Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-14
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

cult sciences In Washington
BY THOMAS II. HENRY.
The majority of Westinghouse 70
practitioners of the occult thrive on q
mixture of f1attery and superstition. ~
Probably rs per cent of human beings
have trace of superstition and 99.9i
FER cent secret liking for flattery. & |
It is difficult to look with much dis
favor on anybody, occultist or other
wise, who assures one that he is a
handsome and clever fellow, misunder-
stood by the world and possessed of
innate powers which are bound sooner
or later to bring him to the front.
That, after all, is his own opinion,
although he may hesitate to confess it
even to himself.
Even the bareSt pretense that 1t is
the Judgment of the infinite adds to the
pleasure with which the customer re-
ceiveS this fattery. He is loath to dis
pute the infinite when it agrees with
his own Utmost thoughts. ,.
Throws Out Chest.
The fortune tellers build up much OF
their art on this simple attribute of
human nature. Their predictions nearly
always are pleasant The patron has a
Subconscious urge to throw out his
chest when he leaves and to lord it over
the office boy for the rest of the day.
The nature of their belief in them
selves and OF. the confidence they in
spire in others VARIES considerably.
Some obviously operate with their
tongues in their cheeks. They recog-
nize that many of their patrons are
there for lark and proceed to give
them their moneys worth. 1t is o fair
exchange. Some work with an unques-
tionable sincerity. They believe in
themselves, and, largely because of this
sincerity, are able to make others be-
lieve In them. Occasionally they say
startling things. bringing out details
from the past life of the patron which
serve to put the stamp of authority on
their forecasts of the future.
It probably would be impossible to
analyze the results of few of them
without long and exhaustive inveStl-
CATION In which they would cooperate
which obviously Is out of the ques-
ton. The majority of those who make
occasional correct readings of the past,
however offer no very great mystery.
They say they are psychic" Those
who are sincere in the belief. have diff
Guilty explaining what psychic means.
A Star representative, who visited
selected list of these practitioners of
the occult, found nothing which could
not be explained on simple basis.
He once knew country editor of a
Massachusetts, newspaper who was
psychic" The man would start
twitching nervously at his desk about
midnight, run his fingers through his
tousled gray hair, and suddenly grab a
telephone and put through a long
distance call for some correspondent 80
or 40 miles away.
Mans Predictions .Uncanny.
There's been hold-up out on the
Barre road tonight" he would Snarl
over the wire. ':Why amt we got some
thing on it? Get up there and find out
about it."
Now the strange fact was that the
hold-up, or whatever other event he
described, often actually had taken
place or was about to take place, but
the only person who knew about 1t was
this man In the newspaper office 40
miles away.
The mans ability to sense, or even
predict, PARKWAY events was uncanny.
He himself didn't know exactly how he
did it. He just had a feeling. Veter-
ans in the Office. some of whom had
been associated with him for almost
half a century, understood it better,
however, and could offer an explana-
ton devoid of anything psychic :"
The man was well-read. he had an ex-
traordinarily retentive memory, and he
was close observer of minute details.
He had started working for that news
paper when a boy of Is. All his life he
had travelled about in the county look
ing for news.
"That man." said one Of his associ-
ates, has an exact picture in his mind
OF every clump of bushes in Worcester
County" This was an exaggeration,
but it appropriated the truth Goa
ture of the roads, villages. farmhouses,
streams. local officials. hills and pas
lures within a radius of so miles.
These details would become extraor-
dinarily vivid to him under the stress
of the 'deadline" when all his copy
must be on the hook When he saw
this deadline approaching. with no good
stories on hand, he would become nerv-
GUS and start to build them in his own
mind, aided by his extraordinary IA
miliarity with the details Of the field
he was covering He had a sense of
the tendency of like events to repeat
themselves. The hold-up he would de-
scribe to the country correspondent
probably was no more than a recon-
struction Of like event which had
taken place in the same locality, on Just
such night years ago.
Reputed as Psychic"
Occasionally his phantasies and the
facts fitted perfectly. Thus he gained
his reputation as "psychic"-a repu-
tation which he would have been the
first to disclaim. The man would have
been marvellous fortune teller-and
an even more marvellous detective. He
often failed-but the instances of his
success were outstanding. His old as
Sociates diagnosed him correctly. His
psychic power consisted of sharp eyes
and ears, wide general reading. an ex-
tremely acute memory, and far great
er knowledge than that of anybody else
In the world of one subject.
None Of the Washington fortune tell
ers seen by The Star representative
had the same degree Of ability to fore
tell the future as this man. But appar-
emily their psychic" power Is made up
OF the same elements. Sherlock Holmes,
1t will be remembered, made seemingly
OF the past due to the same qualities.
The fortune tellers have an extraor-
binary knowledge of what might be
called "the average life" There Is
general framework of events which Is
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