“He is sending me a thought about himself. Now, concentrate your thoughts, Mr. Smith, and think very hard, and I will see if I can get your question. Yes! He says: ‘Will I be successful?’”
Mr. Smith now states that this is the question which he has written, and the medium now proceeds to answer him in something of this manner:—
“I see no reason, Mr. Smith, why you will not be successful, and I think you will. However, you will make a change in a short time and will leave your present position as bookkeeper for Brown & Jones.
“You wrote that question out at home, Mr. Smith, and on a card, didn’t you?
“Yes,—I thought so. It is written in ink, and you wrote it at your home, No. 734 Main Street. Am I not right?”
Mr. Smith now states that everything the medium has told him is correct as far as he knows.
The performer now collects the card from Mr. Smith and brings it down to the front of the house, and calls attention to the fact that it is not written on his paper. If there is some printed matter on the card he may ask the medium to read what is there, and she, after a little hesitation, does so.
This test which I have described would be known as a star test, as the question was written outside of the theatre and besides reading and answering the question she describes the card on which it is written.
I will now enter into an explanation of a variety of methods used, or that may be used, to perform these seemingly remarkable experiments, by the pure aid of science and trickery.
The very innocent-looking little millboards play a very important part in performances of this character. Out of a lot of about fifty boards there are twelve to fifteen that are “faked” in a manner which I will presently describe. The rest of the boards are, however, without any preparation, and can be broken open and examined by any one. The “fake” boards are prepared by inserting under the top thin layer of the board a piece of white paper and over this a sheet of carbon paper. The thin layer or face of the board, really a piece of brown paper, is now pasted down around the edges, which, when sandpapered off, bears casual inspection without disclosing the secret. Both sides of the board may be prepared if desired, but one side is usually deemed sufficient, for the ushers who pass out the boards know which is the “fake” side. They place a piece of paper on this side and pass it to the person to write on, and not one person in a hundred will turn the board over to write on the other side. Any question written on the paper, using this board as a rest, will be transferred by means of the carbon paper to the sheet of white paper underneath. The ushers armed with a handful of good solid boards and four or five “fake” boards now pass among the audience. By a little practice they are able to pick out a skeptic or any one whom they think may cause trouble by stealing a board or tearing it open for the purpose of discovering the secret in the board. To those they give the genuine boards, and if that person should now break it open for the purpose of exposing the performer he feels very cheap on finding no preparation about it. As before stated, to all of those of whom the ushers are suspicious they pass genuine boards, and to others they pass the “fake” boards with paper and pencil, and they are very careful to get all of these boards back. They may occasionally break open a good board to show that there is no preparation. Several questions can be written on each prepared board, as the questions, being brief, are not apt to be written on the same part of the board, and even if they are can easily be read.