pages: unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf, 234
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unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf | 234 | SECOND SIGHT the signal button so that it could be easily reached on the arm or front part of the seat. The receiving instrument was attached to the sofa on which the medium was seated. The latter would be silently informed as to what was being shown and would answer all questions. As proof that these statements are not mere hearsay, the Heller sofa can now be seen in the possession of Mr. Francis J. Martinka, of New York; and Dr. W. Golden Mortimer, who once presented "Mortimer's Mysteries," a show on the style of Heller's performance, furnishes the information that when Heller died in Philadelphia, November 28th, 1878, he engaged the dead magician's chief assistant, an expert electrician named E. J. Dale, who had acted as secret confederate, assisting the medium. After travelling with Mortimer some time, Dale eventu- ally returned to England, and retired from the profession. He opened a large shop in London under the firm name of H. & E. J. Dale, Manufacturing Electricians, 4 Little Britain, E. C., in October, 1882. It was the easiest thing imaginable for Robert-Houdin to have his theatre arranged with secret confederates and wires back of the scenes, where a man with powerful opera-glasses could stand. The place being small, he could look all over the room and see the minutest article. When not making use of the talking code; the simplest method employed by second-sight artists is to have a con- federate in the audience, with either an electrical push but- ton or a pneumatic bulb, who gives the medium the signal. This is received by a miniature piston, which requires only a small hole in the stage, while the medium has a matching hole in the sole of his shoc. This allows the [207] |