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.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.--The Thumb Pencil Carrier.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.--The Board Facing 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.
[Illustration: Fig. 22.--The Mystery Explained.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 23.--The Foot Telegraph.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 24.--The Speaking Tube.]
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.)
[Illustration: Fig. 25.--The Head Telegraph.]
[Illustration: Fig. 26.--The Signaling Instrument.]
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.