PART II_Telepathy, Genuine and Fraudulent

FRAUDULENT TELEPATHY

I now come to another class of so-called thought transference--that

exhibited at public entertainments in which genuine telepathy plays no

part.

On the 25th November 1912 Miss Isabel Newton, the Secretary of the

Society for Psychical Research, and I attended the demonstration given

by Yoga [_sic_] Rama of his alleged occult powers at the "Little

Theatre," Adelphi.

Accounts had appeared in the public press of a previous private

performance given by this so-called Abyssinian Mystic, at which Sir John

Simon, the Solicitor-General, Mr. Bernard Shaw, and Mr. Anthony Hope had

assisted, and it was stated that Yoga Rama had been able to read the

thoughts of the Solicitor-General by supernormal means.

In order to demonstrate, in a public manner, the alleged occult power of

this "psychic," a stage performance was given at the "Little Theatre" on

the afternoon of the above-mentioned date. A large audience was present,

and their expectations of witnessing manifestations of an occult nature

were raised by the contents of the programme, wherein it appeared that

Yoga Rama was to give a demonstration of "The power of mind over mind"

by means of--

"1. Clairaudience.

"2. The possibility of the interpretation of vibrations

without the aid of sound.

"3. Psychometry by sense of touch.

"4. Telepathy. The disclosure of names thought of by persons

in the audience.

"5. Disclosure of personalities by subconscious means.

"6. Revelations by a circumstantial chain of mind pictures.

"7. Various demonstrations of ideas silently conveyed to the

spectator by suggestion.

"8. Descriptions of cities and places by mind pictures.

"9. Messages."

Before Yoga Rama made his appearance a gentleman (a Mr. Fletcher)

delivered a short speech from the stage. He stated that the "Yoga" had

acquired his occult powers by contemplation after many years' study. He

went on to say that in the Eastern World the occult powers of the mind

had been more studied than in the Western World, but at the present day

the Western World looked upon these powers with much less prejudice than

formerly.

After Mr. Fletcher had retired, Yoga Rama made his appearance from

between the centre of two curtains which hung at the back of the stage.

He was attired in a long loose black gown and wore a large crimson

turban. He advanced to the front of the stage and made a speech which

had a smattering of a theosophical discourse. He described four kinds of

Yogi. The first kind, he said, was frequently met in India. These Yogi

worked on the physical plane and produced effects resembling the feats

of a conjurer. The second kind worked in the mental plane (to this

class he implied that he belonged). The third dealt with the spiritual

problems of life. The fourth was absorbed in meditation.

He continued his speech by saying that he required the sympathy of the

persons with whom he would experiment. If they mentally opposed him he

could do nothing, but if their minds were sympathetic and not

antagonistic he would succeed.

The speeches of Mr. Fletcher and of Yoga Rama still further raised the

expectations of the audience that they were about to witness that

afternoon a demonstration of the power of mind over mind by supernormal

means.

Yoga Rama, after the conclusion of his speech, called for thirty persons

(ladies and gentlemen) to come upon the stage and form a Committee. A

gentleman and I first answered the call. We were soon followed by a rush

of ladies and gentlemen who rather inconveniently filled the stage, but

this did not interfere with the performance, as the majority of the

ladies and gentlemen kept at the back of the stage while Yoga Rama

carried out his experiments with a limited number of the members of the

Committee. In order to be more at his ease, Yoga Rama removed his

turban. I placed it under a table which stood on the stage. I then had a

good look at him. I found he was a black man with short crisp curly

hair. From his appearance and the fluency with which he speaks English,

I came to the conclusion that he is not an Abyssinian, but an American

or West Indian negro.

Amongst the members of the Committee were Mr. Zancig and Mr. William

Marriott. Both of these gentlemen I have had the pleasure of knowing for

some years. They, together with Mr. Charles Guttwoch (a friend of Mr.

Marriott), three or four other gentlemen, and myself, were the only

members of the Committee who actively endeavoured to ascertain whether

Yoga Rama's experiments depended for their success on trickery or on

other causes. The other members of the Committee remained passive

spectators. As regards the lady members with whom Yoga Rama tried a few

experiments, they declared themselves, at the conclusion of the

performance, to be believers in his alleged supernormal claims.

