CHAPTER IV.

MIND READING AND KINDRED PHENOMENA.

Having now described the principal slate tricks which mediums use to entangle the unwary for their own ends, we come to other tricks which are used from time to time to impress the credulous with the idea that the medium is imbued with supernatural power and can perform what are, in effect, miracles. These tricks are legion, and they vary from clumsy attempts at mystification to the use of elaborate pieces of magical apparatus which call for rare mechanical genius in their design and construction. The present chapter will deal more particularly with what might be termed mind reading tricks and the reading of concealed writing. Of these tricks one of the most perplexing is that of reading sealed communications, or answering questions placed in an envelope which is well sealed.

If I were to tell you that I could read whatever was written on a card inclosed in an envelope, and that envelope not only well sealed, but also stitched or sewn through with a thread and needle or machine, and the thread sealed to the envelope also, without removing the seal, stitches, etc., you would hardly credit the assertion. It is nevertheless true, and is easily and readily accomplished by very simple means.

Prepare a sponge with alcohol. With this you rub or brush the envelope, which immediately becomes transparent as glass, thus enabling you to see through it and read what is written on the card. It takes but a few seconds for the alcohol to evaporate and leave the envelope in the same condition as before, without leaving a trace as to what or how it has done. This test was used most successfully for years by a celebrated Philadelphia medium.

We now come to a test often employed. A card is given by the medium to a skeptic with the request to write a question on it. The medium now holds the card in his hand against his forehead. Presently he hands the card back to the spectator, and on it, in writing, is found an answer to the question. The medium accomplishes the above feat by means of a little apparatus which is easily attached to the tip of the thumb. Part of it goes under the thumb nail and the lower part has a small needle point which embeds itself in the flesh. In the center of this little apparatus is a tiny piece of lead pencil. With this clever bit of mechanism the medium does the writing with the thumb of the hand holding the card. (Fig. 20.)

Four or five persons are seated around a table. They are given paper and pencil and requested to write questions, then fold their papers up and place them in their pockets. The medium will give them replies to their questions; in fact, can tell them the full text of the questions they asked, and, what is more mysterious, he has been out of the room all the time the writing has been going on. To produce this effect, you are provided with a table containing a hollow leg. Now, spread a piece of thin white silk on top of table, then on the top of that a piece of carbon, or duplicating paper, or cloth. Now, over all, a thin table cover, fastened around the edges, so it cannot be raised up and looked under by the inquisitive.

To the white piece of silk is fastened a string leading down the hollow leg, through a hole in the flooring, to the cellar or room below. Whatever writing is placed on the papers is transferred by the carbon paper to the silk below it. The medium pulls the string, down comes the silk. One corner of the silk has a mark corresponding with a certain corner of the table, and by this method not only does the medium know what is written, but who wrote it, as he has simply to see the position the writing occupies on the silk, and it will have been done by the party occupying the same position at the table. Another way is by using a pad of soft paper and hard pencils, and, after the writing, remove the pads. It will be found that the hard pencil has caused an imprint, or indenture, of the writing on the page below, not readily seen by a casual glance, but easily seen by the skilled eye of the medium.

A test sometimes offered is as follows: A card is offered to a person to write a request. It is then placed in an envelope and sealed by the medium and placed on the table sealed side up. The medium now takes a pencil and slate and writes something on it. It is given to the skeptic who wrote the question, and it is found to be an answer to his query. The medium now opens the envelope by tearing it at one end, and takes out the card containing the question and hands it to the spectator. This is another humbug, and is accomplished by exceedingly simple but bold means. It will be observed that the medium places the card in the envelope, also takes it out. The skeptic never sees it. This is the secret: The envelope, on its face, has a slit cut in it a little lower down than the opening on the other side of the envelope. This side, the face of the envelope, is never shown. The card, in being placed in the envelope, is deliberately pushed through the slit in the envelope into the medium’s hand and palmed by him and read. Of course, it is an easy matter to write some kind of a sensible answer when the question is known. The card is inserted in the envelope in the same manner as it is taken out.

Another trick is to have an answer appear written upon the inside of the body of the envelope in which is enclosed the question. The envelope is closed and sealed with sealing wax. This is accomplished without disturbing the seal. In the ordinary manufacture of an envelope, three of the flaps are stuck together with adhesive gum of far less strength than the fourth flap, which is to be moistened and closed by the user. It is generally an easy matter to insert the blade of a penknife behind the bottom flap, that is, between it and one of the end flaps, and separate them a trifle. Then, if you insert into this a wooden skewer, or hard, round-pointed stick, like a pencil, in fact, a lead pencil will do, but look out it does not leave marks behind; and by pushing this along, and giving it a rolling motion, you will separate the flaps up as far as the seal, and, if done carefully, without tearing or mutilating the envelope. Now, on a slip of paper write the answer or suitable message, but in reverse or backward writing, as the words would appear in a looking-glass, with a carbon or copying pencil. Pass this slip through the opening in the envelope, shake it into the desired position, now rub the envelope over this spot until you think the envelope has taken the impression. Then remove the slip of paper by the same way it came in, moisten and gum the opening, and the trick is done. In rubbing the envelope, it is a good plan to place a piece of paper over it to keep the envelope clean of marks, which would be liable to appear from damp or moist fingers during the rubbing.

