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 IT PORTRAIT 
 MVSTERY 
 
 ITS FINAL SOLUTION 
 
 David P. Abbott 
 
 REPRINTED FROM "tHE OPEN COURT'' OP APRIU 19U 
 
 CHICAGO 
 THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 1913 
 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT 
 MYSTERY 
 
 ITS FINAL SOLUTION 
 
 David P. Abbott 
 
 REPRINTED FROM "tHF. OPEN COURT'' OP APRIU 1913 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 1913 
 
 
DAVID P. ABBOTT. 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT 
 MYSTERY 
 
 ITS FINAL SOLUTION 
 
 DAVID P. ABBOTT 
 
 II 
 
 REPRINTED FROM "THE OPKN COURT OF APRIL, igi3 
 
 CHICAGO 
 THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 1913 
 
PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 
 
 WE are greatly pleased to be able to make public a secret of mediumship 
 which has puzzled the world of believers and unbelievers in spiritualism 
 for many years. We are especially interested in its publication because we 
 have been a party, albeit in a passive character, to its gradual disclosure. 
 
 Mr. David P. Abbott of Omaha, Nebraska, a genius in mediumistic lore, 
 the author of the remarkable book Behind the Scenes with the Mediunvs, was 
 for a long time puzzled at the marvel of some well-known mediums, two 
 sisters, who made the pictures of dead relatives appear in colored painting 
 before the eyes of their sitters. We need not repeat reports of spiritualists 
 who were often overwhelmed at the spectacle, and even skeptics became con- 
 vinced that here was true evidence of spirit life which would prove the im- 
 mortality of the soul. From time to time Mr. Abbott communicated to us 
 the gradual progress of his work including his disappointments when his 
 theories proved incorrect, but he never lost the conviction that the mystery 
 could not be a miracle and that because the trick was so effective it must be 
 very simple. 
 
 Any one who is acquainted with Mr. Abbott's great work Behind the 
 Scenes with the Mediums will grant that there is no one more familiar than 
 he with the subtle methods of deception by which telling effects are produced 
 upon believers in spiritualism — effects which will frequently remain a puzzle 
 for the staunchest skeptics. 
 
 We may here mention that Mr. Abbott is also the inventor of a mystic 
 teakettle which can be carried all around the room in one's hand and is with- 
 out connection either by pipes or wires with any external object, and yet its 
 mysterious little spout will intelligently answer questions to the inquirer while 
 he holds it in his hands. The ghost whom he makes inhabit the teakettle 
 speaks in a tiny whisper, not unlike the voice of the famous nun of Liibeck 
 who has dwindled away to nothingness and is preserved in a bottle hung up 
 in the cathedral of her native city. 
 
 We congratulate Mr. Abbott on the great success he has achieved in solv- 
 ing the great mediumistic mystery, although we regret that it was not he who 
 reaped the pecuniary rewards. P. C. 
 
 GIFT 
 
.0 
 
 EDUC. 
 f>SYCH. 
 
 UBARir 
 
 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 IT is now about four years since I made a discovery that finally 
 cleared up one of the greatest of mediumistic mysteries. For 
 about fifteen years the feat of producing- spirit portraits has baffled 
 all of the investigators that have studied the problem. Through its 
 agency some of our most prominent men have been converted to 
 spiritualism, and conjurers have universally acknowledged it to be 
 the most miraculous phenomenon that ever confronted them. Mean- 
 while two famous lady mediums of Chicago have continued to pro- 
 duce these wonderful portraits as the work of the spirit world ; and 
 while some have disputed the genuineness of this claim without 
 being able to substantiate their view, the large majority that were 
 conversant with the subject have continued to be believers. Editor 
 Francis of The Progressive Thinker, a leading spiritualistic journal, 
 for years kept a standing cash offer to be given to any one who 
 could explain this wonder; but there were none who could do so, 
 and he finally died without any one claiming the reward. 
 
 Since the discovery of the secret of these productions, the illu- 
 sion has been presented from the theatrical stage as a magical crea- 
 tion. The English conjurer Selbit, under authority of Dr. Wilmar 
 of London (to whom I had sent the secret), first toured England 
 and France with it, and then presented it on the Orpheura Circuit 
 in America at a large salary. The great American magician, Mr. 
 Howard Thurston, under direct authority from the writer, has now 
 presented it in his programs for two years, and is still doing so; 
 while Henry Clive, the English conjurer, and W. J. Nixon, known 
 as the "Master Mind of Modern Magic," both are now presenting 
 it in vaudeville houses in the east. I am informed that it is also 
 being presented in Australia. The Pittsburg Post of Jan, 1, 1913, 
 contained an offer of five hundred dollars made by Mr, Clive for any 
 chemist who would chemically analyze his canvases and find them 
 
 960 
 
2 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 prepared in any way. These two last-named gentlemen have had a 
 controversy recently through Variety, as to who has the American 
 rights, etc., and it has developed in this that salaries as high as five 
 hundred dollars a week are now being paid in vaudeville for it. But 
 this amount is small when compared with the sums paid to mediums 
 for this work. 
 
 In the summer of 1908 the two Chicago mediums above men- 
 tioned visited Kansas City, Mo., for a few months. It was said that 
 their expenses were paid by a noted "healer" of that city, who usually 
 had some fifty patients at his doors each morning awaiting the 
 "laying on of hands." He was said to have an income of five hun- 
 dred dollars daily, and was Kansas City's heaviest individual bank 
 depositor. 
 
 Mr. C. F. Eldredge of Kansas City, Mo., in a letter speaking 
 of this healer and these mediums, said : "I hope you will expose this 
 work, for it is the greatest mystery in the world. One man of this 
 city spent perhaps ten thousand dollars with these people, and he is 
 to-day just as certain that his pictures were painted by spirit artists 
 as that he lives. He has just published a big book on the subject,^ 
 all full of these pictures, which he claims was written by his dead 
 wife through their mediumship. He is only one of hundreds who 
 are ready to stake their lives on this work." 
 
 Mr. Eldredge is a very intelligent man, and is teaching the 
 mysteries of the human mind, how to effect certain marvelous cures, 
 and how to perform other mental miracles — if I may be allowed 
 the word. It was through a description furnished by him that I 
 was able finally to work out the solution of this mystery, and to 
 settle definitely the extravagant claims of the mediums, besides 
 making the stage illusion possible. Mr. Eldredge had the privilege 
 of witnessing one of the Kansas City seances, and I here give his 
 report : 
 
 "Having met by appointment at the residence of the mediums, 
 my doctor friend and myself were ushered into the studio where 
 the sitting took place. The object was to secure a portrait in colors 
 of the doctor's sister who was killed some six years ago in a run- 
 away accident. 
 
 "The doctor was requested by the mediums to select two can- 
 
 ' The book is entitled, Through the Valley of the Shadow and Beyond. It 
 has an introduction by "The Supreme Divine Ruler of the Spheres." Among 
 the psychic portraits reproduced in it are one of this dignitary, one of "The 
 Divine Jose," one of "Rose the Sunlight,— one who walked through the Valley 
 of the Shadow, etc.," one of "Emma the Starbeam" and others. See also the 
 book, Two Years in Heaven by "Rose the Sunlight." 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 6 
 
 vases from a dozen or more that were leaning against the wall. 
 This he did from near the middle of the pile, holding them up to the 
 light and rubbing his hand over them in order to determine if there 
 was any coating or film over them. I also examined them very care- 
 fully, and was satisfied there was not. One of the mediums now 
 took the two framed canvases and placing them face to face, stood 
 them upon a small table in front of a window which looked out upon 
 the Paseo, one of the great boulevards of our city. The canvases 
 were leaned against the window which faced the south. 
 
 "One of the mediums stood upon a chair and pulled down the 
 blind to the top of the canvases, and then each of them drew a soft, 
 dark curtain from the side of the window to the frames, thus dark- 
 ening all of the window except where light came through the can- 
 vases, 
 
 "The light from the window passed directly through the can- 
 vases and they appeared clear and white. My friend held a picture 
 of his dead sister in his hand, being requested to fix the expression 
 of her face in his mind. We were seated immediately in front of 
 the window, not more than three feet from the canvases while the 
 mediums stood at the two sides of the table holding them and talking 
 to us. 
 