Before the experiments commenced, Yoga Rama asked that some one should

blindfold him with some articles which lay on a small table in the

centre of the stage. These consisted of two pieces of folded paper just

large enough to cover the eyebrows and eyes, a piece of porous plaster

perforated with holes, a thin white cotton handkerchief, two gloves, and

a long red silk scarf. Mr. Marriott offered to blindfold him. I stood

close to him while this was being done. Mr. Marriott placed the pieces

of paper first on Yoga Rama's eyes, then the porous plaster, then the

cotton handkerchief, after this the two gloves, and finally the red

scarf which he wound several times round his head. The tip of Yoga

Rama's nose could be seen under the plaster, the white cotton

handkerchief, and the scarf. Yoga Rama, who remained standing, then

requested some one to sit on a chair in front of him, to think of a

name, then to hold his left hand (_i.e._ the sitter's left hand) in

front of the sitter's face, and to trace on the palm of the left hand

with the forefinger of the right the first letter of the name thought

of. The sitter was then asked to give taps on his left hand or make

movements in the air with his right hand corresponding to the number of

letters of which the name thought of consisted. When Yoga Rama suggested

(as he subsequently did) that the name of a flower or of a city should

be thought of, he requested that the same procedure of tracing the first

letter of the name and giving a number of taps or making movements with

the right hand corresponding to the number of letters should be

followed, but when he suggested that a play of Shakespeare should be

thought of he only asked that the first one or two letters of the title

should be traced on the palm of the left hand of the sitter with the

forefinger of the other hand. He did not then ask that taps or movements

of the right hand should be given or made. About an hour and a half of

the first part of the performance was taken up by experiments of the

above nature. These were varied only by one experiment of telling the

title of a hymn which a lady thought of, one of reading the thoughts of

a young lady, and one experiment with playing cards.

Yoga Rama then made a long speech about happiness depending on our own

selves and our being what we willed ourselves to be. He asserted that he

had overcome in himself the passion of anger. He laboured these points

so much and repeated himself so often that it became manifest he was

making the speech solely with the object of filling up the time.

The patience of the Acting Committee became exhausted, and one of the

members advanced to the front of the stage, interrupted Yoga Rama, and,

appealing to the audience, said he had no doubt but that he had their

support when he asserted that they had come to the theatre not to hear

speeches but to witness experiments. Yoga Rama brought his speech

abruptly to a close after saying he would now demonstrate the power he

had acquired of controlling the functions of his body and of rendering

it insensible to pain. To show the control over his body he asked two

members of the Committee to stand by his side and to look at their

watches and note the length of time he was able to cease from breathing.

To show his insensibility to pain he said he would stand barefooted on a

board studded with long nails, and also stand on broken glass.

I have given an account of the nature of the performance with which Yoga

Rama favoured us. I will now proceed to describe the experiments more in

detail and to comment upon them.

Mr. Marriott was the first person to sit on the chair in front of Yoga

Rama. He was told to hold his left hand in front of his face, to trace

the first letter of the name thought of on the palm of his left hand

with the forefinger of the right, and give the taps or make the

movements in the air with his right hand in the manner already

described. Mr. Marriott, instead of holding his left hand up, held his

right hand. Yoga Rama immediately said, "Not your right hand but your

left." This was a suspicious circumstance, as it indicated that Yoga

Rama could see notwithstanding he was blindfolded. Now conjurers know

that blindfolding in the manner above described is not a precaution

against seeing, as at the time of blindfolding what the conjurer does is

to shut his eyes tightly and bring his eyebrows well down. When the

blindfolding is finished, the conjurer opens his eyes and draws his

eyebrows up; the bandages will then be displaced and drawn up from their

original position and he will be able to see under the bandages through

the spaces between the bridge of his nose and his cheeks. This, in the

joint opinion of Mr. Zancig, Mr. Marriott, and myself, is what Yoga Rama

did, and our opinion was confirmed when we examined the bandages at the

time they were removed from the performer's eyes, as will be described

later.

