n "the
spirits" ventured upon an extra "manifestation." All took seats at one
side of a long, high table--the position of the mediums being midway of
the row. This time, a little, dim, ghostly gaslight was allowed in the
room. What seemed to be a hand soon appeared, partly above the edge of
the vacant side of the table, and opposite the "mediums." One excited
spiritualist present said he could see the finger-nails.

John F. Coles--who had for several days, suspected the innocence of the
boys--sprang from his seat, turned up the gaslight, and pounced on the
elder boy, who was found to have a nicely stuffed glove drawn partly on
to the toe of his boot. That, then, was the spirit-hand! The nails that
the imaginative spiritualist thought he saw were not on the fingers. The
boy alleged that the spirits made him attempt the deception.

The father of these boys, who had accompanied them to New York, took
them home immediately after that exposure. In Buffalo, they continued to
hold "circles," hoping to retrieve their lost reputation as good
mediums--by being, not more honest, but more cautious. To prevent any
one getting hold of them while operating, they hit upon the plan of
passing a rope through a button-hole of each gentleman's coat, the ends
to be held by a trusty person--assigning, as a reason for that
arrangement, that it would then be known no one in the circle could
assist in producing the manifestations. The plan did not always work
well, however; for a skeptic would sometimes cut the rope, and then
pounce upon "the spirit"--that is, if he didn't happen to miss that
individual, on account of the darkness and while trying to avoid a
collision with the instruments.

To secure greater immunity from detection, and to enable them to exhibit
in large halls which could not easily be darkened, the boys finally
fixed upon a "cabinet" as the best thing in which to work. They had,
some time before, made the "rope-test" a feature of their exhibitions;
and in their cabinet-show they depended for success in deceiving
entirely upon the presumption of the audience that their hands were so
secured with ropes as to prevent their playing upon the musical
instruments, or doing whatever else the spirits were assumed to do.

Their cabinet is about six feet high, six feet long, and two and a half
feet deep, the front consisting of three doors, opening outward. In each
end is a seat, with holes through which the ropes can be passed in
se