 "After waiting possibly five minutes, one of the mediums said, 
 'You will observe how the canvases are drawing. They are being 
 sized.' The front canvas did seem to be stretching on the frame 
 making a slight noise, as if the thumb were being drawn upon the 
 side of the frame. Presently the noise stopped, and there appeared 
 on the outer edge of the canvases, or rather between the two, a slight 
 shadow. I did not notice it until our attention was called to it by the 
 mediums. It continued to darken while the center remained white 
 and clear. In a few minutes I noticed a pale pink, almost directly in 
 the center. It seemed like the glow of sunrise, but there was no 
 form. Next we noticed an outline. The face was forming. We 
 noticed two dark blurs that grew more distinct, and we saw that they 
 were eyebrows and eyelashes of closed eyes. The lines of the mouth 
 appeared, and the outlines of the head became visible, while the 
 shoulders were distinct; and then the eyes opened out, giving a 
 life-like effect to the portrait. 
 
 "Was I dreaming? I felt like pinching myself to see. A 
 woman's face was looking at us from between the canvases, beautiful 
 in form and feature. 
 
 "My friend had been told to suggest any changes he wanted 
 during the formation of the picture. He now said that he would 
 
4 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 like the face turned a little more to the right giving more of a front 
 view. Almost immediately the picture began to fade from the can- 
 vas, and it grew fainter until it lost every detail. The outlines of 
 the head became indistinct. The eyes went out into mere dark rings. 
 Presently we saw the face coming as before. The face seemed 
 turned a little this time, though I am not positive that it was. I 
 imagined that it was, and the doctor seemed better satisfied ; how- 
 ever, the change was very slight if any. We were so carried away 
 with the marvel of the performance, that reason gave place to senti- 
 ment. The very marvel was inspiring. This time the development 
 was more rapid. The eyes opened again as before. 
 
 "The doctor now asked that the eyes be made a little darker 
 blue, more of a gray ; and while he was speaking I noticed that the 
 eyes were changing to a blue gray, or else my imagination was play- 
 ing me false. He now suggested a slight change of the nose, which 
 was made, and the lines of the mouth were altered at his suggestion. 
 He now suggested that the face was a little too full, and it seemed 
 to narrow slightly. The picture seemed to follow the doctor's 
 thought. He was asked if he would have, as a hair ornament a 
 crescent, a star or crown. The doctor suggested a crescent, and im- 
 mediately a crescent of gold with gems of white appeared. Up to 
 this time the shoulders seemed bare. He was asked to choose 
 whether there should be a high or low collar. He suggested one of 
 medium height and it at once appeared. On looking at the photo- 
 graph, the doctor now saw a string of beads around the neck. With- 
 out speaking, the beads came into view about the neck, one bead at 
 a time. They changed in color from white to amber then to gold. 
 He seemed to conjure the picture. As a dream follows the will, 
 so this pieture followed the doctor's thought. Meanwhile the back- 
 ground had changed in color several times, from white to light 
 yellow, then to dark yellow or brown, and then to green with a tinge 
 of red, after which it mottled beautifully until the effect was superb. 
 The changes took place like waves of light passing upwards over the 
 whole picture. The two canvases were now laid flat on the table, 
 and a third canvas was then lifted from the floor and placed over 
 them for a cover. We were then asked to place our hands on this, 
 so as to 'set the colors.' Soon the portrait was uncovered, and I 
 found the paint was a kind of greasy substance, as I rubbed some of 
 it on my fingers. 
 
 "My friend had enclosed a photograph of his sister, together 
 with a letter to her spirit, between slates for a time, in the presence 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 5 
 
 of these mediums, some three days before this sitting. It was then 
 his appointment was made. 
 
 "I have heard of the Hindu magician who plants a seed and 
 grows a tree before your eyes, and of the turning of water into 
 wine, but here was a phenomenon even greater ; one that seemed to 
 contradict every known law of nature ; and now as I record this the 
 day after, I am more bewildered than when I saw the work done. 
 I do not believe the picture was painted before our eyes, for that 
 is beyond rational belief, and by no process of reasoning can such 
 an idea satisfy my mind. Where did the colors come from? How 
 did they get between the close fitting canvases, and by what mirac- 
 ulous power were they intelligently spread over one of them? 
 
 "We compared the portrait with the photograph ; the psychics 
 asked to see it, claiming never to have seen it before. The likeness 
 was perfect. Any one could recognize it. There seemed to have 
 been no opportunity for trickery or fraud, and everything was open 
 and above-board. We could see all over the room at all times, under 
 the table in front of us, and everywhere. Yet the work was contrary 
 to natural law and all human experience. 
 
 "One of these mediums said to me when speaking of their 
 marvel, 'We are the only people in the world to-day, who positively 
 and absolutely prove immortality.' 
 
 "I expect to work out this problem somehow, somewhere, some- 
 time. But there is no hurry. It will be the result of patient effort. 
 
 "Another lady here had quite a large portrait made. It came 
 in about five minutes. She said it seemed like a rain-storm on the 
 canvas, the colors seemingly being pelted on in waves." 
 
 I also have a report from Thomas Grinshaw, the spiritualist 
 lecturer, and President of the Missouri State Association of Spirit- 
 ualists. He saw a portrait produced on a stage in the auditorium 
 at Camp Chesterfield. An attempt was made to produce a portrait 
 in the afternoon, but it resulted in an accident and nearly caused 
 a fire. The attempt was repeated in the evening with more success. 
 Clean canvases were selected by a committee and faced together, 
 and placed in front of an ordinary wooden soap-box. 
 
 The box was first placed on a little table near the front of the 
 stage. It had neither front nor back, and an ordinary kerosene lamp 
 was placed in the box to shine through the canvases. A black cloth 
 was then hung over the rear of the box so as to darken the room, 
 and cut oflf all light except what passed through the canvases. A 
 medium stood at each side of the box holding them. The portrait 
 gradually materialized, then dematerialized, after which it again re- 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 appeared. He was particularly impressed by the making of the lace 
 work around the neck. A large audience witnessed this production, 
 and a large committee was on the stage and helped to select the clean 
 canvases. 
 
 This is a very brief summary of his report. It will be seen that 
 all of the main features are about the same as described by Mr. 
 Eldredge. 
 
 I also have a report from a gentleman by the name of Odell. 
 He saw a portrait produced in the center of a room with the can- 
 vases held upright on a table, and an ordinary incandescent lamp 
 hung behind them to shine through and show the formation of the 
 likeness. Also in a report I have from Dr. Funk, a production is 
 described where the canvases were set on an easel, and he was per- 
 mitted to walk between them and the window while the picture was 
 coming and going. 
 
 These reports are of great length but I have given here in the 
 briefest possible manner such of their contents as I think will best 
 describe what I think it is safe to say is without exception the most 
 remarkable mediumistic performance ever given in the world. 
 
 After studying these reports, I decided to begin experimenting 
 to discover the secret of the process, always assuming that nothing 
 but natural means were employed. 
 
 Readers of my book Behind the Scenes with the Mediums,^ 
 will remember some correspondence I had through The Open Court^ 
 in regard to some spirit portraits produced by certain famous me- 
 diums. At that time the descriptions of the act, as furnished me, 
 were very meager and incomplete ; and this fact misled me. Naturally, 
 
 1 thought of the old spray method of developing a prepared canvas, 
 and elaborated on the method, thinking that I surely had the prin- 
 ciple upon which the act was performed. However, as at a later 
 date, I was furnished the above accurate reports of this remarkable 
 performance, which showed entirely different conditions from those 
 the first reports conveyed to my mind, I soon discovered that the 
 spray method was impossible ; and I freely confess that the explana- 
 tion given in my book is not the correct one. 
 