The following is from the experiments of a German scientist. He discovered, by the use of an embryoscope, or egg-glass, that the shells of eggs were of very unequal thickness.

It occurred to him to make experiments in order to ascertain how many leaves of ordinary letter or official paper must be laid above and below a written leaf, in order to make it illegible to a highly sensitive eye in the direct sunlight. He found that after he had rested his eye in a dark room for ten or fifteen minutes, he could read a piece of writing over the mirror of the embryoscope that had been covered with eight layers of paper. He called in other observers to confirm this. The letters, however, that could be thus deciphered were written in dark ink on one side of the paper only. If four written sides were folded together, and especially if there had been crossing, it was hard to make out the drift of the writing; and there are some kinds of writing which, when folded thrice or twice, admit too little light for the purpose of decipherment.

In this way, possibly, many of the performances of “clairvoyants” may be explained. By means of the egg-glass it is, as a rule, easier to make out the contents of a letter or telegram without the slightest tampering with the envelope than it is to detect the movements of the embryo in the egg.

Suppose the writer of a billet, the contents of which are known only to himself, lets it out of his hands and loses sight of it for five minutes, it may be carried either in the direct sunlight, or into electric or magnesium light, and be read by the aid of the egg-glass. The placing of a piece of cartridge paper in the envelope, or the coloring of it black, is a means of defense at hand. In their present form, telegrams cannot be protected from perusal, unless delivered at once into the hands of the addressees.

A few tests employed by mind readers and clairvoyants, so called from their presumed ability to read other people’s minds, will, I think, prove interesting. Let us suppose the performer, as a means of proving his ability to cause his subject to read his mind from a distance, or by mental telegraphy, execute the following feat. His subject, let us say his wife, is at home. The professor is in a public place, a store, or banking house, etc. He requests some one to write a question; he hands this person a fountain pen and a pad of paper. After the person has done so, he is requested to fold the communication up, place it in an envelope and seal it, and then put it in his pocket. He is now asked to write a letter or note to the professor’s assistant, asking her to inform him what it was that he had asked on the paper inclosed in the envelope in his pocket. This note, and the pen also, for fear the lady has no writing utensils, is carried by the gentleman himself to the lady. She reads the request, and, turning the paper over, she writes the answer correctly on the other side. Sometimes, instead of the gentleman himself going with the note, a messenger boy is sent with it and the answer brought back by him. In either case the paper and pen are sent along. The pen is an ordinary fountain pen, and it is by means of it that the lady receives the desired information of what has been written. First the professor has to know what has been written. He simply says to the gentleman: “You must allow me to read the question; for, if I do not see it, how can my assistant see it, for it is through me she is enabled to know? What I see I convey to her by mental telegraphy, and thus convey the communication.” After the professor sees the communication he goes to a desk and gets an envelope, or takes one out of his pocket, and gives it to the gentleman to place his question in and seal it. While this is being done he stealthily writes on a piece of fine, thin paper an exact copy of the question. This he makes into a little pellet and places it in the little cap or end that is made to cover the point of the pen for protection. Of course it is now easy to see the method by which the question is made known to the assistant. She has simply to remove the pellet of paper, unfold it and read it. Sometimes a pad of paper is used that has cunningly concealed between two of its leaves, near the top, a piece of carbon duplicating paper. These two sheets are pasted around the edges so as to appear as one, and when the person writes a question it is duplicated on the sheet of paper following the one wherein is concealed the carbon paper. The professor has simply to tear out this sheet and inclose it in the cap of the fountain pen. The name of Foster is almost invariably coupled with any test wherein there is reading of sealed letters, pellets, etc., just the same as Slade’s is connected with the slate writing tests.

