The man returns from the audience - I take for granted that we have had but one in this experiment - and before I take his hand, I say: "Now, are you sure that you know the location of the murdered one?" He says that he knows it. I take his hand, tell him to "think hard," and in another instant I am off. As the floor once more winds under my feet, I can feel that there will be a period of several minutes - perhaps three -during which I can do a great amount of work. It is right here that one is apt to lose his patience if the man who is with him does not think properly. I cannot say what causes some of them to relax their minds just at the moment you wish their co-operation. It happens; perhaps it is, in some cases, due to brain fag. Perhaps the man gets excited and forgets that he is to think. At any rate, I have been lead blindly into posts and other objects that I never would have touched had the man done his work properly. This could happen by a sudden change in his thoughts. For instance, we will suppose that I am going toward a post. He is afraid that Twill run into it. He thinks that he will have me go around to the right. As I start to do so, he is afraid that there may not be enough room there, so he suddenly decides to have me go to the left. The consequence is easily seen: I run into the post.

As I get nearer and nearer the object of my search, the murdered man, a shudder comes over me. All mind-readers, after having been on the road a certain length of time, have their peculiar manners of interpretation. I always dread to touch another person - besides the one I have hold of - when I am blindfolded. It gives me a sudden shock that I can feel throughout my entire frame. Others might not be affected in this manner. So, when I am nearing the victim of the "murder" I am quite certain of the fact. As I draw closer, I feel that" chill penetrating to my very bones. I cannot resist; I am being drawn there by a great force -mind!

Suddenly I stop and my right hand points out toward a something that I fear to touch. I know that I must touch "it," but I dread to do so. Finally I thrust my hand out farther and a chill shuts out my surroundings. I touch the victim and applause greets my effort.

It is very necessary to give these experiments in detail as the student will have many little things to learn no matter how good a psychic he may be. So, I turn to the man who is with me" and remind him of the next object we are to find. "Do you know the exact location of the murderer?" He assures me that he does, and again the floor is twisting under my feet. It takes a very short time to locate the murderer, and I again ask him if he knows the location of the weapon. It often happens that some one - just to "test" the mind-reader - hides the things selected in a different place. They think that, if the work is genuine, the mind-reader will go to the new place, irrespective of the thoughts of the man who is with him. There are always a happy class of idiots at any entertainment, people who are degenerates, whose parents and grandparents had sloping foreheads. Little wonder then that their progeny are wanting in "gray matter!" I have known of mind-readers narrowly escaping injury at their idiotic hands.

The location of the weapon is not unlike the location of any other object. I usually find that it is located in some place quite difficult to get at. One of the most annoying things is to have an article that is very small secreted in the pocket of a coat and then have the man with you think of some impossible way of getting into that pocket. Time and time again I have taken out and replaced articles. There would not be the slightest doubt when I took out the article. But the moment I held it in my hands, I would replace it. I have had my man tell me that I had selected it some three or four times. Then I try again, telling him that, when I have found it, he is to think of my moving away and keeping away. The trouble has been here: He was all right while I hunted for it; he has kept his mind there until I hold it in my hands and am uncertain. Then his own mind would shift and he would create a doubt. The natural consequence was that I returned it to the pocket and he, seeing my hand returning in that direction, would give up and let me replace it and then he would again resume the strength of his thoughts. This is done unconsciously by the assistant. He does not do so purposely, but he gets his mind rather chaotic, which makes the work of the mind-reader very difficult.

When I have found the weapon, I hold it aloft and ask of the man with me if he knows whom it belongs to. He tells me that he does and I ask him if it is someone other than himself. When he says that it is, it takes me but a short time to return it to its owner. Working in these addition tests, never fails to please the audience.

Those with experience in mind-reading will know that there is often confusion resulting from trying to locate an article that is secreted upon the person of the man whose hand you hold. He may think of himself but you, the operator, will be at sea. I have found that this is too confusing to put on, or allow at all, in an entertainment. I always instruct the committee on this point and they usually remember it. The successful operator is he who takes time in explaining every detail of his work before he attempts the test.

Having given this article - a pencil - to a gentleman who loaned it, I proceed to find the six jurymen and the judge. I lose count and tell the gentleman with me to keep careful count of the number so that he will know when I am through. It takes me less time to carry out my part of the test than it did to locate and select these different people.

I will give one more test and then we will have an intermission. When I go up to the stage I find that I am greatly exhausted and that it is with difficulty that I can walk. Still I will give one more test and then we will have ten or fifteen minutes of rest.