 I now experimented with a graduated gauze screen, as there 
 were rumors that such was used. I soon found this impossible ; but 
 after a short time I made a most startling discovery of a subtle 
 principle by which I could cause a portrait to materialize between 
 canvases, and also again to dematerialize at will. This I worked in 
 ■Chicago, The Open Court Publishing Co., 1909. 
 * January and May, 1907. 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. / 
 
 my windows and showed it to a number of magicians, spiritualists, 
 and other friends, among them my magician friend, Mr. Gabriel 
 Rasgorshek, and I explained the principle to him at that time. I may 
 say that it is not a spray method, neither is it any principle of de- 
 veloping a picture, from light, chemicals or otherwise. Also it is no 
 system of projection such as the stereoptican idea advanced by Rev. 
 Osborn of Kansas City, Mo. It is something absolutely new up to 
 that time and entirely unknown to every one excepting those using 
 it publicly and possibly a few of their most intimate friends. 
 
 Mr. Rasgorshek and I both decided that I had discovered the 
 principle by which this thing was done, and that the famous secret 
 was at last brought to the light of day; but owing to the "over- 
 enthusiasm" of some parts of my reports, we thought there was 
 some other thing used with it as an accessory for producing the after 
 effects, such as the lace work, and hair ornament. Neither had T 
 solved the problem of the composition of the colors. So, for that 
 reason, I did not publish my discovery at the time, but waited until 
 opportunity should enable me to verify whether or not my discovery 
 were the only principle used in the production. 
 
 On August 11, 1909, which was nearly six months after my dis 
 covery, Dr. Wilmar (William Marriott) of 84 Bushwood Road, 
 Kew, London, S. W., psychic investigator and lecturer, wrote me a 
 letter of inquiry, which I still have and of which I have furnished 
 the editor of The Open Court a photographic copy. He stated that 
 two of these paintings had arrived in that country, and he asked 
 me to furnish him the fullest report possible of one of these pro- 
 ductions. He did not know I had been working on the case and 
 asked the probable expense of having me see a portrait produced. 
 
 I replied to this letter on August 25, 1909, and gave him all of 
 the reports on the work then in my possession, and I also freely ex- 
 plained to him the principle which I had discovered for causing the 
 portrait to materialise and demateriaUse. After this a number of 
 letters on the subject passed between us. Dr. Wilmar then asked 
 me not to publish my discovery for a time, and I dropped the matter. 
 
 This was the last I heard of Dr. Wilmar for a long time. Mean- 
 while I occasionally exhibited the act in the windows of my office to 
 certain magician friends when they happened to call. 
 
 On January 31, 1911, Mr. Eldredge again wrote me, requesting 
 me to see the spirit portraits which were being produced upon the 
 Orpheum Circuit, and which would arrive in Omaha the following 
 week. Amongst other things he said, "The whole work is exactly 
 as performed by the mediums, and the paint was not dry when the 
 
8 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 pictures were finished. The miracle was repeated twice. There was 
 no switching of canvases, no tables, everything right before the eyes 
 of the committee on the stage. The canvases were handed out to be 
 examined by the audience. The man conducting the work here 
 offered five hundred dollars to any chemist who could tell what sub- 
 stance the colors consisted of. He offered the same amount to any 
 one who could come on the stage and explain how the work was 
 done. This challenge was good all week. The work was exactly 
 like the spirit portrait work performed by the mediums I wrote you 
 about in every detail. There can be no question whatever that it is 
 the same thing as any one who has seen both must admit. If you 
 could solve this you could easily get one thousand dollars a week on 
 the legitimate stage. The mediums made ten times that amount 
 while here. This is certainly as claimed for it — 'the riddle of the 
 century.' " 
 
 He also enclosed a program which I here reproduce : 
 
 PROGRAAl 
 
 MR. P. T. SELBIT 
 Offering a Wierd and Wonderful European Sensation 
 
 SPIRIT PAINTINGS 
 
 DR. WILMAR'S RIDDLE OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Famous Paintings Reproduced by Spirit Artists in Full View of the Audience, Upon 
 Ordinary Canvasses Chosen by Themselves. 
 
 (Continued on Next Program Page.) 
 
 As soon as I saw the name "Wilmar," I felt assured that my 
 principle was the foundation of the illusion. My wife and I then 
 attended the Orpheum Theater, and, naturally being so familiar with 
 the act followed everything in minutest detail. Not a thing es- 
 caped us. 
 
 Sure enough it was my jDrinciple upon which the act was based, 
 and the whole illusion was built around it, and depended upon it 
 entirely, and was utterly impossible without it. 
 
 Later, Mr. Selbit called upon me with a letter of introduction 
 and proved a very fine gentleman indeed. Naturally, I told him how 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. ^ 
 
 the act was done and of my share in making it possible ; and he was 
 courteous enough to take me over to the theater where he worked it 
 for me a number of times at close range. He also presented me 
 with one of the portraits as a souvenir. 
 
 He told me that he had contracted with Dr. Wilmar to produce 
 it on the stage, and to pay for such rights enormous royalties. He 
 said that Dr. Wilmar claimed to be the originator of the idea, and 
 when I showed him the letters of this gentleman, stated that this 
 was his first knowledge of where the doctor had obtained the secret. 
 He asked me to keep the secret private for a time, as he had invested 
 heavily in the act, and as an exposure at that time would cause him 
 heavy financial loss. I promised him to do so. He continued to 
 produce the illusion in the name of Wilmar, and I have lately seen 
 a letter wherein he stated, that up to the time of its date, he had 
 paid over ten thousand dollars in royalties for the use of this illusion, 
 and which he said, according to his information, was the highest 
 price ever paid for a single illusion. Since the above date, Mr. 
 Selbit has visited me and he stated that the royalties he has paid, 
 now aggregate about twelve thousand dollars. He said he would 
 furnish me with the dates and amounts of his payments. 
 
 Spirit portraits can now be produced in vaudeville all over the 
 world, and will materialize between canvases that are selected from 
 a number of clean ones by the audience, just as has been done in the 
 private seance for a number of years by two of the greatest mediums 
 the world has known. 
 
 A number of large, clean, white, unprepared canvases are on 
 the stage. A genuine committee is invited up. They select the can- 
 vases that are to be used. These are faced together before every 
 one, and placed in a nice gilt frame, which is then stood upon an 
 easel. The committee is allowed to pass all around this easel, at any 
 time before the frame is set upon it or afterwards during the mate- 
 rializing. They are also permitted to examine it and the frame thor- 
 oughly. The body of the easel is some two feet above the floor, 
 and the legs of the committeemen can be seen beneath it when they 
 pass behind. A large arc light is placed just back of the canvases, 
 and they are iluminated a most beautiful white. The performer 
 then places his arm and hand behind the canvases and they are dis- 
 tinctly seen through them. The committee now selects the name of 
 the portrait desired from a list of some forty which are printed on 
 a screen. 
 
 Soon the shadows begin to appear around the margin, then 
 comes the rosy glow like sunrise in the center. Later, the eyes grad- 
 
10 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 ually appear as dark rings, and the outlines of the mouth, nose, and 
 head appear. The background is at the same time working in most 
 beautifully ; and, lastly, the eyes open, and lacework appears around 
 the neck, — if the portrait asked for requires it. The canvases are 
 now taken down, and the beautiful, finished picture, about forty by 
 fifty inches, is passed down the aisle. The act is then repeated, and 
 at any time one requests it, the light is turned ofT to show that the 
 picture develops independently of the light. The committeemen can 
 pass all around the canvases during the materialization, and can be 
 within two feet of them. 
 
 There surely could not be two principles in nature, that would 
 produce exactly the same results, in a case of this kind, although 
 those who do not understand the secret cannot of course fully realize 
 this as I do. For myself I am confident that the famous secret has 
 at last been discovered, and I feel gratified that I was able to work it 
 out from a mere description of the act without ever seeing the thing 
 done. 
 
 Selbit related to me that the night King Edward died he was 
 producing a spirit portrait of him, and that the audience went wild 
 with enthusiasm, the orchestra played "God save the King," and the 
 demonstration lasted twenty minutes. This was in London. 
 
 I was refraining from publishing the secret of this act, at the 
 request of Dr. Wilmar, but as he put the act on the vaudeville stage 
 without notice to me, I feel released from further obligation to him 
 to keep the matter secret. 
 
