observing the conditions, need of harmony, etc. And then the medium
himself spoke a few words of similar import. He then drew the curtain
along the cord (1, 2,) and fastened it; placed three wooden chairs in
front of the curtain, as indicated in the diagram, and, saying he needed
to form a battery, asked Miss Agnes Irwin to sit in chair D, and Mr. Yost
in chair C, the medium himself sitting in chair E. A black curtain was
then fastened by Mrs. Keeler over Mr. Keeler, Miss Irwin and Mr. Yost,
being fastened at G, between E and D, between D and C, and beyond A; thus
entirely covering the three sitting in front of the stretched curtain up
to their necks; and when the flaps before mentioned were pulled down over
their shoulders, nothing could be seen but the head of each.
"Before the last curtain was fastened over them, the medium placed both
his hands upon the forearm and wrist of Miss Irwin, the sleeve being
pulled up for the purpose, and Miss Irwin grasped with her right hand the
left wrist of Mr. Yost, his right hand being in sight to the right of the
curtain.
"After some piano music the medium said he felt no power from this
'battery,' and asked Mrs. E. D. Gillespie to take Miss Irwin's place.
Hands and curtains were arranged as before. The lights were turned down
until the room was quite dim. During the singing the medium turned to
speak to Mr. Yost, and his body, which had before faced rather away from
the two other persons of the 'battery' (which position would have brought
his right arm out in front of the stretched curtain), was now turned the
other way, so that had he released his grasp upon Mrs. Gillespie's arm,
his own right arm could have had free play in the curtained space behind
him. His left knee also no longer stood out under the curtain in front,
but showed a change of position.
"At this time Mrs. Gillespie declared she felt a touch, and soon after so
did Mr. Yost. The medium's body was distinctly inclined toward Mr. Yost at
this time. Mrs. Gillespie said she felt taps, but declared that, to the
best of her knowledge, she still felt the medium's two hands upon her arm.
"Raps indicated that the spirit, George Christy, was present. As one of
those present played on the piano, the tambourine was played in the
curtained space and thrown over the curtain; bells were rung; the guitar
was thrummed a little. At this time the medium's face was toward Mrs.
Gillespie, and his right side toward the curtain. His body was further in
against the curtain than either of the others. Upon being asked, Mrs.
Gillespie then said she thought she still felt two hands upon her arm.
"The guitar was then thrust out, at least the end of it was, at the bottom
of the curtain, between Mrs. Gillespie and the medium. Mrs. Keeler drawing
the curtain from over the toes of the medium's boots, to show where his
feet were; the guitar was thrummed a little. Had the medium's right arm
been free the thrumming could have been done quite easily with one hand.
Afterward the guitar was elevated above the curtain; the tambourine, which
was by Mrs. Keeler placed upon a stick held up within the inclosure, was
made to whirl by the motion of the stick. The phenomena occurred
successively, not simultaneously.
"When the guitar was held up, and when the tambourine was made to whirl,
both of these were to the right of the medium, chiefly behind Mrs.
Gillespie; they were just where they might have been produced by the right
arm of the medium, had it been free. Two clothes-pins were then passed
over the curtain, and they were used in drumming to piano music. They
could easily be used in drumming by one hand alone, the fingers being
thrust into them. The pins were afterward thrown out over the curtain. Mr.
Sellers picked one up as soon as it fell, and found it warm in the split,
as though it had been worn. The drumming was probably upon the tambourine.
"A hand was seen moving rapidly with a trembling motion--which prevented
it from being clearly observed--above the back curtain, between Mr. Yost
and Mrs. Gillespie. Paper was passed over the curtain into the cabinet and
notes were soon thrown out. The notes could have been written upon the
small table within the enclosure by the right hand of the medium, had it
been free. Mrs. Keeler then passed a coat over the curtain, and an arm
was passed through the sleeve, the fingers, with the cuff around them
being shown over the curtain. They were kept moving, and a close scrutiny
was not possible.