Yoga Rama's method of telling the name thought of is to watch the

movement of the finger of the sitter's right hand while he traces the

first letter of the name on the palm of the left. This indicates to him

the first letter of the name, then he counts the number of taps or

movements given by the sitter's right hand. Thus, if the first letter

were W and the number of taps or movements seven, the name in all

likelihood would be William, or, if the first letter were W and the

number of taps or movements six, the name would probably be Walter.

Ordinary Christian names are limited in number, and Yoga Rama took care

to know beforehand whether the sitter were thinking of a female name or

of a male name. It was therefore not a difficult matter for him to hit

upon the name. Moreover, when he was in doubt, as was often the case, he

not only asked that the first letter should be traced, but the second

and the third and the fourth, etc. Before hazarding a guess Yoga Rama

often asked whether the second or third or fourth, etc., letter of the

name were a letter that he mentioned. Thus, if he were not quite sure

that W had been traced, but he had noticed that seven taps or movements

had been given, he would say is not the fourth letter of the name L. If

the sitter answered in the affirmative, he would be pretty sure that

William was the name, but if the sitter's answer were a negative one,

Yoga Rama asked that the letters should be traced again and the taps,

etc., repeated. Yoga Rama resorted to the above-described method when he

asked the sitter to think of the name of a flower or of a city, but he

only tried one or two experiments with the names of flowers or cities,

the reason being, obviously, that as the names of flowers or cities are

not so limited in number as Christian names, he fought shy of them. The

reason he gave for not being able to guess readily the name of a flower

was, he said, that he was not a botanist.

As regards the titles of Shakespeare's plays he only asked that one or

two of the first letters of the title should be traced on the left hand,

and did not require any taps or movements of the right hand. Any person

acquainted with Shakespeare's plays and knowing the first one or two

letters of the title could have guessed with equal facility which play

was in the mind of the sitter. After getting the name of the play, Yoga

Rama asked the sitter to think of a personage in that play. He only

requested that this should be done once or twice, and was not successful

in getting the name of the personage at the first guess, but only after

making two or three guesses.

In the experiment of telling the title of a hymn which a lady had in her

mind, Yoga Rama resorted to the same method of asking her to trace the

first letter of the title of the hymn on the palm of her left hand. She

traced the letter L, and he hazarded the guess that it was "Lead,

kindly light," which proved to be correct. Apparently the most

successful experiments were one carried out with a young lady and one

with myself. Yoga Rama asked the young lady to think of something. He

then, without asking her to trace any letter or make movements with her

right hand, told her that she wished to get married. She acknowledged

that that was the thought in her mind. This caused a good deal of

amusement amongst the audience. The young lady left the stage

immediately after the experiment. This step on her part gave rise in the

minds of some of the members of the Committee that she was an

accomplice, and that, as the experiment had been carried out, she was no

longer required by Yoga Rama. These members of the Committee may be

doing an injustice to the young lady, but it was unfortunate she should

have left the stage at that moment.

As regards the experiment with myself, I stood in front of Yoga Rama and

did not sit down, neither did I place my left hand in front of my face

as other experimenters had done, but close against my body when tracing

the letters of my second name, which was the one I had in my mind.

My object in standing up was to have my hands out of the line of his

vision. I took care that the movement of the forefinger of my right hand

when tracing the letters should not be seen by him.

Yoga Rama repeatedly asked me to trace and retrace all the letters of

the name. He then gave the name correctly. Although this experiment

appeared to indicate that the performer possessed telepathic powers, it

must be borne in mind that he might have known who I was, as he had been

practising his so-called occult powers for some time in London under the

name of Professor Pickens before he assumed that of Yoga Rama. It was

not necessary that he should see my face in order to know with whom he

was experimenting. It was observed that he took a very careful stock of

the dresses of the Acting Committee before he was blindfolded. It was

only necessary, therefore, that he should see the lower part of the

dress for him to know which member of the Committee stood in front of

him. As one member after the other experimented with him he described

their dress. He asserted that he was able to do this by a sort of

telepathic vision.