 Mr. Selbit having long since finished his tour, and Mr. Thurston, 
 who holds his rights directly from me, having graciously consented, 
 I shall now proceed to relate the history of my discovery, and to 
 explain the long-sought secret. 
 
 It will be remembered that in my early reports but one canvas 
 was said to be used, and this was set in a window ; but as soon as 
 I learned that two canvases were used and faced together, I knew 
 that a spray developer could not be employed, and I began to search 
 for some other means. I first devised an elaborate system of pro- 
 jection and window traps upwards and downwards, with concealed 
 assistants above and below, etc., by which the eflfects might be dupli- 
 cated. I had Mr. Eldredge examine the building used in Kansas 
 City, and he found it to be solid brick with no chance for window 
 traps and no chance for assistants above or below to give any help. 
 So I knew that this could not be the principle. 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 11 
 
 Mr. Rasgorshek, who has had much experience with mediums, 
 kept insisting that I would find it to be some simple thing that re- 
 quired no apparatus, and that I surely would find a substitution 
 somewhere. He often said: "Abbott, mediums do not dare use 
 apparatus, for the danger is too great. It must be something so 
 simple that if a sitter 'grabs,' nothing can be found to use as evi- 
 dence." 
 
 I also knew that in tricks every little thing is for a purpose, 
 and that nothing superfluous is used when the art. is perfect. I 
 analyzed and re-analyzed the problem, and I decided that there was 
 certainly a good reason for using two canvases. Why did the 
 mediums invariably use two faced together? Surely it would be 
 much more simple as well as conclusive if but one were used. Also, 
 if it were possible to produce a portrait when using but one, we 
 certainly would hear of their doing it that way sometimes. Yes, 
 there was a reason for using two canvases ; and it surely was merely 
 to have the front one conceal from the sitter what happened to the 
 one behind it. When both were in position in the window, and the 
 side and upper curtains drawn and pinned to the front frame, any- 
 thing could happen to the rear canvas and the sitter would know 
 nothing of it. Again, there must be a reason for laying the can- 
 vases over on the table and covering them with a third canvas under 
 pretense of "setting the colors." What could be the real reason of 
 this? It will be seen later why this is. I was entirely satisfied that 
 a painting was made in advance; and that somewhere before deliv- 
 ery of the portrait at the close of the seance, it was substituted or 
 introduced in some way. I knew that in magic, substitutions always 
 take place early in the performance — much earlier than one imagines 
 — and hence the real trick is always executed sooner than is thought. 
 
 Now, evidently the portrait was really produced on the rear 
 canvas, and it surely was in the window at the time the two were 
 laid over on the table. So it must have been substituted before 
 this time. Then it must really have been in the window during 
 the entire coming and going effects. Laying them over on the table 
 would bring it on top to be handed out first. How did it get in the 
 window, and above all, hoiv was it made to appear and disappear at 
 will? Window traps permitting substitutions being impossible, and 
 projection ideas and developers being out of the question, what subtle 
 principle could here be involved? The more I thought, the greater 
 the mystery became; and I finally decided that to take the advice 
 of my friend. Mr. Rasgorshek, and experiment, was the only thing 
 to do. I secured a portrait and a blank canvas, and as I had heard 
 
12 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 rumors that a graduated silk gauze screen was secretly introduced 
 gradually between the canvases for screening off the portrait, T de- 
 cided to try this. I made a rectangular frame that was only one- 
 eighth of an inch thick and placed on it rollers and a windlass, so 
 that I could reel up many thicknesses of silk on it. This I placed 
 between the two canvases in the window and began reeling. I did 
 not decide where I would conceal my assistant, or how get rid of the 
 frame or substitute the portrait ; I simply wanted to discover how to 
 materialize and dematerialize the latter. 
 
 I found that by reeling up many thicknesses of silk the portrait 
 was gradually cut off : but that the canvases were at the same time 
 darkened so that their beautiful transparency was ruined. I saw 
 that this could not be the secret, for the light had to be entirely 
 screened out before the portrait utterly disappeared. As long as 
 there w^as any light the portrait was visible. I next unreeled the 
 silk and I found that the portrait was indistinct even when it was 
 all withdrawn — that it appeared "out of focus" as it were. I then 
 removed the frame from betw^een the canvases and crowded them 
 closer together ; and the portrait, viewed from the front through the 
 blank canvas, immediately became clear and sharp. I again moved 
 the portrait backward, viewing it through the front one. It grew 
 indistinct, more and more "out of focus," until it became an indis- 
 tinct cloud, then merely some dim shadows ; and finally it vanished 
 utterly leaving the canvas clear and white. I brought it forward 
 slowly, and it gradually made its appearance, the dark lines first 
 appearing, then the rosy glow at the center ; and finally the features 
 began to form ; and at last the eyes changed from dark shadowy 
 rings, to open, bright eyes. 
 
 I looked on in awe. Here was the very thing for \vhich I was 
 searching, and without screen of graduated gauze, or apparatus. 
 Here was the long-sought subtle principle, the famous secret that 
 had baffied scientists and the investigators of the world ; and it was 
 a thing so simple that it staggered me. When the canvases were 
 separated, the rays of light passing through the portrait began to 
 diverge and spread evenly over the blank canvas, until, as the dis- 
 tance was sufficiently increased between them, the illumination be- 
 came evenly diffused over it. This distance was about three inches. 
 At the same time, as the canvases were separated, side light was 
 being admitted between them which helped to illuminate the front 
 canvas evenly, and to obscure the portrait. The greatest portion of 
 the effects were within a distance of a quarter of an inch, and nearly 
 all of them within a half-inch. 
 
THE SPIRIT rORTRAIT MYSTERY. 13 
 
 So, to precipitate a portrait and erase it, it was but necessary 
 for the two psychics at each side to move slowly — very slowly in- 
 deed — the rear canvas forward and backward with the most steady 
 and slightest motion possible. This was easily done with the fingers 
 through the slit in the soft side curtains ; and were any one to violate 
 all rules and "grab," he would only find a portrait "just about fin- 
 ished by the spirits." An ideal scheme, just such as mediums would 
 use! 
 
 This principle, then, would account for the materializing and 
 dematerializing of the portrait at will ; but it necessitated a substitu- 
 tion early in the sitting, just as most magic tricks require. Naturally 
 a substitution for professionals is an easy matter; but for non-per- 
 formers it seems a great difficulty. Now suppose the portrait really 
 made and finished in advance of the sitting, how was it gotten into 
 the window behind the blank? It will be remembered that after the 
 selection and thorough examination of the two blanks, they were 
 faced together and placed by a table near the window, from where 
 later on the third blank or cover canvas was lifted. Meanwhile one 
 of the two mediums removed the discarded blanks from the wall, 
 taking them out of the room. 
 
 Now the mediums undoubtedly use various means for making 
 this substitution, varying them to suit the occasion. But I think that 
 in most cases they have the finished portrait in the room all of the 
 time. It could be left standing on the far side of the table from 
 where the sitter enters the room, and could be leaned with its face 
 against the wall, or more probably facing into the room. If the soft 
 black side curtains reach the floor, one of them can cover the portrait 
 completely ; so that should the sitter happen to get in a position to 
 look on that side of the table, he could see nothing. In this case, 
 one of the mediums would take the two chosen canvases and carry 
 them over to that side of the table, and stand them on the floor in 
 front of the portrait. Now, while the other medium seats the sitter 
 at the end of the table in front of the window, the first one has but 
 to lift into position on the table, the front blank and the rear canvas 
 with portrait, leaving the discarded blank on the floor to be used for 
 the cover canvas later. I think this method, being the simplest, is 
 oftenest used ; but more complicated means may be employed at 
 times. For instance, the medium who carries out the discarded 
 blanks may bring the portrait back unobserved when she reenters. 
 
 Here is how I should do it if I were a lady medium. I should 
 wear a skirt that was really open in front but lapped over in a fold ; 
 and I should suspend the portrait on a hanger between my legs under 
 
14 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 my skirt. If I were quite large I could carry a good-sized portrait 
 here unobserved by all. Of course it would not have to be in this 
 particular position, and in fact could be hung on the outside of the 
 skirt, if the medium keeps that side away from the sitters. But 
 under the skirt would be much safer ; and I have always found that 
 female mediums do not hesitate to take advantage of their sex and 
 the sacredness of their skirts, to cover deception. 
 