Foster was an inveterate smoker, anywhere and everywhere, especially at his séance, and it was all for a purpose. The visitor who desired a sitting with Foster was asked to write a few questions on small pieces of paper, fold them up separately, and press them into small balls or pellets. Foster would pick one of these up and hold it to his head, as if to try and penetrate it. Apparently failing to do so, he would place it back on the table. This he would repeat with others. Finally, he hands one of them to the visitor, after holding it against his forehead, requesting him to hold it himself. Foster then took a pencil and paper, and scribbled something on it, and then bared one of his arms, and showed it devoid of any preparation. He then rubbed this arm with his hand, and, on removing it, a name was seen. On reading what Foster scribbled on the paper, the visitor finds an answer to one of his questions, and the name in blood red on Foster’s arm is found to be the name of a person addressed by the visitor in the note. Foster had a pellet of paper of his own concealed between his finger tips, and, at some convenient moment, instead of placing back on the table one of the pellets he has just taken up, he substitutes one of his own, keeping the bona fide one in his hand, which he lowers into his lap and unfolds. Holding it in the palm of his hand, he strikes a match and lights his cigar, and while doing so he is deliberately reading the note, which he afterward crumples into a ball and conceals in his hand. He now takes up another pellet and tries to see through it by holding it to his forehead. He, however, fails, and gives it to the visitor to hold, really exchanging it for the one he has just read. He now has his own and the visitor has his. He now allows his hands to lie carelessly in his lap, and, while conversing with the visitor, he pushes one of his coat sleeves up a short distance, and, with a sharp-pointed stick, writes the desired name on his arm, pressing down hard. In a second or two he writes the answer to the visitor’s question, minus the name he has just placed on his arm. He now shows his arm bare, and rubs the spot where he has written, with his fingers slightly moistened, whereupon the name appears in bright pink writing. If it is desired to make it disappear, hold the hand above the head a few seconds. To make it appear again, rub once more with the fingers.

Here is another trick which apparently calls for mind reading. The performer’s assistant is sent out of the room. Now, a sum of figures in addition is placed on the slate by a spectator. When he has concluded, the performer takes the chalk and draws a line under the numbers, turns the slate downward on a table, so nothing can be seen, places chalk on the slate, and retires into a corner of the room. His assistant is now called into the room, steps up to the table and seizes the chalk and marks down the correct answer to the sum of figures which is on the other side. Like all the tricks that appear the most incomprehensible, this is one of the most simple. The performer stands watching the person as he places down the numbers on the slate, he mentally adds them, and, with his hands behind his back or under his coat-tails, with a lead pencil in one hand, he writes on a piece of chalk held in the other hand the correct answer. It is needless to say that it is this piece of chalk he places on the slate, and not the one used. The chalk is scraped or filed flat a trifle lengthwise. This is to keep it from rolling on the slate, thus avoiding accidental exposure of the writing on it, and also give it a flat surface to write on.

Here is an effect I produced as a stage illusion some years ago, somewhat resembling a spiritualistic effect. Hanging up against the scene, at the rear of the stage, was a large blackboard. On this blackboard writing appeared gradually, done in chalk, as though some unseen hand were actually at work. The blackboard was really nothing but fine wire slate-colored netting. There was a large hole cut in the scene immediately behind the blackboard. This hole was completely boxed in by curtains or woodwork, so as to make it as dark as night. A man was in this space, and he was dressed in a complete suit of black; also a black mask and gloves. He was provided with a pot of white paint, composed of whiting, water and glue, and a brush. Now, the man can see through this netting, but the spectators are unable to see him behind this screen of netting. With the brush and paint he traces on the wire netting whatever is desired. The paint comes through the meshes of the netting, and, adhering to it, makes a very good imitation of a chalk mark. It should be remembered the person doing the writing does so backward; so it will be in correct position when seen by the audience.

The following is somewhat in the same line, and is called the “Educated Fly.” When the curtain rises a large mirror, in a gilt frame, is seen resting against an easel. (Fig. 21.) The magician takes the mirror in its frame from the easel and rests it on the floor, showing both sides to the audience. He also removes the glass from the frame, and rests the glass against the easel while he exhibits the frame to the audience. The frame has a solid wooden back. The mirror is about four and a half feet wide and three feet high, and after it has been inspected, the magician replaces it in the frame. He now takes a piece of soap and marks the glass off into twenty-eight even squares, which he numbers from one to twenty-six, and letters from A to Z; one of the remaining squares is zero, and the other is left, as the prestidigitateur says, for a starting point. He now takes a large fly from the table and places it on a little shelf which projects from the empty square. He then asks that a letter or number be called. As soon as this is done, the fly is seen to travel across the mirror and stop at the desired square. This is repeated time and time again, the fly every time returning to the starting point.