The experiment with the playing cards was a simple conjuring trick. Yoga

Rama produced a pack of cards and asked the Committee to see that it was

unopened. I opened the pack, shuffled the cards, and handed them to Mr.

Marriott, who had been asked by the Professor to retire to a corner of

the stage and choose a card which he was to show to two members of the

Committee. Mr. Guttwoch and I accompanied Mr. Marriott to the corner of

the stage and saw which card Mr. Marriott had chosen. Mr. Marriott then

shuffled the pack again and handed it to Yoga Rama, who put it in his

pocket. Yoga Rama then asked Mr. Marriott what card he had chosen. Mr.

Marriott informed him. He then wrote something on a piece of paper which

he folded and handed to one of the members of the Committee to hold. He

then drew from his pocket another pack of cards similar in appearance to

the original pack (that it was not the original pack was evidenced by

the fact that the bottom card of the pack which Yoga Rama drew from his

pocket was not the same as the bottom card of the original pack), but

which had the cards arranged in an order known to Yoga Rama. He

proceeded to pass the cards one after the other before Mr. Marriott's

eyes, asking him to tell him when he came to the card he had chosen.

When Yoga Rama came to the card, Mr. Marriott told him. Yoga Rama then

said, "What is the card in front of the one you chose and the one behind

it?" He was informed which they were. He then asked that the piece of

paper should be opened, and it was found that the names of the cards had

been written by him on the piece of paper. What occult power Yoga Rama

intended to demonstrate by this simple conjuring trick I fail to see. It

could not have been telepathy, as the two cards (the names of which Yoga

Rama had written) had not been chosen nor thought of by Mr. Marriott.

A few words will suffice to describe the experiments which Yoga Rama

carried out to show (1) the control he had acquired over the functions

of his body, and (2) his insensibility to pain. As has already been

stated, he asked two members of the Committee to stand by him and note

by their watches the length of time that he was able to cease breathing.

He retained his breath for fifty seconds. A member of the Committee at

the back of the stage called out, when the length of time was announced,

"That is nothing. I can stop breathing for a full minute." This

exclamation appeared to disconcert Yoga Rama a good deal. The standing

barefooted on a board studded with nails and on broken glass are common

tricks which can be seen performed by negroes at country fairs. I felt

the points of the nails and found they had been filed down and were

blunt. Mr. Marriott sat on the nails to the amusement of the audience

while Yoga Rama had gone off the stage to remove his boots. When Yoga

Rama returned he stood barefooted on these nails only for about half a

minute. He then proceeded to break some bottles on a piece of felt. He

pounded away on the glass with a hammer till he had reduced the greater

part to nearly a powder. He carefully pushed the larger pieces of glass

on one side and stood on the powdered portion.

I will now proceed to state the reasons which lead me to the conclusion

that Yoga Rama was able to see, although apparently blindfolded.

1. The bandages were removed from his eyes by Mr. Marriott, who had

blindfolded him at the commencement of the performance. While this was

being done I had my face about two feet away from Yoga Rama's face and I

carefully noted the position of each article as it was being removed.

The lower edge of the porous plaster was above the tip of the

performer's nose, and the edge of the white handkerchief above the edge

of the plaster, and above the edge of the handkerchief was the edge of

the crimson scarf. The edges of the handkerchief and scarf were

sufficiently high up, so that, had the blindfolding depended only on

these, he could have seen under them. The gloves which had been placed

on the handkerchief need not be taken into account, as the folded pieces

of paper on his eyes prevented them from pressing into the sockets of

Yoga Rama's eyes, and he, by merely closing the eyes and bringing the

eyebrows well down when he was being blindfolded and then opening his

eyes and lifting the eyebrows well up, could displace the gloves from

their original position and cause them to rise, as a conjurer well

knows; therefore the blindfolding really depended on the position of the

porous plaster. Now when Mr. Marriott placed the plaster over the pieces

of paper he took care that the lower edges of both pieces should be on

one of the lines of holes which existed in the plaster as shown in the

accompanying engraving (which is taken from a photograph).