 As the medium returns from carrying out the blanks and ad- 
 vances to the window to lift up the two blanks and place them in 
 front of it, her person hides them from view and her back is toward 
 the sitter. She now has but to draw out in front, from under her 
 skirt, the real portrait; and this move is invisible to the sitter, as 
 will also be the act of bringing it behind one of the blanks ; and then 
 she visibly lifts both to the window while her person hides the dis- 
 carded blank that will later on be used for a cover canvas. Since 
 the portrait behind the blank is hidden by the latter from the view 
 of the sitter, the deception can not be discovered. The blanks have 
 been examined so thoroughly by the sitters that they are tired of 
 examining them, and are really ashamed to exhibit further incredul- 
 ity. So the psychics, acting simultaneously, pin the soft black cur- 
 tains at the side of the window to the front frame, and at the same 
 time allow the back canvas to tilt back out of focus. The top cur- 
 tain, still being very high, lets so much light into the room, that it 
 helps to obscure what comes through the canvases, when the two 
 are separated but an inch. But before the top curtain is drawn, 
 completely darkening the room, the portrait must be moved or tilted 
 further back. It must be remembered that the bottoms of the can- 
 vases stand on a table end directly in front of a window, with a 
 psychic at each side holding the canvases and discoursing and ges- 
 ticulating, so as to take and direct the attention where desired. The 
 sitter sits in front of the end of the table facing the window and 
 canvases, and the person of one of the mediums is between him and 
 the third or discarded cover canvas on the floor near the window. 
 The sitter naturally thinks that his two chosen blanks are now in the 
 window, and he seems to be seeing right through them and they 
 appear clear and white. He does not dream that his portrait, all 
 finished, is already in the window behind the front canvas, but 
 merely moved back out of focus. 
 
 The psychics have previously watched with sharpest eyes for 
 any marking of canvases, and the one bringing in the portrait has 
 a chance when out of the room to duplicate the markings. Or, if 
 the portrait be already in the room, then one medium must divert 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 15 
 
 the sitter's attention by a slate test or otherwise, until the other 
 medium gets the portrait marked. As to the sitter buying his own 
 canvas, as often reported, it is remarkable that the ones so bought 
 correspond exactly with the ones furnished by the mediums, even to 
 the number of threads per inch in the cloth and the thickness of 
 same, etc. Queer, isn't it? Dr. Wilmar had the canvases of two 
 thoroughly examined in this manner. One was supplied by the 
 psychics and the other the sitter claimed to have bought down town ; 
 but they corresponded as above described. 
 
 Next, everything being in readiness, the psychics have but to 
 manipulate the rear canvas very slowly to get the effects. Mean- 
 while they skilfully employ suggestion announcing in advance each 
 effect as it is to appear. The eyes seem to be dark blurs until the 
 tops of the canvases are crowded together very closely, whereupon 
 they appear to open. That is, the dark blurs dissolve into open 
 eyes, giving them the appearance of opening out. This is particu- 
 larly apparent when the eyes are colored a beautiful sky-blue. The 
 use of suggestion before this effect, by the psychics announcing that 
 "the eyes will now open," impresses this effect upon the sitter's mind. 
 By crowding together the top of the canvases first, the eyes open 
 when the shoulders are still indistinct enough to appear indefinite 
 or bare — that is, mere dark outlines. As the majority of the effects 
 appear the last quarter of an inch, and nearly all of them in the last 
 half-inch, if it be remembered that four or five minutes are used in 
 this amount of motion, one can realize how very slowly the rear 
 canvas must approach the front one. Also the use of so much time 
 greatly adds to the effect when a miracle is supposed to be in the 
 act of performance. The psychics seem to be trying so hard to hurry 
 it up, and the stress of desire is so great, that the slowness of pro- 
 duction produces the effect on the sitter's mind of great effort on 
 the part of the spirits. 
 
 After the eyes open, if one psychic crowds up the bottom of the 
 canvas on her side, the lace work will begin to form on her side 
 and the beads, etc., to appear. Then if the other psychic slowly 
 crowds up the bottom on her side, this causes the lace work to finish 
 and the beads to come one at a time. There is also an apparent 
 change of color as each object takes on clear-cut detail. Naturally 
 during this movement the background is working in most beauti- 
 fully like waves of light, etc. The changes of color are, however, to 
 a certain extent imagination ; and this occurs easily among so many 
 confusing details all coming at the same time. The hair ornament 
 can be made to appear by skilfully pulling off a patch on the back 
 
■«v 
 
 16 THE SPIRIT PORTRi\.IT MYSTERY. 
 
 of the portrait which has been stuck on with wax and with a thread 
 attached, but I hardly think this necessary. The choice is un- 
 doubtedly "forced" by suggestion ; and if this occurs early in the 
 performance, before the ornament appears, the psychics can an- 
 nounce its appearance when the right time arrives and thus produce 
 that effect. For instance, one psychic would say to the other, "She 
 ought to have a hair ornament. I think a crescent would be beauti- 
 ful, don't you? Or would a star, or crown, be better?" The other 
 would say, "Oh, it should be a crescent by all means ; for I think 
 a crown or star would be out of place and not at all artistic. Which 
 
 do you think would be best, Mr ?" Naturally he would choose 
 
 a crescent, and would afterwards think he had free choice. Should 
 he choose a crown or a star, it would only be necessary to explain 
 to him that a crescent is much more artistic, and he would be sure 
 to yield to "superior persons who wield supernatural powers." 
 
 The effects of narrowing the visage, or of slightly turning it, 
 or of altering the lines of the nose or mouth slightly, can be ap- 
 parently effected by a slight jostling of the rear canvas and the use 
 of suggestion at the time. Thus, if the sitter request the visage to 
 narrow, the psychic can say "all right," and at that instant cause 
 the portrait behind to move sidewise the slightest amount. The 
 sitter will see the portrait move, and construe it to be a slight narrow- 
 ing, for the vision being at the time concentrated on the point in 
 question, will see only its movement. The same will apply to the 
 lines of the nose or mouth. Also, at any time, a slightly tighter 
 crowding of the canvases so as to make any feature come out 
 brighter and clearer, coupled with suggestion, will carry the effect 
 of an alteration of the portrait in response to the sitter's request. 
 All of this is the real art of the performance, and what makes it 
 "strong." It is not what you do, but how you do it. The strong 
 way this has been dressed up and presented to believers, is the secret 
 of the marvel and has made it what it is. The principle alone was 
 not so much, but embellished with this incomparable art of presen- 
 tation, it has been one of the wonders of the world. 
 
 Any time that the sitter expresses dissatisfaction with a por- 
 trait, the psychics say, "All right, the spirit artist will erase it," and 
 instantly it begins to fade from the canvas. They slowly recede the 
 rear canvas until every vestige of the portrait is gone, and then 
 again slowly materialize it. 
 
 From all I can learn, all of the objections offered by the sitters 
 are invariably at the psychics' request, which shows they are the 
 result of suggestion. Mr. Eldredge in a letter said : "The psychics 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 17 
 
 kept insisting that we ask for changes in the portrait, and seemed 
 very anxious to please us in every detail." The psychics cause the 
 sitters to think certain things should be changed, and then apparently 
 make the change. The sitter thus thinks every detail was altered 
 to suit his will. As an example : One fine portrait of a beautiful girl 
 was produced for a wealthy farmer of my acquaintance. It was 
 supposed to be his daughter, now twenty years old in the spirit 
 world, but who died when but two. He said: "When the portrait 
 started to come, the hair seemed to be 'done up on a rat' ; and I said, 
 'Hold on ! I don't want the hair like that,' and immediately it faded 
 out." Now I saw this portrait, and the hair was hanging over the 
 shoulders in the most beautiful and artistic golden ringlets and curls ; 
 but the top of the head with the hair thereon was much more deeply 
 colored, or rather covered with the paints ; as these portions of the 
 picture must be heaviest. As a result they appeared as dark shadows 
 before the curls were visible, and the mediums had but to say: "Do 
 you like the hair that way ? It seems to be coming done up on a rat ;" 
 and naturally he would say "no." If not, they would advise him to 
 change it, but there would be no trouble in getting him to take the 
 suggestion ; and then the psychics would fade the portrait and cause 
 it to reappear, with the beautiful curls coming out as it progressed. 
 Naturally the old gentleman thinks the portrait was actually changed 
 at his request. Thus the reader can see how adroit are these psychics 
 at the art of suggestion. They always manage to change a portrait 
 to some form more beautiful and artistic, knowing a suggestion 
 will be readily taken that way. They never attempt, for instance, 
 to change beautiful ringlets and curls to an old-fashioned mode of 
 dressing the hair. 
 
