A SPIRITUALIST'S TRICK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XX, Issue 143, 17 June 1886, Page 4

A SPIRITUALIST'S TRICK.

The London correspondent of theDuncdin Star writes : — Till last week I was under the impression that tbe cscposrs of Slade and other ao-called professional " mediums " had completely killed what may be styled the charlatan side of Spiri'uilism. Of course, I knew that many otherwise sane people still indulge in table-turning and spirit-rapping, but I ba no idea there were (as there are) still men ! be found in London who, for a trifling peci niary consideration, will at any hour of the nighb or day invoke communication from '' beyond the veil." The follow I recently interviewed bears the name of Egiinton, and save in one respect, seenud to me a very ordinary bungler. He bag a trick (of course he Bwears v's nob a triok) which neither Verbecq nor Betr.un nor Mask.-lyne pretend to ba able to explain, though Maekelyne thinks he could do something like it if allowed to manufacture his own apparatus The appnratus in question is very ainiDle' and Egiinton did not manufacture it It waa, indeed, given him by a fnend," tbe Hon Alex Yorke, and consists of a folding slate on hinges, the sides fitting tightly together, and the whole secured by a Brumah lock. (I may remark hero that Egiinton offers no objection to your briugiug your own elates if you prefer it.") Eglin'on commenced by asking me to write a question. I took the slate to one end of the room, and after first washing and then smelling it, to make sure there was no chemically-prepared surface, wrote a question involving a difficult Italian name in which I purposely spcllid one letter wrong-. I tnen locked up tbe Blalo leaving a small bit of pencil iutiile, and put the key iv my pockefr, and at once returned to the table and (never for a moment letting go »f tbe slate) eat down at a corner close to Egiinton, who promptly put hia two hands on mine. I felt a sort of magnetic thrill, and immediately a scratching souud was audible, apparently from with the slate, It ceased,

Eglinglon withdrew bis hands I took up the Blate and unlocked it. Direcly bene.-t'i ray que.s'ion and in n cle'ir, eloping hand facing me (so that if Ellington wrote i lio muat have written backwards) was an intelligent answer to mv question, in tiu> course of which the difficult Itali ,n wnr.l was repeated, and spelt correctly. The inex licablo part of this trick is that the slate never leaves the hands of tho inquirer from the moment he writes the m r s3ige (at which time Eglington is st the other end of 'ihe room) to the moment he unlocks the slate again and reada the answer. That 19 what puzzles Verbecq and Maskelyne. Another curious feature of the trick ia that the answers are written ia all sorts of different handwriting*, none of them in the least resembling Ellington's own. Iti order to teßt this, a curious inquirer recently had facsimiles token of a series of anawerß given at a seance ("two friends of his own and Elginton alone present), and submitted them 1o an expert in handwriting 1 , who (without knowing anything of th« circumstance?) pronounced it physically impassible they could he written by the same person. The professional conjurers, on their m°tr,le, have tried every conceivable dodge to surprise the kpy to this trick ; so far without success. It is making Egli"'"n's fortune, as he charges a guinea a head per sconce. The fellow has no apparent confederates. You can see him nlone or bring a friend as you fancy. Occasionally, of course, " the spirits " are obstinate, and decline all mc rrogatoriep. Eglinton does not guarantee success, so that in such cases you can only pay and try and look pleasint. Another trick, in the course of which Eglinton holds an ordinary open slate above his head whilst "the spirits" write thereon is not so wonderful, for the sample reason that ho himself holds the elate, and that the possibilities of sleierhtof-hand are infinite. Both Verbecq and Bertram can do that. Eglinton, by the way, has just published a book, in which he narrates his experiences before various crowned heads and poli'ic.-il celebrities with the "locked slate." He left a few days ago for Sr. Petersburg, whither he was specially summoned by one of the Grand Dukes who takes an interest in investigating spiri'ualistic phenomena.