ing; for not only was the sense of hearing smitten by
the dreadful sounds, but, sometimes, a member of the circle would get a
"striking demonstration" over his head!

At the request of the "controlling spirit," made through a horn, the
hall was lighted at intervals during the entertainment, at which times
the mediums could be seen seated at the table, looking very innocent and
demure, as if they had never once thought of deceiving anybody. On one
of these occasions, however, a policeman suddenly lighted the hall by
means of a dark lantern, without having been specially called upon to do
so; and the boys were clearly seen with instruments in their hands. They
dropped them as soon as they could, and resumed their seats at the
table. Satisfied that the thing was a humbug, the audience left in
disgust; and the policeman was about to march the boys to the
station-house on the charge of swindling, when he was prevailed upon to
remain and farther test the matter. Left alone with them, and the three
seated together at the table on which the instruments had been placed,
he laid, at their request, a hand on each medium's head; they then
clasped both his arms with their hands. While they remained thus
situated (as he supposed,) the room being dark, one of the instruments,
with an infernal twanging of its strings, rose from the table and hit
the policeman several times on the head; then a strange voice through
the trumpet advised him not to interfere with the work of the spirits by
persecuting the mediums! Considerably astonished, if not positively
scared, he took his hat and left, fully persuaded that there was
"something in it!"

The boys produced the manifestations by grasping the neck of the
instrument, swinging it around, and thrusting it into different parts of
the open space of the room, at the same time vibrating the strings with
the fore-finger. The faster the finger passed over the strings, the more
rapidly the instrument seemed to move. Two hands could thus use as many
instruments.

When sitting with a person at the table, as they did with the policeman,
one hand could be taken off the investigator's arm without his knowing
it, by gently increasing, at the same time, the pressure of the other
hand. It was an easy matter then to raise and thrum the instrument or
talk through the horn.

About a dozen gentlemen--several of whom were members of the press--had
a private seance with the boys one afternoon, on which occasio