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South Canterbury Times, Issue 4977, 9 April 1889, Page 4

Bismarck is one of the trustees of the Young Men’s Christian Association at Berlin, and the Emperor has given 5000 marks for the new Association building about to be erected on Wilhelm Strasse.

It is, of course, difficult for the uninitiated to speak relatively in the matter, but we would say that the new mystery introduced by young Mr Maskelyne at his father’s entertainment at the Egyptian Hall, London, is the most extraordinary of all the long series of wonders that have preceded it. Nominally a “spiritualistic skit,” it is entitled “The Bloomsbury Proper-ganders of Spiritualism,” and is certainly far more inexplicable than the phenomena witnessed at any so called genuine spiritualistic meeting. Mr Nevil Maskelyne gave a well-studied imitation of an American medium, and produced his phenomena out of apparently innocent materials. Across two light wooden trestles he placed a sheet of plate glass, and upon that built up in sight of the audience a miniature cabinet, bit by bit. This receptacle, which was open at the top, with doors in front, was seen to he entirely disconnected, and yet the most astonishing results were obtained —slate-writing was produced ; hands of Napoleon, which had been dealt at hazard among the audience, were not only called for by the “ spirit,” but that astonishing power actually _ declared before play began who would win, and by how many points. Many other extraordinary effects were produced, apparently by the hand of a living person, but the isolated cabinet was too small to contain even a baby besides, the cabinet was constantly opened and proved to be empty. —Pall Mall Gazette,