"Mr. Furness was then invited to hold a writing tablet in front of the
curtain, when the hand, almost concealed by the coat-sleeve and the flaps
mentioned as attached to the curtain, wrote with a pencil on the tablet.
The writing was rapid, and the hand, when not writing, was kept in
constant, tremulous motion. The hand was put forth, in this case not over
the top curtain, but came from under the flap, and could easily have been
the medium's right hand were it disengaged, for it was about on a level
with his shoulder and to his right, between him and Mrs. Gillespie. Mr.
Furness was allowed to pass his hand close to the curtain and grasp the
hand for a moment. It was a right hand.
"Soon after the medium complained of fatigue, and the sitting was
discontinued. It was declared by the Spiritualists present to be a fairly
successful séance. When the curtains were removed the small table in the
enclosure was found to be overturned, and the bells, hammer, etc., on the
floor.
"It is interesting to note the space within which all the manifestations
occurred. They were, without exception, where they would have been had
they been produced by the medium's right arm. Nothing happened to the left
of the medium, nor very far over to the right. The sphere of activity was
between the medium and Mr. Yost, and most of the phenomena occurred, as,
for example, the whirling of the tambourine, behind Mrs. Gillespie.
"The front curtain--that is, the main curtain which hung across the
corner--was 85 inches in length, and the cord which supported it 53 inches
from the floor. The three chairs which were placed in front of it were
side by side, and it would not have been difficult for the medium to reach
across and touch Mr. Yost. When Mrs. Keeler passed objects over the
curtain, she invariably passed them to the right of the medium, although
her position was on his left; and the clothes-pins, paper, pencil, etc.,
were all passed over at a point where the medium's right hand could easily
have reached them.
"To have produced the phenomena by using his right hand the medium would
have had to pass it under the curtain at his back. This curtain was not
quite hidden by the front one at the end, near the medium, and this end
both Mr. Sellers and Dr. Pepper saw rise at the beginning of the séance.
The only thing worthy of consideration, as opposed to a natural
explanation of the phenomena, was the grasp of the medium's hand on Mrs.
Gillespie's arm.
"The grasp was evidently a tight one above the wrist, for the arm was
bruised for about four inches. There was no evidence of a similar pressure
above that, as the marks on the arm extended in all about five or six
inches only. The pressure was sufficient to destroy the sensibility of the
forearm, and it is doubtful whether Mrs. Gillespie, with her arm in such a
condition could distinguish between the grasp of one hand, with a divided
pressure (applied by the two last fingers and the thumb and index) and a
double grip by two hands. Three of our number, Mr. Sellers, Mr. Furness,
and Dr. White, can, with one hand, perfectly simulate the double grip.
"It is specially worthy of note that Mrs. Gillespie declared that, when
the medium first laid hold of her arms with his right hand before the
curtain was put over them, it was with an undergrip, and she felt his
right arm under her left. But when the medium asked her if she felt both
his hands upon her arm, and she said, yes, she could feel the grasp, but
no arm under hers, though she moved her elbow around to find it--she felt
a hand, but not an arm, and at no time during the séance did she find that
arm.
"It should be noted that both the medium and Mr. Yost took off their coats
before being covered with the curtain. It was suggested by Dr. Pepper that
this might have been required by the medium as a precaution against
movements on the part of Mr. Yost. The white shirt-sleeves would have
shown against the black background."
I attended a number of Keeler's materializing exhibitions in Washington,
D. C., in the spring of 1895, and it is my opinion that the writing of his
so-called spirit messages is a simple affair, the very long and elaborate
ones being written before the séance begins and the short ones by the
medium during the sitting. The latter are done in a scrawling, uncertain
hand, just such penmanship one would execute when blindfolded.
The evidence of Dr. G. H. La Fetra, of Washington, D. C., is sufficiently
convincing on this point. Said Dr. La Fetra to me: "Some years ago I went
with a friend, Col. Edward Hayes, to one of Mr. Keeler's light séances.
It was rather early in the evening, and but few persons had assembled.
Upon the mantel piece of the séance-room were several tablets of paper.
