AMUSEMENTS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 691, 29 May 1885, Page 9

AMUSEMENTS.

THE BALDWIN ENTERTAINMENTS. Professor and Mrs Baldwin appeared at the Athenaeum Hall last night week,every available seat being occupied. It was about half a dozen years since the Professor and his wife had been in Wellington. Neither of them has changed very much ; the Professor’s fund of dry humor has somewhat increased, and Mr 3 Baldwin’s wonderful power of divination has grown more wonderful still. The Professor very frankly acknowledges that he is a humbug, but his audience will be inclined to think that he is a very clever one, which is more than can be Baid of many of the humbugs, who attempt to gull the public. His remarks and anecdotes are very witty, and racy of that part of his nation made so familiar to us by the sayings and doings of Mr Sam Slick, of Slicbviiie. The entertainment commenced with the “ Spirit hand,” a piece of lead formed into the resemblance of the human hand, and laid on a sheet of glass, answeriog a number of questions by distinct rap 3, and telling the particular cards drawn by Ldies amongst the audience. The cabinet trick followed, and Mr Andrew Young took his place beside the Professor, receiving a pail on the head whilst the Professor was apparently bound hand and foot with ropes. This, he explained, was done by compressing the flesh on the wrists, and he showed the audience how, but few will care to submit to the ordeal, if it be as painful as the Professor stated. The usual tambourines, bells, &e., were fluDg over the cabinet in all directions. After Mr Baldwin was placed in the pillory, with a sealed lock attached, and escaping therefrom without disturbing the lock, some experiments in thought-reading followed, the Professor expressing his belief in spiritualism and the immortality of the soul. Mr Shannon accompanied. the Professor, who had a silk handkerchief over his eyes, Mr Shannon’s hand beir g placed in his. Mr Shannon was asked to think of some object, and he set hi 3 mind on a watch-chain. The Professor discovered the object, but failed in finding out the wearer. Mr Werry selected a-flower in a lady’s neck, and the object and wearer were both discovered, Mr Andrew Young was asked to

think of a pain in some portion of his body* ancj the Professor indicated the foot, which Mr Youug stated was correct. In like manner a pain was ( located in Mr Duncan’s eye, whfcfa was also prononuced correct. Messrs Long and Lee were then entrusted with a pia, which they were to place in the clothes of someone in the audience whilst the Professor went outside, but he failed on boih. occasions to find it. He stated this w&3 lm first failure during the last eight months with the pin. After the interval Mrs Clara Baldwin appeared in a trance state, and not only answered, but propounded a number of questions written down by the audience, and held in their hands or placed in their pockets. There will be many theories as to how this is done, and we shall not, for our part, attempt any explanation of the mystery. Amongst the questions and answers were the following : Who will be next Premier of England ?—Mr Gladstone will retire at the end of the year, and Earl Granville will become Premier. (Another gentleman had written this question, which he showed us afterwards, but did not hand up : When will Mr Gladstone, English Premier, retire from political fife ?) When am I going home:—ln June, 1887. (Quite correct.) Where is my brother John ?—-In Silverfcon, doing very well. (Correct.) Will the Arawn have a pleasant voyage home ?—Yes, but a sailor will fall from the rigging and be drowned,"' Is my father ' going away soon ?—He is not going away for .some time yet. Was BrowD, who died in New Zealand, Burke, the body-snatcher, at Home ?—Yes, Are there any commercial travellers in Heaven?—Yes, certainly; why not? Was Clarence Miller responsible for hia own act in killing himself and the members of his family on the Terrace ?—No ; the spirit says he 7 was insane at the time. Will there be any trouble on the West Coast amongst the Natives ? No. Was Mr Oliver Wakefield’s presentiment of his death caused by a spirit?—Yes ; a spirit friend gave'him the impression, and he told Mr Hemer, a clerk in his office. Will there be a war with Russia?—ln spite of the present lull, there will be a war at r.he end of this year. Is my mother well? —Yes; your mother has written to you, but her letters have gone astray. Several other questions, [which had been duplicated, were pronounced too difficult to answer. It is only fair to state that the questions were handed up from different parts of the room, and in such a manner as to lead to the conclusion that there could he no collusion. 1 , A Committe'e, consisting of )he Hon C. J. Pharazyn, Messrs Worry,/ A. YouDg, Lee, 'DuncaD, Long and' Shannon, had been selected' in the early part of the and superintended everything that went on. Mr Shannon, who had a slight paseage-at-arms with the Professor during the first portion, proposed a hearty vote of thanks to the Professor and Mrs Baldwin, stating that the manifestations were wonderful and had astonished bjm. Mr W. McLean, who was also anxious during the evening for a test, seconded the motion. “ Ten minutes with the ghosts, or the Katie King mystery,” concluded the entertainment.