He also took care that the lower edge of the plaster should stick

against Yoga Rama's cheeks. On examining the plaster just before it was

removed we found that the lower edge no longer stuck against the

performer's cheeks. There were hollow spaces between the bridge of his

nose and his cheeks through which he could have seen with a downward

glance. The point now arises whether he used both his eyes or only one.

I noticed that Yoga Rama always kept the right side of his face towards

the sitters when trying the experiments. If the reader will look at the

engraving, which shows the exact position of the folded pieces of paper

at the time of the removal of the plaster from Yoga Rama's face, he will

see that the piece of paper which covered his right eye is no longer on

the same line of holes as the left piece, but is higher up, and, what is

most suspicious, he will note some pieces of tissue paper which were

stuck on the plaster by Yoga Rama and were under the pieces of folded

paper, which prevented these from adhering to the plaster; thus by an

upper movement of the eyebrows Yoga Rama succeeded in raising the folded

piece of paper which covered his right eye, and with this eye he glanced

under the plaster and watched the movements of the sitter's hands, etc.

2. As I have stated above, Yoga Rama always kept the right side of his

head towards the person with whom he was experimenting. He tried one

experiment with a gentleman who sat in the second row of the stalls. He

then turned his body round so that the right side of his face was in the

same position relatively to this gentleman as it had been to the sitters

on the stage. Moreover, the lights in the body of the theatre were not

alight when Yoga Rama was trying his alleged thought-readings with the

members of the Committee on the stage, but when he experimented with the

gentleman in the stalls, one of the electric chandeliers in the body of

the theatre, not far from the gentleman, was immediately lit, thus

enabling Yoga Rama to watch the movements of the gentleman's right hand

when tracing the letters of the name he had chosen on the palm of his

left hand, and giving the taps corresponding to the number of the

letters.

3. At the conclusion of the performance, after the bulk of the audience

had left, some persons remained in the foyer of the theatre, and a

discussion arose, during which some of the persons present asserted that

Yoga Rama had brought about his results by supernormal means. Mr.

Marriott, Mr. Guttwoch, and I denied this. At that moment Yoga Rama came

into the foyer, and he was accused by us of having been able to see. He

asserted that he had not seen, and to prove it offered to try some

experiments while a handkerchief was held tightly against his eyes. Mr.

Guttwoch held a handkerchief against his eyes. As Yoga Rama was not now

able to see, he resorted to a different method from the one he used on

the stage. He held the wrist of the left hand of a lady with the thumb

and three fingers of his right hand, while his forefinger rested against

the back of the lady's hand. He then asked her to trace the letters of

the name thought of with the forefinger of her right hand on the palm of

her left hand, which was being held by him. He was able to tell the

name, but only after repeated tracing of the letters by the lady. Yoga

Rama not being able to be guided by sight as in his stage performances,

now guided himself by the sense of touch. Although I have never before

carried out an experiment of this nature myself, when Miss Newton and I

returned to the rooms of the Society for Psychical Research I tried the

experiment with her. I closed my eyes and held her wrist, and was able

to feel the letter which she traced on the palm of her hand. Manifestly

this is a difficult trick to perform, and requires great practice. I

noticed that Yoga Rama chose the hand of a lady in preference to that of

a gentleman, obviously because a lady's hand is thinner than that of a

man, and the motion of her finger would be more easily felt.

What convinced me more than any of the above reasons that Yoga Rama was

able to see during his performance is the following fact. I placed the

sticking plaster over my eyes after it had been taken from Yoga Rama's

eyes and, to my surprise, I found I could perfectly well see through it.

The numerous small holes with which it was perforated allowed me to do

this.

The audience at the "Little Theatre" had had their expectations raised

that they were to witness manifestations of the occult powers of the

mind through the mediumship of an Abyssinian Yogi, instead of which they

witnessed an ordinary conjuring entertainment by a man who previously to

assuming the name of "Yoga [_sic_] Rama" was known as Professor A. D.

