THE BIGGEST NEWSPAPER SPOOF ON RECORD
How the great spoof first came into my mind--Hoaxing the newspaper
Press of two continents--Telepathy and thought-transference
--The incredulous reporter--I propose a drastic test--A
representative of the _Bristol Times and Mirror_ hides a stylograph
pen in an unknown quarter of the city--I am blindfolded and find
it--Amazement and enthusiasm of the people--A column report
in the newspaper--An insoluble problem--Various theories as
to how it was done--An indoors test imposed by the Editor of
the _Bath Chronicle_--Blindfolded through the streets of Bath
--Vast crowds--I am again successful--Press and public alike
bewildered--Hoaxing the Yankees--The Oakland, California,
_Tribune’s_ test--Two hundred and fifty dollars in gold hidden
--The Secretary of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce is chosen to
secrete the treasure--Again I am successful--My best free Press
“ad.”--Congratulations all round.
The idea of the “great spoof,” the most colossal thing of its kind,
I venture to assert, ever perpetrated on the Press and public of two
continents, first suggested itself to my mind in February, 1907, when I
was playing in pantomime at the Prince’s Theatre, Bristol.
I was being interviewed by a representative of the _Bristol Times and
Mirror_, and the conversation turned on the alleged telepathic feats
of the Zancigs, then at the height of their popularity. The newspaper
man opined that there must be “something in” the theory of occultism in
connection with their exhibition; that they were possessed of a sixth
sense, for example.
I hotly traversed this view of the matter, but eventually, after some
further argument, I pretended to agree that possibly telepathy, or
thought-transference, might afford a clue to the solution of the
so-called mystery. This I did for an ulterior motive of my own, and
in pursuance of a plan that was beginning to shape itself in my mind;
for I do not really believe in telepathy, thought-transference,
mind-reading--call it what you will. Presently, in the course of the
conversation, came the cue question I had been waiting for, and which I
had gradually led up to, though without appearing to do so.
“Can _you_ read a man’s thoughts?” asked the reporter.
“Yes,” I replied boldly; “given certain conditions, I can.”
The reporter sniffed incredulously. I pretended to get huffed.
“Look here!” I burst forth, as though struck by a sudden inspiration.
“In order to prove to you that I can read yours, I am willing to
submit to a test; the most drastic, almost, that it is possible to
conceive. You shall take some small article and hide it in any part of
the city you like, and I will go to where you have hidden it, and find
it. Moreover, I will allow you to blindfold me in such a manner that
it is impossible for me to see to find my way to the spot where you
have hidden the object, even if I knew where the locality was or in
which direction it lay. All I ask is that you shall walk behind me and
mentally direct me which way to go. You must fix your whole attention
on the quest, that is to say, and exert all your will-power to guide me
aright. This is all I ask. The rest is my business. There will be no
word spoken between us, no questions asked or answered, and, of course,
no personal contact. In fact, I should prefer that you remain always
at some distance behind me; say, for instance, five or six paces.”
* * * * *
The sequel to the above conversation came a week later, when on
February 5th, 1907, I found a stylograph pen which had been previously
hidden by the reporter in the axle of one of the old Russian guns on
Brandon Hill. Of course the affair was well boomed beforehand--I saw
to that--and fully three thousand people (according to the report in
the _Evening Times_ of the above date) were on the hill when I made
the discovery, while a crowd of at least two thousand watched my start
from the Prince’s Theatre, after my eyes had been tightly bandaged with
a dark blue silk handkerchief folded in ten thicknesses, and stitched
together to prevent any slipping. The width of this bandage was about
four inches, completely covering my eyes, and, in order to make
assurance doubly sure, I had each eye covered under the bandage with a
separate pad of cotton-wool, pressed well down into the sockets.
Thus blindfolded I groped and blundered my way along several streets.
Once I ran into a tramcar. Four times I fell down. But--I found the
pen. And so delighted were the crowd at my success, that they seized me
and carried me shoulder high to the Prince’s Theatre. The full report
of the affair, as published in the newspaper, occupied over a column;
and the reporter professed himself completely puzzled as to how I
accomplished the feat, as indeed doubtless he was.
Yet the whole business was a spoof from start to finish, so far,
that is to say, as regards there being any question of telepathy or
thought-transference. But it was a spoof engineered entirely by
myself, and off my own bat, so to speak. In other words, there was no
collusion, direct or indirect, between me and anybody else connected
with the affair. Nor, as a matter of fact had I the remotest idea, when
I set out on my quest, whereabouts the pen was hidden, nor indeed in
what quarter of the city. In the circumstances, therefore, I think the
reader will admit that the feat was, on the face of it, a sufficiently
marvellous one.