The Baldwins gave another entertainment to a crowded house last Friday night at the At hen mum, an entertainment amusing and interesting, first and last. Of the earlier features it is unnecessary to do more chan commend them for their exceeding cleverness. Jhey were great delusions, and* as the Profssscr is always careful to impress upon his audience that he is there to humbug 'them, no one felt grieved, but rather pleased at being so pleasantly deceived. The cabinet sack trick was exceedingly clever, and, as given by the Baldwins, as inexplicable as clever, and must be seen to he appreciated. The thought-reading and mental transference, both specialties—the first Mr Baldwin’s, the second Mrs Baldwin’s—were the features of the entertainment that call for most comment. That thought-reading is a faculty, is gradually finding admission in. scientific quarters, and ‘also that, whilst under certain supersenuoas conditions on the part of the thought-reader, the results are due to muscle rather than mind ; still it must be conceded that results have been obtained altogether independent of muscle. The labors of the Society for Psychical Research, established within the last three years in London, abundantly prove this. The Society rests upon a most substantial and exceptionally trustworthy basis. It is composed of clear-headed scientific and literary men, who—to quote the words of the President, Henry Sidgewick, Esq., when delivering the opening address—profess the utmost impartiality. He said, inter alia, As quite unpledged and as individuals, we are all agreed that any particular investigation we may make should be carried on with a single-minded desire to ascertain the facts, and without any foregone conclusion as to their nature.” The Committee included such men as W. T. Barrett, Professor of Physics in the Royal College of Science for Ireland ; E. Gurney, M.A. ; F. W. H. Myers, M.A. ; Balfour Stewart, L.L.D., F.R.§. Within a twelvemonth the Committee collected and grouped a mass of reliable facts bearing on the subject, chiefly through the agency of the family of the Rev. Mr Creery, a clergyman of Derbyshire. In this family the four daughters and a maid servant developed an abnormal faculty of thoughtreading. It originated in the parlor pastime known as the “ willing game,”'until, at last, the girls literally read thoughts engendered at a distance. The Thought-reading Committee of the Psychical Research Society, having heard of this, went to Derbyshire and interviewed the family. The Rev. Creery heartily assisted in the subsequent investigationa, which extended over several weeks, and were reported in due course to the Society. It was shown that the thoughtreaders went out of the room, and returning, stood at the door and told the thoughts conceived during their absence. Three hundred and eighty-two trials were made, and out of that number only 180 were absolute failures. The experiments were varied and were most conclusive iu favor of the abnormal faculty which induced them. Other people besides the Creery children were operated upon with more or less success, and the modus operandi of some was similar to that practised by Professor Baldwin. Contact with him is essential. He places the hand of the thinker to his forehead, thus enlisting psychometry to aid him and runs from place to place in search, as it were, of inspiration. Here, it may be inferred that muscle has something to do with it, that the supersennous Professor was striving for material indication, but having witnessed hi& performance we are inclined to give him credit