 When the portrait is finished, naturally the extra canvas would 
 be discovered and would arouse suspicion. But if one of the me- 
 diums lifts it for a cover, as if it had been there all along for this 
 especial purpose, its existence is thought nothing of, and hence it 
 does not have to be "got rid of." Of course every one could not 
 put this act on in so "strong" a manner; but ladies with plenty of 
 "nerve" and years of experience and practice, coupled with a natural 
 aptitude for such work, can do so. It must be remembered that sus- 
 picious persons get no portrait. Witness Carrington who was sent 
 by Dr. Funk, and who tried for hours with no success. The ability 
 to choose whom to work for, is part of the art of the psychic. This 
 is why some of them are so successful for so many years. They are 
 so cunning at judging the dispositions and mental characteristics of 
 
18 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 persons that they make no mistake, and only get results for persons 
 whom they are sure they can "handle." 
 
 Readers may doubt the possibility of this great effect by such 
 simple means. Let them try it with good light, and nicely colored 
 portraits on transparent canvases. If still in doubt, I will wager 
 that if anyone who is not under the ban of suspicion, goes for a 
 portrait and suddenly grabs the canvases as soon as placed in the 
 window, he will find the finished portrait in the rear, right on the 
 start. 
 
 An observer trying to catch the psychics would doubtless (if he 
 took notice) see no third, or cover canvas, near the window before 
 the lifting of the two to the window by one of the mediums ; but 
 should they see him directing his attention there he would be under 
 the ban of suspicion at once, and might get no portrait. The psychics 
 control the situation, and their task is to see that the sitter does 
 right, and that his attention is constantly taken and concentrated ; 
 and they are both talking and gesticulating so as to take it. If they 
 observe that the sitter is not giving attention where they direct, but 
 looking elsewhere, "where he has no business to," then look out. 
 They will immediately be suspicious and something may happen. 
 
 Of course it is unnecessary to explain how the photograph can 
 be extracted from slates, or from pockets of coats which were left 
 out in the hall, etc., so as to enable the mediums to get a "snap shot" 
 of it. Any one reading the many slate tricks in my book will not 
 need further enlightenment on this point. Where a portrait con- 
 forms to a photograph, an interval of a day or so is taken after the 
 first sitting, before the psychics will give the portrait sitting. If 
 forced to try for a portrait at once no results will be obtained, and it 
 will have to be tried again later. This gives them time to make the 
 portrait. 
 
 Probably it might be well for me to give some extracts from 
 a very accurate report I have of a sitting which took place in the 
 year 1909, and which shows the nature of this part of their work 
 very well. The gentleman making this report seems very intelligent, 
 and the report is remarkably accurate for a non-performer. He 
 seems to have remembered a large portion of the details very well, 
 and to have forgotten but little which would at the time have seemed 
 to him to be unimportant. Here is part of this report. 
 
 "Jack went in first, and when he came out just before I went in, 
 he remarked to me that he would like to have a portrait. He said 
 that the artist had told him that it would be better for the party who 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 19 
 
 sat for the portrait to have a picture of the subject on his person* 
 and handed me his watch, on the lid of which was an etching of his 
 wife's face. I put it in my pocket and went into the room. After 
 I had received my letter from the slate, the artist remarked to me 
 that Jack wanted to have a picture made of Minnie, I said, 'Very 
 well, I will sit for it.' She asked me whether I had a picture of 
 Minnie on my person. I said, 'yes.' She called her sister, and they 
 produced two framed canvases, which they placed face to face and 
 set up before me, placing them on a table close to a window. They 
 pulled the window shade down to the top of the canvas and draped 
 the curtains along the two sides of the two canvases, and one sitting 
 on one side and the other on the other at the two ends of the table, 
 they held the canvases together while I in front of the table waited 
 for developments. Some shading presently appeared on the canvases 
 but nothing satisfactory resulted. While one of the artists left the 
 room for a few minutes, leaving the canvases in their positions on 
 the table, the artist who remained again said, 'You have a picture, 
 have you?' I said, 'Yes.' She said, 'What is it?' I said, 'It is an 
 etching on the lid of a watch.' She said, 'Let me see the watch.' 
 I handed it to her without opening it. She took it in her hands a 
 moment, but did not open it. She put it in an envelope, and sealed 
 the envelope, and placed the latter with the picture in it between the 
 slates; and she and I held the slates pressed together for a few 
 moments. Still nothing resulted on the canvas. We then opened the 
 slates and she handed me the envelope containing the watch which I 
 took from it and returned to my pocket. I do not see how it is 
 possible that she could have seen the etching, and it would be almost 
 impossible to convince me that the watch left the room even for a 
 moment. I sat a little while longer before the canvases, but nothing 
 resulted. I left the studio. When I reached the hotel that evening 
 I returned the watch to Jack. So much for the first day. I returned 
 to the studio the next afternoon, etc., etc." 
 
 This reminds me of a lady in South Omaha who a few years 
 ago allowed a medium to seal two thousand dollars of her money 
 in an envelope in her presence. He handed it to her without its 
 leaving her sight, and she wore it on her person for thirty days. 
 This woman insisted that nothing could convince her that this money 
 left her sight ; yet when friends induced her to open the envelope 
 nothing but pieces of paper were found in it. The police of Omaha 
 are still looking for the medium, but he has dematerialized. This 
 lady believed in the spiritualist philosophy that "like attracts like" ; 
 * Italics in all these reports are the author's. 
 
20 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 and the medium had no trouble in convincing her that our wealthy 
 men possess "the money influence and that money is attracted to 
 them because of the vast sums they handle or carry on their persons." 
 She was to wear this money after the medium magnetized it in order 
 to obtain this "money influence." 
 
 Now in the case of the gentleman above, why did not these 
 mediums place the watch between the slates without sealing it in the 
 envelope? There could then have been no question but that it was 
 between the slates. What he saw was an envelope resembling the 
 one with the watch in it placed between them. 
 
 Here is how I would make the substitution if I were the lady 
 doing the trick. Just as I dampen the flap of the envelope and seal 
 it, I would leave it in my left hand and reach with my right for the 
 slates on the table. I would follow my right hand with my eyes. 
 This is called "misdirection." The sitter's eyes would involuntarily 
 follow mine, and my right hand ; and during this instant I would 
 allow my left to drop below the level of the table top, and leave the 
 envelope with the watch in my lap, and instantly withdraw from a 
 pocket in the fold of my dress, a duplicate envelope made up in ad- 
 vance for the purpose. When the medium went out to call her sister 
 she could easily explain to her, and that sister could slip her the 
 "dummy" when she came in to do what in the language of the pro- 
 fession is called the "stalling" with the canvases, wherein the rear 
 blank was slipped sidewise far enough for its solid frame to make 
 the shadow effects by the advancing and receding motions. 
 
 At the instant that the right hand grasps the slates, the left 
 comes forward with the "dummy" and inserts it in the slates. When 
 the time comes to take out the envelope I should remove it with my 
 right hand, and ask the sitter to "see if there is any writing on the 
 slates" ; and at the instant he is looking at the slates again drop the 
 hand and change the "dummy" for the watch envelope. During 
 the holding of the slates the canvases were evidently watched for 
 developments, which was simply "stalling for time." Now the other 
 sister could come in and hold the canvases for a short time, standing 
 close to her sister, and finally leave the room after secretly receiving 
 the watch from her hand. By coming in again after photographing 
 the etching, she could return it to her sister's lap in the same way. 
 Or they might have a small floor trap through which the second 
 lady opening it, could reach up and get the watch and return it 
 from below. In this case she would have overheard the conversation 
 about the watch, and would have prepared the dummy and handed it 
 up without any conference with her sister. Having this same work 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 21 
 
 to do SO much they must have a thorough understanding of the 
 method to be pursued in all cases. Of course many methods can 
 be used for these substitutions, and to tell the exact method used 
 I should have to see them done ; but the matter is very simple for 
 professionals. 
 