Unobserved, I took up these tablets, one at a time, and drew the blade of
my pen-knife across one end of each of them, so that I might identify the
slips of paper torn therefrom by the nicks in them. In a little while, the
room was filled with people, and the séance began; the gas being lowered
to a dim religious light. When the time came for the writing, Mr. Keeler
requested that some of the tablets of paper on the mantel be passed into
the cabinet. This was done. Various persons present received 'spirit'
communications, the slips of paper being thrown over the curtain of the
cabinet by a 'materialized' hand. Some gentleman picked up the papers and
read them, for the benefit of the spectators; afterwards he laid aside
those not claimed by anybody. Some of these 'spirit' communications
covered almost an entire slip. These were carefully written, some of them
in a fine hand. The short messages were roughly scrawled. After the
séance, Col. Hayes and myself quietly pocketed a dozen or more of the
slips. The next morning at my office we carefully examined them. In every
instance, we found that the well-written, lengthy messages were inscribed
on _unnicked_ slips, the short ones being written on _nicked_ slips."
To me, this evidence of Dr. La Fetra seems most conclusive, proving beyond
the shadow of a doubt that Keeler prepared his long communications before
the séance and had them concealed upon his person, throwing them out of
the cabinet at the proper moment. He used the _nicked_ tablets for his
short messages, written on the spot, thereby completely revealing his
method of operating to the ingenious investigator.
The late Dr. Leonard Caughey, of Baltimore, Maryland, an intimate friend
of the writer, made a specialty of anti-Spiritualistic tricks, and among
others performed this cabinet test of Keeler's. He bought the secret from
a broken-down medium for a few dollars, and added to it certain effects of
his own, that far surpassed any of Keeler's. The writer has seen Dr.
Caughey give the tests, and create the utmost astonishment. His
improvement on the trick consisted in the use of a spring clasp like those
used by gentlemen bicycle riders to keep their trousers in at the ankles.
One end terminated in a soft rubber or chamois skin tip, shaped like a
thumb, the other end had four representations of fingers. Two wire rings
were soldered on the back of the clasp. This apparatus he had concealed
under his vest. Before the curtain of the cabinet was drawn, Dr. Caughey
grasped the arm of the lady on his right in the following manner: The
thumb of his left hand under her wrist, the fingers extended above it; the
thumb of his right hand resting on the thumb of the left, the fingers
lightly resting on the fingers of the left hand. As soon as the curtain
was fastened he extended the fourth and index fingers of the left hand to
the fullest extent and pressed hard upon the lady's arm, relaxing at the
same time the pressure of his second and third fingers. This movement
exactly simulates the grasp of two hands, and enables the medium to take
away his right hand altogether. Dr. Caughey then took his spring clasp,
opened it by inserting his thumb and first finger in the soldered rings
above mentioned, and lightly fastened it on the lady's arm near the wrist,
relaxing the pressure of the first and fourth fingers of the left hand at
the same moment. "I will slide my right hand along your arm, and grasp you
near the elbow. It will relieve the pressure about your wrist; besides be
more convincing to you that there is no trickery." So saying, he quickly
slid the apparatus along her arm, and left it in the position spoken of.
This produces a perfect illusion, the clasp with its trick thumb and
fingers working to perfection.
This apparatus may also be used in the following manner: Roll up your
sleeves and exhibit your hands to the sitter. Tell him you are going to
stand behind him and grasp his arms firmly near the shoulders. Take your
position immediately under the gas jet. Ask him to please lower the light.
Produce the trick clasps, distend them by means of your thumbs and
fingers, and after the gas is lowered, grasp the sitter in the manner
described. Remove your fingers and thumbs lightly from the clasps and
perform various mediumistic evolutions, such as writing a message on a pad
or slate placed on the sitter's head; strike him gently on his cheek with
a damp glove, etc. When the séance is over, insert your fingers and thumbs
in the soldered rings, remove the clasps and conceal them quickly.
EUSAPIA PALADINO.