I was blindfolded. I was in a strange city, where the streets and
turnings I had to traverse and take were necessarily totally unfamiliar
to me. Let the reader turn the problem about in his own mind, and try
if he can reach any plausible solution of the mystery. I make bold to
say that he will fail, as the good people of Bristol failed, and as
many thousands of other people failed before whom I was presently to
give other similar exhibitions in various parts of the world.
[Illustration: PORTION OF FRONT PAGE OF THE “OAKLAND TRIBUNE” WITH
REPORT OF CARLTON’S TREASURE HUNT IN THAT CITY]
Telepathy was the explanation most generally tendered, both then and
afterwards, and I have in my possession letters from members of the
Psychical Research Society warning me against repeating the experiment
on account of the strain on my “psychic personality,” which might, so
they averred, have unlooked-for and dangerous results. That the ordeal
I voluntarily underwent was a trying, not to say nerve-racking, one was
perfectly true. I felt it mentally and physically for weeks afterwards.
Nevertheless, as I have already intimated, telepathy did not enter
into the matter at all. Exactly how the trick was worked I shall take
occasion to explain later on. Suffice it to say here that I afterwards
spoofed the Press and public on the same lines over and over again,
and never once did I fail in my quest, nor was the secret of how it was
done ever elucidated by anybody.
I have performed the feat in Italian cities, and puzzled university
professors, and before committees of professional magicians in India,
Egypt, and other Oriental and Near-Eastern countries, and these were
deceived as completely as were the shrewd, hard-headed Yankees.
Some of my hardest tests, however, have been undergone in England,
in connection with certain of the big English newspapers. In several
instances editors whom I have approached have been frankly incredulous
in the beginning; so much so, indeed, that they have at first refused
to sanction a public test under their auspices. This was the case in
connection with the _Bath Chronicle_, whereupon I offered to give a
preliminary exhibition there and then in the office before the members
of the staff.
The offer was accepted. I was blindfolded with a thick, heavy muffler,
folded in four, which was then tied tightly round my head, my eyes,
moreover, being first covered with pads of cotton-wool. This done, one
of the staff, at my suggestion, took up a piece of chalk and started
to draw a line from near where I was standing to whatever part of the
building he chose. He could, I agreed, carry the line where he pleased,
up and down stairs, into the basement, offices, machine-rooms--anywhere
he liked, in fact. This done, he was to hide some small article at some
spot near the end of the line, and I would undertake to find it. More
than this, I told him that, provided he walked behind me, concentrated
all his thoughts on the matter in hand, and willed me so to do, I would
follow exactly the chalk-line he had marked out, pacing along all its
twists and turnings, until I had groped my way to the end and found the
hidden article.
This feat I successfully accomplished, wending my way in and out among
machinery--purposely brought to a standstill for the occasion--upstairs
and downstairs, under tables and over chairs. As a result everybody was
greatly impressed, nobody had any reasonable explanation to offer, and
the editor promptly agreed to a public trial, minus, of course, the
chalk line.
Accordingly he deputed a member of his staff to hide, “in some public
place within two miles of the _Chronicle_ office, some article or
other.” Strict injunctions were given that he was to let no one see him
do it, and that he was not to tell a single person what he had hidden,
or where he had hidden it.
So impressed was the reporter with the importance of his mission, I
found out afterwards, that he waited until after dark to fulfil it, and
sallied forth from the office so stealthily, and followed so circuitous
and lonely a route, as to convince him that no one could possibly have
dogged his footsteps, or had him under observation in any shape or form.
The day following I underwent the test, and successfully located the
article he had hidden. The report of the affair in the _Bath Chronicle_
takes up about a column and a half, but as the main instances are
similar to those narrated above I forbear to quote it in its entirety.
I will, however, reproduce the concluding paragraphs, and I would
like to direct the reader’s particular attention to the words I have
italicised, as I shall have something important to say about this
particular incident when I come to elucidate the mystery.
After relating various happenings in connection with the earlier stage
of the journey, the crowd that lined the route, etc., the report
proceeds as follows:
Reaching the turning leading to the Midland Bridge, “Carlton”
crossed the road for a few yards, and then went ahead towards
the bridge. He marched on, only halting once or twice, as his
outstretched hands fumbled the side of the bridge. Crossing and
recrossing the road he went on, and the crowd was evincing the
liveliest interest in the proceedings. Arriving at the end of the
Midland Bridge Road, he turned sharply to the left, and after some
manœuvring turned down James Street.
_Here he walked into the wall on the left-hand side, his forehead
coming into contact with the stonework. This accident loosened the
bandage over “Carlton’s” eyes, which was at once readjusted._ This
done, “Carlton” made for the direction of Green Park. He took the
right-hand side of the thoroughfare, and for about twenty yards
kept close to the railings fencing the Green Park enclosure. The
explorer retraced his steps as far as the Park entrance gate, which
seemed to excite his lively interest. His hand alighting on the
handle, he opened the gate, entered the enclosure, and closely
examined with his hands the stonework on which the gate is hung.