Pickens of Conduit Street, London.

Besides the method used by Yoga Rama for producing his so-called thought

transference, there are others resorted to by public entertainers. The

one most in use is by means of a verbal code. The letters of the

alphabet are substituted and a word can be conveyed by the agent asking

a series of questions, each question beginning with a substituted

letter. The percipient has to remember what letters the substituted ones

represent; he takes note of the first letter only of each question, puts

them together in his mind, and thus gets the word that it is the

intention of the agent to convey.

I have made a table (shown opposite) which shows one of these systems.

If the name "Alfred" is to be conveyed, it can be done by the following

questions:--

Here is a name = A

Can you see it? = L

Endeavour to do so = F

Mind what you are doing = R

Go on = D

The letter E is understood.

TABLE

+-----------------------------------++------------------------------+

| SUBSTITUTED LETTERS TABLE || NUMBERS TABLE |

+--------+----------+---------------++------------------------------+

| A is H | J is L | S is N || No. 1 is Say |

| B " T | K " Pray | T " P || " 2 " Be |

| C " S | L " C | V " Look || " 3 " Can |

| D " G | M " O | W " R || " 4 " Do |

| E " F | N " D | X " See this || " 5 " Will |

| F " E | O " V | Y " Q || " 6 " What |

| G " A | P " J | Z " Hurry || " 7 " Please |

| H " I | Q " W | || " 8 " Are |

| I " B | R " M | || " 9 " Now |

| | | || " 10 " Tell |

+========+==========+===============++==============================+

| SETS |

+----------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+

+----------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+

| | | | |

+----------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+

The transmission of the nature of an article is by dividing articles

that would be likely to be brought to a public entertainment into sets

of ten, each set being indicated by a different question. These sets

have to be learned by heart by the agent and the percipient. I give in

the table four sets to illustrate my meaning. After asking the question

which conveys the set to which the article belongs, a second question is

asked, beginning with the word corresponding to the number on the number

table. This will indicate what number in the set the article corresponds

to. As an example: when the question "What is this?" is asked, it means

that the article corresponds to SET A. If the second question begins

with "Do," such as "Do you know?", this question on referring to the

number table would mean No. 4; therefore the article would be a chain.

Now, if the question "What is it made of?" is asked, it would refer to

SET C, and if this question is followed by "Can you tell me?", on

referring to the number table it will be found to correspond to No. 3;

therefore the article would be a chain made of copper. When an article

is not in any one of the sets the substituted letter code is used. Of

course public entertainers learn by heart a number of sets, not only

four.

For silent thought transference occasionally electrical contrivances

are resorted to. These are placed in different parts of the hall, and

when being pressed by the foot or hand of the agent will convey a

message to a certain part of the stage upon which the percipient (who

may be blindfolded) rests his foot.

There is another silent method which can be worked by a confederate who

is placed behind a curtain close to the chair on the stage upon which

the blindfolded percipient sits. The confederate watches the performer

who stands amongst the audience and reads through a spyglass what he is

writing on his tablet when putting down what members of the audience

wish to be done. The confederate then communicates the contents of the

writing to the percipient on the stage by whispering or by an electrical

apparatus. The position of the performer or agent while he is writing in

a clear hand on his tablets with his back to the stage easily enables a

confederate to read the writing.

Then there is the silent method of a French conjurer, some of whose

performances I have witnessed, which consists of suggesting or "forcing"

the spectators to do certain things, each action having a corresponding

number which he conveys to his lady assistant, who is blindfolded, by

touching her foot with his after she has come down from the stage and

stands by his side amongst the audience.

The "time-coding" method consists of silently counting by the agent and

percipient at the same rate, starting from a preconcerted signal and

ending at another preconcerted signal. The performer amongst the

audience has in his hand a piece of paper on which is written the number

that he wishes to silently convey to the other blindfolded performer on

the stage. At the moment that he bends his head to look at the number he

begins silently counting at a certain rate; a confederate behind the

scenes begins counting at the same rate from the moment that the

performer bends his head. When the performer lifts his head he ceases

counting, so does the confederate. Each number written on the paper is

thus conveyed, and the confederate communicates the total to the

blindfolded performer by means of an electrical apparatus or otherwise.