The materializing medium who has caused the greatest sensation since
Home's death is Eusapia Paladino, an Italian peasant woman. Signor
Damiani, of Florence, Italy, discovered her alleged psychical powers in
1875, and brought her into notice. An Italian Count was so impressed with
the manifestations witnessed in the presence of the illiterate peasant
woman, that he insisted upon "a commission of scientific men being called
to investigate them." In the year 1884, this commission held séances with
Eusapia, and afterwards declared that the phenomena witnessed were
inexplicable, and unquestionably the result of forces transcending
ordinary experience. In the year 1892 another commission was formed in
Milan to test Eusapia's powers as a medium, and from this period her fame
dates, as the most remarkable psychic of modern times. The report drawn up
by this commission was signed by Giovanni Schiaparelli, director of the
Astronomical Observatory, Milan; Carl du Prel, doctor of philosophy,
Munich; Angelo Brofferio, professor of physics in the Royal School of
Agriculture, Portici; G. B. Ermacora, doctor of physics; Giorgio Finzi,
doctor of physics. At some of the sittings were present Charles Richet and
the famous Cesare Lombroso. The conclusion arrived at by these gentlemen
was that Eusapia's mediumistic phenomena were most worthy of scientific
attention, and were unfathomable. The medium reaped the benefit of this
notoriety, and gave sittings to hundreds of investigators among the
Italian nobility, charging as high as $500 for a single séance. At last
she was exposed by a clever American, Dr. Richard Hodgson, of Boston,
secretary of the American branch of the Society for Psychical Research.
His account of the affair, communicated to the _New York Herald_, Jan.
10, 1897, is very interesting. Speaking of the report of the Milan
commission, he says:
[Illustration: FIG. 27. EUSAPIA PALADINO.]
[Illustration: FIG. 28. EUSAPIA BEFORE THE SCIENTISTS.]
"Their report confessed to seeing and hearing many strange things,
although they believed they had the hands and feet of the psychic so
closely held that she could have had nothing to do with the
manifestations.
"Chairs were moved, bells were rung, imprints of fingers were made on
smoked paper and soft clay, apparitions of hands appeared on slightly
luminous backgrounds, the chair of the medium and the medium herself were
lifted to the table, the sound of trumpets, the contact of a seemingly
human face, the touch of human hands, warm and moist, all were felt.
"Most of these phenomena were repeated, and the members of the commission
were, with two exceptions, satisfied that no known power could have
produced them. Professor Richet did not sign the report, but induced
Signora Eusapia to go to an island he owned in the Mediterranean, where
other exacting tests were made under other scientific eyes. The
investigators all agreed that the demonstrations could not be accounted
for by ordinary forces.
"I have found in my experience that learned scientific men are the most
easily duped of any in the world. Instead of having a cold, inert piece of
matter to investigate by exact processes and microscopic inspections, they
had a clever, bright woman doing her best to mystify them. They could not
cope with her.
"Professor Richet replied to an article I wrote, upholding his position,
and brought Signora Eusapia Paladino to Cambridge, England, where I joined
the investigating committee. In the party were Professor Lodge, of
Liverpool; Professor F. M. C. Meyer, secretary of the British Society for
Psychical Research; Professor Richet and Mr. Henry Sedgwick, president of
the society.
"I found that the psychic, though giving a great variety of events,
confined them to a very limited scope. She was seated during the tests at
the end of a rectangular table and when the table was lifted it rose up
directly at the other end. It was always so arranged that she was in the
dark, even if the rest of the table was in the light; in the so-called
light séances it was not light, the lamp being placed in an adjoining
room. There were touches, punches and blows given, minor objects moved,
some near and some further away; the outline of faces and hands appeared,
etc.
"When I came to hold her hands I found a key to the mystery.
"It was chiefly that she made one hand and one foot do the work of both,
by adroit substitution. Given a free hand and a free foot, and nearly all
the phenomena can be explained. She has very strong, supple hands, with
deft fingers and great coolness and intelligence.
