No matter what method is used, the results are the same; the medium can play the instruments or escape, as he may see fit. The wire cage is, we shall say, of a design similar to that shown in Fig. 43. There is no door to it, and the cage being secured by a wire bottom padlocked on or nailed fast to the floor. A close inspection of Fig. 44 will help to expose the fraud. The lower cross-bar is not riveted through the frame at its end, but ends square against it, and a false rivet head, having no connection with it, is riveted on the frame where this cross-bar is supposed to emerge. All of the upright rods are made fast only to this cross-bar. In the other cross-bars they simply go through holes, not closely, but loosely, to ensure then to be slid up and down. The tops of these rods are riveted, but not made fast to the frame at the top. The center rod is not made permanent in the lower cross-bar, but is fastened so it can be turned around one way or the other. Now, where all these rods are supposed to come through the lower part of the iron frame are rivet-heads representing the heads of the rods, should they have come through. The bottom frame is drilled half way through for the end of each rod to enter a little, the middle rod is tapped with a thread like a screw on its end, and its corresponding hole is also tapped. It will now be seen why this rod was left to turn. By pulling cross-bar down and then screwing this middle rod tight, everything is solid; but unscrew the rod and raise the cross-bar, and all the upright rods will travel with it and the medium is at liberty. And we have another spirit mystery laid bare. I could describe numerous other tricks and devices of a like nature, but a few are as good as a quantity; sufficient, in fact, to place the investigator on his guard against being duped by like contrivances.
Fig. 44.—The Cage Opened.
I believe a few words in regard to spirit photography will not be amiss. These are made or produced in various ways: First, a glass with an image on it of the desired spirit form could be placed in the plate holder, in front of the sensitive plate, so that the image on the glass would act on the sensitive plate. The size and distinctness of the resulting spirit form would vary according to the distance between the two plates. Second, a figure clothed in white can be introduced for a moment behind the sitter and then be withdrawn before the sitting is over, leaving a shadowy image on the plate. Third, a microscopic picture of the spirit form can be inserted in the camera box alongside of the lens, and by a small magnifying lens its image can be thrown on the sensitive plate with that of the sitter. This is the trick used when the skeptic brings his own plate for the negative. Fourth, a glass with the spirit image can be placed behind the sensitive plate after the sitting is completed, and afterward, by a feeble light, the image can be impressed upon the plate with that of the sitter. Fifth, the silver nitrate bath could have a glass side, and the image impressed by a secret light while the glass plate apparently was being coated with the sensitive film. Sixth, the spirit form can be printed first on the negative and then the living sitter by a second printing, or the spirit can be printed on the paper and the sitter’s portrait printed over it. Seventh, a sensitive plate can be prepared by what is known as the dry process, the spirit form being impressed on it; and then, at a subsequent time, the portrait of the living sitter can be taken on this same plate, so that the two will develop together. Eighth, take a solution of sulphate of quinine and paint on the background screen a picture of any one; when it dries it is invisible to the naked eye. Still, when the picture is taken, the painted picture is very plainly seen on the glass negative. Ninth, small pictures are taken on thin, transparent celluloid and fastened against the front lens of the camera, and when the photograph is taken the picture appears. Of course, the above are by no means all the methods, but enough to illustrate the possibilities of obtaining two pictures on the same plate or at one sitting.
[CHAPTER IX.]
Miscellaneous Tricks.
The “Magician’s Omelette.”
The magician has never proved himself an adept at the art of cooking, from an epicure’s standpoint; yet the ease with which he can bake cakes in borrowed hats and cook omelettes in empty pans has long been a source of wonder to the economical housewife, as well as to the professional cook.