for a higher flight than that, and that his own theory of intelligent transmission by thought waves i 3 nearer the mark. The Professor may be a humbug, but he is no fraud, and when he tells his audience that he really cannot account for the affeots produced his audience'may implicitly believe him.\ la fact he is—when engaged in thought-reading and with Mrs Baldwin’s clairvoyance—operating with that mystic and potent force which scientists are beginning to ■tfacognise, but shake their heads over as tfeyond them at present. Hence the Professor may well guard his utterances about Spiritualism, of which this force is the principal factor. Of the reality of Mrs Baldwin’s clairvoyance there is not the slightest reason to doubt. She is a high sensitive, and her performances have proved it. We believe it was a genuine exhibition. We know positively that several of the questions were put without collusion, and if these were answered correctly, why not double or treble as many ? The clairvoyance has occasionally to be omitted on account of the great and exhausting strain upon the lady, who, we are sorry to hear, is m but indifferent health. The “mental transference” business was, however, a good substitute for it last Friday night, and proves highly entertaining. The process is apparently simple. Five bank notes were procured from as many persons of the audience, "the number of each ' one being remembered by he who lent it. On one side of the stage, in front of a frame upon which a sheet of calico was stretched, stood Mrs Baldwin ; on the other side standing before a small table stood Mr Baldwin. Taking one of the notes he spread it out and tacked it to a small frame to make it resemble a picture. Having placed it in position, he gazed intently at-it for a second or two. Then lie uttered one word—“ Now,” upon which Mrs Baldwin began writing figures upon the frame before her. One by one she marked the figures that constituted the number of the note, apparently taking them one by one from the mind of Mr Baldwin. The test was applied to four of the notes, and two of the four were correctly read. Only the word “now ” passed between Mr and Mrs Baldwin, and they were all the while separated some fifteen or sixteen feet. We regard the test as a genuine exhibition of mind-reading under semi-clairvoyant conditions. We may observe that he was successful last Friday night in finding the pin.

A good house greeted the Baldwins on Saturday night. The performance was much on the same lines a 3 on previous evenings, excepting that, in consequence of the great exhaustion induced by an extra long clairvoyant sitting, Mrs Baldwin was . unable to perform in the Katie KiDg expose! at the last. A song from Mr Harland concluded the entertainment. The . more interesting features of it were the thought-reading and the clairvoyance, and the Baldwins were successful in both, not one miss.occurring. Thought-reading now is neither new nor startling, too much evidence of its genuineness having been obtained. In our last notice of the Baldwins we told of the doings of the Society for Psychical Research. There is a great deal more to be said in that direction, and the Psychical Research Society is doing a lot towards it. The Society has appointed some half-dozen Committees to investigate different phases of thesubjecfc, at, for instance, one on thought-read-ing, others on haunted houses, clairvoyance, and so on. Thus a mass of most reliable and valuable testimony has been collected and given to the world, and there la much more to come. And with regard to thought-reading and thought-transference, it has been conclusively shown that the more telling cases have occurred when the agent and percipient were in normal conditions. Such a case was given to the Literary Committee of the Society by a Mr J. G. Kewlemans, a scientific draughtsman, of 2 Montford-terrace, Barns-bury-square, London. He said—“ One morning while engaged in work I saw in my mind’s eye a little wicker basket containing five eggs, two of them very clean, and more than usually elongated, and of hue; one very round plain white, but smudged all over, and two with no particular marks. I was surprised at the image, as I never think of such things, and the basket remained in my mind for several minutes. Two hours later I went into another room to lunch, and was struck by the remarkable similarity between the eggs in the egg-cup on the table and the two very long ones I had seen in my imagination. ■My wife wondered why I looked at the eggs so, and she wa3 astounded when I told her how many eggs she had received from her mother half an hour before. She then brought up the remaining three, and there wa3 the with the dirt on it and the basket the same I had seen.’’ It appeared that the mother-in-law had kept the eggs together for her son-in-lav/, and had thought of him as she put them in the basket at about ten o’clock in the morning, which was just about the time of Mr Kenlemans’ impression. But, as the report of the Committee goes on to explain, such cases are very rare. It is seldom that one or the otherofthe parties arenot in an abnormal state, such, for instance, as that of clairvoyancy produced in Mrs Baldwin by her husband. “ Instances of impression transferred from the agent to the percipient, when the latter is in this state, are, qf course exceedingly numerous.” On Saturday night Mrs Baldwin was kept in a trance condition for forty minutes, and replied to numerous mental questions put to her. She was wonderfully exact, and once detected similarity of ideas in three persons’ minds. One person thought of David Nathan, another of his brother David, and a third of a, person named Davidson. These produced confusion in the mind of the clairvoyant —a blurring of the mental picture. Mrs Baldwin told the number of a watch correctly; informed a person, who had asked about himself, that he would die in 1898 ; told Mr J Nathan that the Panama Canal would be finished in eight years, but that next year there would he awful mortality among the workmen through cholera ; predicted a big earthquake in Wellington on March sth next year ; reiterated her assertion, first made in Dunedin, that General Gordon was not killed, but a prisoner ; predicted a win for the Christchurch Club in the football match Monday ; said Sunday would be a fiue day, and detected and answered other questions. We think this part of the entertainment would be much , more effective if the Professor did not talk quite so much, but contented himself with repeating the answers to questions. Certainly much more would be obtained from the clairvoyant with less strain upon her. In fact the Professor