 These mediums always, or nearly always, frame and pack a 
 portrait before delivery. At such times they very frequently retouch 
 it or add some new thing which the sitter afterwards reports as hav- 
 ing appeared on his way home. I quote some more of the above 
 gentleman's report, which illustrates some work of this character : 
 
 "We spent a good deal of the forenoon sitting for my father's 
 picture without obtaining any result excepting some shading of the 
 
 canvases Nothing however resulted, as I have remarked, during 
 
 the forenoon interview ; so I retired for lunch and came back early 
 in the afternoon and went into the studio and went through the 
 same process as on previous occasions. In twenty minutes from the 
 beginning of the afternoon sitting, my father's face appeared upon 
 the canvas ; and it was indeed a most exact reproduction and con- 
 formed more exactly to his face in life than even to the photograph. 
 During the first part of the afternoon sitting the face alone appeared 
 on the canvas without any background, neither did the first result 
 reproduce his clothing, simply his face and beard. They then in my 
 presence placed the picture in a dark closet that opened off the room, 
 left it there a few minutes and brought it out, at which time all the 
 background was completed, as well as the clothing. They then had 
 the portrait framed. 
 
 "I was so profoundly impressed with this result that I acceded 
 to their request to sit for a picture of my daughter which was made 
 in the course of fifteen or twenty minutes. They remarked to me 
 before framing and packing the portrait that the work would be 
 retouched by the mysterious artists who were doing the work, after 
 leaving the studio. The lady who accompanied me told me, in the 
 absence of the artists from the room, that she was making a very 
 careful study of the face so as to be able to detect any changes. The 
 picture was then framed and I carried the two with me to the hotel. 
 On opening, the lady remarked that there had been a change, viz., 
 that the hair falling back over the shoulders had been curled. I could 
 not corroborate this point ; and if I could it zvould not be very satis- 
 factory. As you know, I had no picture of my daughter ivho died 
 in her early infancy. All I can say in regard to the picture is that 
 it sustains a close resemblance to her mother's family. I had it 
 inspected by a prominent scientist, who has lectured occasionally for 
 
22 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 the purpose of exposing the work of mediums. When he first saw 
 it, he asked me instantly whether there was any pecuHarity about 
 the eyes of my child, calling my attention to the peculiarity referred 
 to. My wife, on being questioned by him, affirmed that such a 
 peculiarity marked the eyes of more than one member of her family. 
 
 "The purport of some messages my friend and I received was 
 that my daughter was very anxious to have me know that she did 
 this portrait work for me, or at least her teacher did with her help. 
 
 "I had at least half a dozen interviews with as many different 
 psychics in New York and Chicago, within a few months after the 
 painting of my daughter was made. It was utterly impossible that 
 I should have been known to these psychics or that any one of them 
 should have known that I had interviewed any other one. In every 
 case something was said to me about my daughter's painting." 
 
 It is quite evident that on the opposite side of the dark closet 
 is a second door which permitted the sister or an assistant to with- 
 draw the portrait on that side, fill in the background and clothes 
 and replace it. Professionals naturally fix their houses to suit the 
 work by which they make their livelihood. 
 
 I have known cases in Denver and elsewhere when a "rounder,' 
 as the mediums call a believer who visits various mediums, was, in 
 the language of the profession, "tipped off" by telephone to the 
 various brothers of the profession. Also, by adroit conversation his 
 interest was always aroused in some other medium before leaving 
 the home of a medium with whom he would be finishing a sitting. 
 This was professional courtesy on their part to their fellows. These 
 stories were related to me personally by mediums who took part in 
 the deception. 
 
 Some very large portraits have been made ; but from all I can 
 learn these are not made in a window, but are covered with a curtain 
 in some way. They are made evidently for the "dead-easies" only, 
 who have been thoroughly converted by small portrait production 
 in windows, and who now merely want a large portrait made and arc 
 willing to pay for it. Hence the psychics in such cases can use such 
 means as may be required in these larger productions. One of these 
 of which I heard was a very large portrait of the "guide" of the 
 sitter, who wanted his guide's portrait made large and was not 
 bothering about the method of production. An analysis of the paints 
 used proved them to be pastels mixed in a vegetable fat. The can- 
 vases are thin and transparent. Some of them seem to have a coat- 
 ing of thin paper and the base of some of the paintings is a solar 
 print. 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 23 
 
 Readers may feel in doubt that such a marvelous performance as 
 these mediums gave is effected by such a simple principle as a mov- 
 ing rear canvas which contains a portrait; but they need only re- 
 member that this same principle enables magicians to give stage 
 performances at big salaries. If it is good enough for that, and 
 for critical theater audiences, it is also capable of the other use 
 when in the hands of expert mediums. Let no one dispute this 
 fact until he "grabs" the canvases at the instant the first shadows 
 appear ; and then let him say whether or not a finished portrait was 
 at that instant on the rear canvas. But the psychics take good care 
 that they are not grabbed at such a time ; for they particularly re- 
 marked at the Eldredge sitting, "If you were to touch the canvases 
 now the picture would instantly fade out." This gave them a good 
 excuse to resist physically any attempt at touching or "grabbing." 
 A bolder investigator might grab and search the mediums' persons 
 and canvases just as they go to lift them up ; but there would be the 
 chance of this being a case where no portrait is to be produced. 
 
 For myself, I am confident that I have given the correct solution 
 of this mystery ; and although I have never seen the work personally, 
 I could hardly be more certain of anything than I am that I have 
 solved this mystery in its principal details. 
 
 The mode of substitution may be different, but substitution it 
 is, and that is certain ; and beyond any doubt the materializing and 
 dematerializing is produced on this principle of the moving rear por- 
 trait canvas viewed through a blank canvas by transmitted light. 
 Readers who doubt, and sitters who assert that there is no substitu- 
 tion, are cautioned to remember that in every magic performance 
 they have ever seen there were substitutions right before their eyes 
 which could not be detected. Remember how deftly the great per- 
 formers of the stage make their substitutions, and how impossible 
 they are to discover except by an expert. Did not Mr. Eldredge 
 assert in his letter to me about Selbit's performance, that there was 
 no substitution? Yet we know there was and I will further on 
 show just how it was made, but it escaped the eyes of that theater 
 audience. That was Selbit's business ; and unless he could make sub- 
 stitutions that are indetectable, he could not successfully run the 
 business. 
 
 I turned to my wife when I saw this performance and told her 
 when the substitution occurred, because I understood the trick ; but 
 I could not see it, for it took place in such a way that no one could. 
 I simply knew it because it was his only opportunity. I afterward 
 proved I was right. So let not the believer think substitutions which 
 
24 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 he can not see are impossible in his presence. The thing is, to know 
 when and where to look for them. 
 
 But all believers in spiritualism are not ready to acknowledge 
 the work of their mediums to be trickery, even when the trick is 
 thoroughly explained to them. Frequently they will insist that the 
 conjurer uses one means and the medium another for producing 
 identically the same effect. They are not all so reasonable as is their 
 President, Dr. George B. Warne of the National Spiritualist Asso- 
 ciation. I revealed this secret to him early enough to enable him to 
 witness a stage performance in Chicago, and to make it possible for 
 him to follow every move and trace the trickery. He said it had 
 been very educational to him, and had opened his eyes to possibilities 
 of which he had never before dreamed. He said that he felt it now 
 to be the duty of the mediums to admit the trickery, or else to give 
 a test sitting, under conditions that would positively disprove the 
 fact that they use the method I have discovered. 
 
