[CHAPTER IV.]
Mind Reading and Kindred Phenomena.
Having now described the principal slate tricks which mediums use to entangle the unwary for their own ends, we come to other tricks which are used from time to time to impress the credulous with the idea that the medium is imbued with supernatural power and can perform what are, in effect, miracles. These tricks are legion, and they vary from clumsy attempts at mystification to the use of elaborate pieces of magical apparatus which call for rare mechanical genius in their design and construction. The present chapter will deal more particularly with what might be termed mind reading tricks and the reading of concealed writing. Of these tricks one of the most perplexing is that of reading sealed communications, or answering questions placed in an envelope which is well sealed.
If I were to tell you that I could read whatever was written on a card inclosed in an envelope, and that envelope not only well sealed, but also stitched or sewn through with a thread and needle or machine, and the thread sealed to the envelope also, without removing the seal, stitches, etc., you would hardly credit the assertion. It is nevertheless true, and is easily and readily accomplished by very simple means.
Prepare a sponge with alcohol. With this you rub or brush the envelope, which immediately becomes transparent as glass, thus enabling you to see through it and read what is written on the card. It takes but a few seconds for the alcohol to evaporate and leave the envelope in the same condition as before, without leaving a trace as to what or how it has done. This test was used most successfully for years by a celebrated Philadelphia medium.
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.