is somewhat too verbose throughout ; a modification of this would render his entertainment more attractive.

Professor and Mrs Baldwin gave their last performance but two at the Athenaeum Hall on Monday to a crowded audience, about 200 having been turned away at the doors. The entertainment was, as usual, a most interesting one, and was well applauded by the public, who were thoroughly mystified by the Professor’s wonders. As on the occasion of the previous performances, he selected a Committee, consisting of Drs. Hutchinson and Fell, and Mes3is O’Shea, Chillman, Macgregor, Sumner, and Reeves, who watched the performance carefully, but were unable to detect how it was done. The clairvoyance was not shown, the Professor explaining that Mrs Baldwin bad fainted on Saturday night in consequence of the exertions connected with that branch of the entertainment, but several successful and unsuccessful instances of thought-reading, through a wire and otherwise, were given. Mr Lacie assisted in the Davenport Brothers’ trick, and also played various accompaniments in a skilful manner. During the evening the ballad, “ The little hero,’’° was sung by Mr Harley with great success.

Professor Baldwin gave another of his clever entertainments at the Athenaeum Hall Tuesday night. There was a falling off in the attendance, which was not to be wondered at, considering the cold wind which prevailed early in the evening. A new feature was introduced, and Mrs Baldwin had another opportunity of displaying her wonderful powers. Slips of paper were distributed amongst the audience, who were requested to write down five figures, and the name of any animal they chose in addition. Mrs Baldwin was then blindfolded, and had a sheet thrown over her, which was securely tied round the head. The Professor, with a board and piece of crayon, wrote down the figures and words at the other side of. the stage. When ths board was quite full, he requested Mrs Baldwin to give the figures in different lines, and to repeat the words written opposite them. Then she wa3 requested to add all the figures together, and to repeat the figures in different lines. Then she wai requested to call out the figure upon which the Professor put his pointer. In nearly every instance, and in an incredibly short space of time, Mrs Baldwin answered, and in nearly every instance her answers proved correct. Professor Baldwin explained that there were many theories as to how this wa3 done : his own was' that of thought transmission. It was very wonderful to watch the quick way in which the lady replied to every question.

The Baldwins gave their closing entertainment Wednesday to a moderately good house. It was, perhaps, the most interesting of the series, for the Professor kept his word and really exposed some of what he delights to term his own humbugging. The exposures in every instance were singularly simple in character, but not the less interesting. He also spoke out abou tthat Spiritualism he professes to lay bare, and explained that he would have been more correct in designating it, not Spiritualism, but the tricks and frauds allied to Spiritualism. “ There is a force, ladies and gentlemen, continued the Professor, quite outside my tricks that I cannot account for, neither can science, so far as it has yet investigated. What it is I do not know, but the higher manifestations are of it.’’ Mrs Baldwin, assisted in the enlightenment of the evening, and was as successful as ever iu the clairvoyance scene. Many questions were accurately divined, and rationally answered. The Professor was quite successful in thought-reading and finding the pin. The Baldwins will make their next public appearance in Masterton, and after doing the northern towns may possibly return to Wellington and give a series of private seances.

Mrs Baldwin stated Wednesday, in answer to a question written down by Mr A. G. Johnson, that the robbery at Mr Jenness’s was not done by professionals. A resident of Wellington, who had a confederate, was the perpetrator. She was not prepared to give the name publicly, but would tell the detectives privately. Mr Johnson had written down his question in the usual manner, and an answer was given before it was handed up or made known.