I have attended several performances in public halls in London at which

thought transference--so-called--was carried out by the above trick

methods.

Sir Oliver Lodge was present with me at one of the performances at which

the time-coding method was used. He has sent me the following note:--

"I was with Mr. Baggally on one of these occasions, and took

note of the fact that he could often guess what was being

transmitted by the performers quite as well as they could

themselves. We sat in a box looking at them, and he often

told me before they had spoken what they were going to say

(or words to that effect).

"I perceived even without his assistance that the

performance, which was stimulated by the success of the

Zancigs, was an exceedingly inferior imitation of what they

had achieved, and was manifestly done by a code of some

kind.

"O. J. L."

Some of the methods resorted to by public entertainers are so ingenious

that the spectator is led to believe that genuine thought transference

has taken place. The following correspondence, which appeared in the

spiritualistic weekly paper called _Light_, illustrates a case in point.

In the number of _Light_ of the 25th October 1902 there appeared this

letter headed "Thought Transference":--

"SIR,--A few years ago Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin gave the

following entertainment in almost every large town in the

three kingdoms. The public were invited to write any

question or questions they desired to have answered on a

piece of paper, to place it in their pockets, and keep it

there without communicating its contents to anyone, and then

when they went to the hall their names were called out and

their question answered without the papers leaving their

possession. About fifty such inquiries were answered each

evening without a single failure by Mrs. Baldwin, who sat

blindfolded with her back to the audience. From my

experience and that of my friends, collusion was impossible,

and the only way of accounting for the performance was by

thought transference or telepathy between Mrs. Baldwin and

those of the audience with whom she was in mental sympathy.

(Signed) "C. A. M."

Commenting on this letter, I wrote to _Light_, and my communication

appeared the following week. It was to this effect:--

"Under the heading of 'Thought Transference,' your

correspondent, C. A. M., gives an account of some

entertainments by Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, at which he says" (I

here quoted from C. A. M.'s letter, and then continued as

follows):--"I never was present at entertainments given by

Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, and therefore cannot express an

opinion as to the _modus operandi_ in their particular case,

but I would point out that their entertainments bear a close

resemblance to those given by conjurers. The explanation of

the mystery in a conjurer's case is as follows:--The

conjurer asks members of the audience to write their

questions secretly, to sign their names at the bottom of the

question, and then to fold the pieces of paper on which the

questions are written and place them in their pockets. To

facilitate the writing he hands pencils round and tablets

upon which to rest the pieces of paper during the writing of

the questions, or the members of the audience, if they so

wish, can retire into an adjoining room and write their

questions on a table. The tablets and pencils are then

collected by an assistant who is a confederate, who then

retires from the hall to the room where the table is. The

tablets and table have false surfaces of leather or other

material, which, on being removed by the confederate,

disclose a layer of carbon paper resting on another of white

paper upon which the questions have been recorded unknown to

the inquirers. The confederate then proceeds to read the

questions with their respective attached signatures, and to

communicate them to the blindfolded medium by an electrical

apparatus upon which the medium's foot rests, or by other

mechanical means."

I signed my letter W. W. B. A fortnight after, the following letter

appeared in _Light_:--

"SIR,--With reference to the communication by W. W. B.

referring to the supposed thought transference, and

mentioned by another correspondent, C. A. M., in connection

with the entertainments of Professor Baldwin (an American

conjurer and brother mason), whom I met in Cape Town on two

separate occasions, permit me to state that (1) if it is the

same Baldwin, he is one of the cleverest illusionists in

his special line of trick thought transference, and W. W. B.

is quite right. (2) I know that Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin did

most of their experiments by trick, because, being one of

the chosen committee to test the so-called thought reading,

I fixed it absolutely as trickery on the lines indicated by

W. W. B.

(Signed) "BERKS HUTCHINSON"

I was gratified to read this letter and to find that my conjecture was

correct that the Baldwin performance was a mere exhibition of

conjuring.