"This is the way she substituted one hand for both. She placed one of her
hands over A's hand and the other under B's hand. Then, in the movements
of the arms during the manifestation, she worked her hands toward each
other until they rested one upon the other, with A's hand at the bottom of
the pile, B's at the top and both her own, one upon the other, between. To
draw out one hand and leave one and yet have the investigators feel that
they still had a hand was easy.
"With this hand free and in darkness there were great possibilities. There
were strings, also, as I believe, which were attached to different objects
and moved them. The dim outlines of faces and hands seen were clever
representations of the medium's own free hand in various shapes.
"It is thought that if a medium was kept clapping her hands she could do
nothing with them, but one of the investigators found the Signora slapping
her face with one hand, producing just the same sound as if her hands met,
while the other hand was free to produce mysterious phenomena.
"I have tried the experiment of shifting hands when those who held them
knew they were going to be tricked, and yet they did not discover when I
made the exchange. I am thoroughly satisfied that Signora Eusapia Paladino
is a clever trickster."
Eusapia Paladino was by no means disconcerted by Dr. Hodgson's exposé, but
continued giving her séances. At the present writing she is continuing
them in France with a number of new illusions. Many who have had sittings
with her declare that she is able to move heavy objects without contact.
Possibly this is due to jugglery, or it may be due to some psychic force
as yet not understood.
F. W. TABOR.
Mr. F. W. Tabor is a materializing medium whose specialty is the trumpet
test for the production of spirit voices. I had a sitting with him at the
house of Mr. X, of Washington, D. C., on the night of Jan. 10, 1897. Seven
persons, including the medium, sat around an ordinary-sized table in Mr.
X--'s drawing room, and formed a chain of hands, in the following manner:
Each person placed his or her hands on the table with the thumbs crossed,
and the little fingers of each hand touching the little fingers of the
sitters on the right and left. A musical box was set going and the light
was turned out by Mr. X--, who broke the circle for that purpose, but
immediately resumed his old position at the table. A large speaking
trumpet of tin about three feet long had been placed upright in the center
of the table, and near it was a pad of paper, and pencils. We waited
patiently for some little time, the monotony being relieved by operatic
airs from the music box, and the singing of hymns by the sitters. There
were convulsive twitchings of the hands and feet of the medium, who
complained of tingling sensations in those members. The first "phenomena"
produced were balls of light dancing like will-o'-the-wisps over the
table, and the materialization of a luminous spirit hand. Taps upon the
table signalled the arrival of Mr. Tabor's spirit control, "Jim," a little
newsboy, of San Francisco, who was run over some years ago by a street
car. The medium was the first person who picked up the wounded waif and
endeavored to administer to him, but without avail. "Jim" died soon after,
and his disembodied spirit became the medium's control. Soon the trumpet
arose from the table and floated over the heads of the sitters, and the
voice of "Jim" was heard, sepulchral and awe-inspiring, through the
instrument. Subsequently, messages of an impersonal character were
communicated to Mr. X-- and his wife. At one time the trumpet was heard
knocking against the chandelier. During the séance several of the ladies
experienced the clasp of a ghostly hand about their wrists, and
considerable excitement was occasioned thereby.
It is not a difficult matter to explain this trumpet test. It hinges on
one fact, _freedom of the medium's right hand_! In all of these holding
tests, the medium employs a subterfuge to release his hands without the
knowledge of the sitter on his right. During his convulsive twitchings, he
quickly jerks his right hand away, but immediately extends the fingers of
his left hand, and connects the index fingers with the little finger of
the sitter's left hand, thereby completing the chain, or "battery," as it
is technically called. Were the medium to use his thumb in making the
connection the secret would be revealed, but the index finger of his left
hand sufficiently simulates a little finger, and in the darkness the
sitter is deceived. The right hand once released, the medium manipulates
the trumpet and the phosphorescent spirit hands to his heart's content.
Sometimes he utilizes the telescopic rod, or a pair of steel "crazy
tongs," to elevate the trumpet to the ceiling. This holding test is
absurdly simple and perhaps for that reason is so convincing.