impOssibility fol
any piece Of machinery 10 perform in.
tellec,ual work such as is involved IN
playing chess. unless IL was guided IN
liz operation by an outside lntelli.
uanoA In which pnna tha rnu~kl.> Az