The reason for having the mirror separate from its frame, and exhibiting it separately, is this: It will be remembered that the mirror is rested against the easel as the frame is shown, and that this frame has a wooden back. In addition to the wooden back, it has a cloth back, which is firmly fastened to the frame, and then comes the wooden back. This back is hinged to the frame at the bottom. Now, when the frame is placed on the easel and the mirror rested on the floor, the space behind the easel from the floor up is concealed by the mirror, and this gives an opportunity for a boy to get through a trap in the floor and pull down the back of the frame, to make a shelf on which he sits. (Fig. 22.) Of course, the cloth back is still in the frame; so the boy cannot be seen. The mirror is taken up and replaced in the frame; then it is marked off into squares, as already mentioned. The black cloth is previously marked off into squares which exactly duplicate those which have been made on the face of the mirror. The fly is made of cork, with an iron core which is set flat against the glass. The boy behind the mirror is provided with a strong electro-magnet attached to a wire running down the leg of the easel and under the stage, where it is connected to a powerful battery. He brings up the magnet and several feet of wire with him while the mirror is resting on the stage. When the boy hears the numbers called, he applies his magnet to the corner where the fly is resting on the little shelf, and the magnetic attraction, working through the glass, draws it successively over the squares until it comes to the desired spot, which the boy can see on his chart; and, of course, the proper letter or figure is indicated where the fly stops.

The most sphinx-like problem ever presented to the public for solution was the second-sight mystery. There have been many exposés of “mental magic,” and some of the best of them are described in “Magic: Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography.”

We have now to concern ourselves with “mental magic” where the results are obtained by clever tricks. There have appeared, from time to time, before the public, individuals who generally work in couples, termed “operators” and “subjects,” who have given performances which were termed mental wonders, silent second-sight, etc. The operator invariably tries to impose on the public with the idea that he possesses some mysterious power over the “subject” by which he is enabled to communicate information to her by his will power over her mind, without a word being spoken. There are, of course, various methods of performing this trick, as by a code of predetermined signals in which sentences like the following are used: “Say the number. Well? Speak out. Say what it is.” But these methods are not comparable with the mechanical means which we are about to describe.

The “operator,” after informing the audience of the wonderful powers of divination which the subject possesses, introduces the “subject,” who is invariably a lady. She is seated on a chair near the front of the stage, in plain view of the audience. Her eyes are heavily bandaged, so she cannot see. A committee is invited to go upon the stage to see that the lady has had her eyes properly blindfolded, and also, ostensibly, to help the operator. A large blackboard is placed at one side of the stage, behind the lady. One of the committee is requested to step to this blackboard and write on it, with chalk, some figures, usually up to four or more decimal places; and after he has done so he resumes his seat. The lady immediately appears to add up the number mentally, calling out the numbers and giving the results of the addition. Each member of the committee is invited to step to the blackboard and touch a figure. No sooner has he done so than the lady calls out the number. Other tests of a similar nature are given, such as the extraction of square and cube root, etc. They all prove that the lady has a thorough knowledge of the numbers on the blackboard and the relative position which they occupy. It is, of course, proved beyond a doubt that the lady cannot see the blackboard. The question then arises, How does she obtain the information? There are two methods of performing this trick. In either case her information is obtained from a confederate, who is generally concealed under the stage, who has the blackboard in sight, and who transmits to the lady the desired information.

In one method the lady has a hole, one and a half inches in diameter, cut out of the sole of one of her slippers. (Fig. 23.) She places this foot over a hole in the stage, through which a small piston is worked pneumatically by the assistant. The piston is connected with a rubber tube, which runs to where the assistant is concealed. The assistant looks at the blackboard and manipulates the bulb, thus causing the piston rod to strike the sole of the foot, giving signals which can be readily understood by the subject. Robert Heller used a system somewhat similar, only an electro-magnet was used instead of the pneumatic piston.

Another and bolder method of conveying information is the speaking tube. In this case a Vienna bent-wood chair is used. The chair is specially prepared for the trick. One leg of the chair is hollow, and the air passage is continued to the very top. The lady usually has a long braid of hair hanging down her back, and, if not blessed by nature with this hirsute adornment, she wears a wig. In either case, concealed in the hair is a rubber tube, one end being close to the ear and the other hanging down with the braid, so that when the lady is seated on the chair the operator can easily connect it with the tube in the chair. (Fig. 24.)

There is still a third method, which is so absurdly simple that it deceives even a very knowing committee. The committee places a chair on any part of the stage they may see fit, and the subject seats herself and is blindfolded as before. A thread runs from the side of the subject through a small ring attached to a chandelier overhead. (Fig. 25.) One end of this thread is held by an assistant and the other end is fastened to a hammer working on a pivot secured to a metal plate concealed in the hair of the lady, her hair being dressed high. When she walks on the stage, the assistant pulls in the slack of the thread, and when she is seated on the chair, the assistant pulls the thread taut, so that he is able to communicate signals to her by a very slight motion of the thread, which causes the hammer to work on the plate, which is resting very close to the skull, so that the signals are easily felt at every stroke of the hammer. (Fig. 26.) Predetermined signals may be used, or the regular Morse alphabet, as in telegraphing. There are a number of other ways of convey conveying information, but the three methods we have described are perhaps the best.