He was observed by the crowd to stoop down, feel along the ground,
and on rising up was seen to be holding a pale blue envelope.
Recognising that the search had been successful, the crowd cheered
heartily. On opening the envelope “Carlton,” amid renewed cheers,
displayed the bunch of keys which I had late last night hidden. He
had completed his task in an hour.
As a rule the articles hidden by those who tested me were comparatively
valueless, and anyhow I was not supposed to keep possession of them
after I had found them. But at Oakland, California, I was given a
rather pleasant surprise. So cocksure was the editor of the _Tribune_
of that city that I could not do what I said I could do, under the
conditions he proposed to impose upon me, that he offered to hide two
hundred and fifty dollars, the money to be mine if I succeeded in
finding it.
Naturally, I was quite agreeable, and as the _Tribune_ took good care
to boom its “generous offer” beforehand, the crowds in the streets on
the day the test was to be performed surpassed anything I had before
experienced. The police estimated that there were between thirty and
forty thousand people present. The date was September 9th, 1911, and
the dust and the heat were awful.
The individual chosen by the _Tribune_ editor to hide the money, and to
“guide” me to it afterwards, was no less a personage than the Secretary
of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, one of the city’s wealthiest and
most prominent citizens, and a man whose integrity and _bona fides_
were, of course, quite beyond question. By agreement with the Chief of
Police, he had selected as a hiding-place for the bag of gold one of
the police telephone call-boxes, such as are an institution in most
American cities, and to which the police alone are able to obtain
access by means of their private keys.
The particular box he chose was fixed to an electric light standard
in a remote quarter of the city, and just before I left the _Tribune_
building the editor received a telephone message to the effect that the
money was still in the box where it had been hidden overnight, and that
the key had now been placed on top of the box, which was being guarded
by a couple of officers detailed for the purpose. This information,
however, was, I need hardly say, not imparted to me. In fact, I knew
nothing whatever about the money, except that it was hidden somewhere
in Oakland, and that I had got to find it.
How I succeeded is told in the following report, taken from a special
evening edition of the _Tribune_, which was selling on the streets
within a few minutes of my having accomplished my task:
In the middle of a hollow square and surrounded by thirty thousand
persons, shortly after noon to-day, at the south-east corner of
Fourteenth and Broadway, “Arthur Carlton,” the famed magician, who
is nightly performing at the Orpheum in this city, blindfolded
found a bag containing two hundred and fifty dollars in gold which
had been hidden in a telephone-box at that intersection for the
purpose of determining whether or not he was able to read the
thoughts of the man who had there cached the precious metal.
The discovery was greeted with enthusiastic cheers by the thousands
who pressed in on every side, and who were prevented from raising
the magician upon their shoulders only by a cordon of police.
The money was offered by the _Tribune_ for the purpose of
determining whether or not “Carlton” possessed the power of
reading the minds of persons, which he claimed to be able to do.
In the event of his finding the coin in the place selected for its
secretion, the two hundred and fifty dollars was to become the
property of the finder. There was a stipulation, however, that
the money was to be cached by a man of standing in the community
who should be selected by the management of the _Tribune_; that
the hiding-place was to be kept a secret by the representatives
of this paper, who had been chosen for the purpose, and that the
treasure-trove should be conducted in the light of day and in the
presence of every resident of the city of Oakland who might desire
to witness the quest.
“Carlton” agreed to every condition and complied with them in a
manner which showed him to be not only capable of mastering the
thoughts of others without physical contact with them, but at the
same time to be a consistent advocate of the science of telepathy,
of which he is to-day the most famous exponent in existence.
The achievement of this young Englishman has never been equalled in
this city. This is the view of thousands of citizens who witnessed
the accomplishment, and who still retain the heartiest appreciation
of the work in the same line of Bishop, Tyndall, and other workers
in the same field who made reputations in this country about
twenty years ago. It has been created by the fact that “Carlton”
has done something which none of those distinguished advocates of
thought-transference ever attempted. They were able to read the
minds of others, but not without being in physical contact with
those whose minds they were reading. The persons whose minds were
being interpreted were required to hold the demonstrator by the
wrist and concentrate their thoughts upon the subject which was to
be illustrated, or they were connected by wires with the operator
and expected to centre their thoughts both upon the article hidden
and the direction which had been followed in the secretion.
The following morning the paper gave up its entire front page to
recording my achievement, and then, and for several days afterwards,
scores of letters appeared from people who imagined that they had hit
upon the solution of the mystery.
As a matter of fact, as I have before intimated, neither in Oakland,
nor anywhere else where I have performed the feat, has anyone succeeded
in finding out how it was done.
Now for the explanation!