 Now, in order to assist in making this conclusive, I make the 
 following offer to these mediums, good for one year, and I shall 
 faithfully keep my obligation: If these mediums will produce a 
 portrait under the conditions given below, I shall pay them the sum 
 of five hundred dollars for it, and shall publicly acknowledge that 
 they do not use the means I have published. 
 
 This portrait must be produced either for me or for any one 
 of three others chosen by myself. I offer this, so that if the spirit 
 artist shall refuse to paint for a skeptic like myself, there will be an 
 opportunity for him to paint for others w^ho are not so hard-headed. 
 This portrait must be produced in my home, or in a room or house 
 selected by myself, and prepared in advance under their directions 
 by myself, with a suitable table, window curtains, etc. I shall retain 
 the key to this room, or have my assistant remain in charge of it 
 until their arrival. This is to prevent the smuggling in of a portrait 
 in advance. On arrival of the mediums, they shall permit two ladies, 
 chosen by myself, to examine their persons and clothing for the 
 purpose of disproving that they bring any portrait or canvas with 
 them. This portrait shall be produced in the day-time on one of two 
 canvases faced together and stood in a window as previously de- 
 scribed. These canvases together with a third one shall be furnished 
 by myself. I shall keep them in my possession until time to stand them 
 in the window. I shall then stand them there myself ; or, if I allow 
 the mediums to do this, shall require the privilege of separating the 
 canvases when in the window, at the beginning of the sitting, so that 
 I can see that no portrait has been substituted. The third canvas 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 25 
 
 which I shall furnish must be used for the cover canvas, if any be 
 used for such purpose. The portrait is then to be materialized upon 
 one of the two canvases in the window, in my presence and in the 
 presence of at least two others selected by myself who shall have 
 been present during the preparation. I do not refuse the right of a 
 believer to be present, if he submit to the same conditions and exam- 
 ination to which the mediums are to submit. 
 
 The portrait produced must be a reasonable likeness of a photo- 
 graph which I shall have with me at the time ; but which — if there 
 be a requirement to place it between slates, or to seal it in an en- 
 velope — I shall have the privilege of sealing it myself and placing it 
 in the slates and helping to hold them. Or, if it be necessary for 
 the mediums to seal and place this photograph, I require the privilege 
 of occupying any position I desire, so that I may satisfy myself that 
 the photograph, envelope, or slates are not substituted. I require 
 both mediums to remain in the room during the entire sitting ; and 
 if a second sitting be necessary, I shall retain the photograph and 
 canvases myself meanwhile, and shall have the same privileges as 
 outlined for the first sitting. Of course I shall prepare the frames 
 with special tools, grooving them in certain ways impossible to 
 duplicate in a short space of time, and I shall stain the wood certain 
 tints so I can follow them easily. Also, I shall make upon the 
 canvases certain markings so that there can be no question of 
 identity. 
 
 In case the photograph must be sealed or placed between 
 slates, I shall furnish the envelope and slates myself, and shall mark 
 or stain them in any way I desire. If a second sitting is necessary 
 I shall require the privilege of changing slates, canvases, and en- 
 velope for this sitting. 
 
 I shall select the house to be used in my own city, providing 
 my own be objected to, and the mediums must give the sitting there. 
 I make this offer in the friendliest spirit and assure the mediums 
 of the most courteous treatment if they will only respond. If I 
 can prove that natural means are not employed, I can well afford 
 to pay this sum ; and I shall be only too glad to do so, and to give 
 the public a statement of the facts that will be worth many times 
 more to the mediums. In view of the benefit this will be to science 
 and to an inquiring and longing world, I sincerely hope that these 
 mediums will accept my offer. 
 
 Nevertheless, I feel sure it will be ignored, even though I 
 double the price. I am so confident that my explanation is correct, 
 that I feel sure my readers will never have the pleasure of hearing 
 
26 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 that the mediums have proven that they do not use this method. If 
 they ignore this fair and sincere offer, I feel that my readers will 
 be justified fn assuming that they dare not give a sitting under 
 these fair conditions, and that my explanation is tacitly admitted 
 to be the correct one. 
 
 Now the stage illusion. The difference between the mediumistic 
 and the stage production of this illusion is merely the difference 
 between hand-work and machine-work. In one case only the hands 
 are employed to execute the movement : while in the other a mech- 
 anism is used. 
 
 Soon after my discovery, I designed a mechanical easel to use 
 in my parlors with electric light, intending to use a floor trap to 
 effect the substitution, but having but little use for it, I did not 
 build it. However, but little of this idea was original with me ; for 
 the use of an easel upon which to stand the canvases was suggested 
 to me by Dr. Funk's report of a seance where the mediums used one. 
 Only the idea of a floor trap was my own, but this has been in 
 general use in many illusions for many years. 
 
 Mr. Odell's report describing a seance where an electric light 
 was placed behind the canvases, suggested the use of the same for 
 an illusion on the stage, or in parlors when not using a window. 
 
 Thomas Grinshaw's report of the use of a box without front 
 or back, just behind the canvases, suggested to me the idea of using 
 a box-like affair without front or back, to be placed on the easel 
 just back of the canvases, for the purpose of concealing the motion 
 of the rear canvas. I designed a sliding affair to use in this, and to 
 move the portrait canvas backward and forward. After delaying 
 in building this mechanical easel, I decided to use a sliding mechan- 
 ism in my windows ; and I partly completed it, intending to use a 
 worm screw from my stereopticon light for executing the movement. 
 If this could not be concealed, I intended to use threads or wires 
 for the same purpose. These were secretly to pass through the 
 floor to an assistant. 
 
 On receipt of Dr. Wilmar's earnest inquiry, in August 1909, 
 thinking he was an investigator like myself making research for 
 the satisfaction of acquiring knowledge, and not knowing he was 
 interested in stage work for professional purposes, I sent him all of 
 these reports describing these things and ideas, together with a plain 
 explanation of the secret I had discovered. Also, I sent my various 
 ideas for making the substitution, including floor and window traps, 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 27 
 
 nested canvases, slitted skirt, etc. In the construction of the stage 
 easel, most of these ideas were utilized. 
 
 The first working model of this easel was built by Mr. Selbit, 
 after he secured the secret and information from Dr. Wilmar by 
 agreeing to pay this gentleman a royalty for its use. 
 
 Mr. Selbit was quite ingenious ; and he presented the illusion 
 very well indeed, but he only produced a portrait. He did not de- 
 materialize it, probably because he used cords instead of worm 
 screws and cog wheels for executing the movement. Also he did not 
 change the colors of any of the parts at request, as my original de- 
 sign calls for. 
 
 It is evident that, if the rear or portrait canvas is to be mechan- 
 
 TbeTasel 
 MECHANISM USED IN THE STAGE PRODUCTION. 
 
 ically moved to and from the front one while the big gilt frame rests 
 on a kind of easel, this motion would be visible to parts of the theater 
 unless concealed by something. Accordingly this portrait has to 
 move backwards into a kind of hollow box without front or back. 
 This box is a mere skeleton frame covered with dark cloth, and is 
 larger than the canvas, but smaller than the big gilt frame ; so that 
 the latter can be attached to its open front end and so that the 
 portrait can be attached to a sliding carriage within it. This car- 
 riage with the portrait can be slid backwards away from the front 
 canvas and gilt frame into the hollow box-like affair, which is also 
 open at the back to admit the powerful light. 
 
 Therefore the easel is really such a box-like affair set on suit- 
 
28 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 able legs to hold it some two feet above the stage floor. The skele- 
 ton frame of the box-like affair is about one foot or more wide, and 
 has the sliding carriage within it. There are buttons for attaching 
 the rear canvas to this carriage when the big gilt frame containing 
 the canvases is buttoned on to the front of the easel. 
 
 The sliding carriage has strings or wires running over little 
 pulleys and down through the legs of the easel through the stage 
 floor to a drum under the stage which at the right time an assistant 
 slowly winds up. These strings then slowly draw the picture up to 
 the front canvas permitting it to gradually materialize. The per- 
 former announces that the box-like contrivance on his easel is for 
 concentrating the light from an arc light on a stand which is directly 
 behind it; but he does not explain how black cloth and black paint 
 that do not reflect, can concentrate light. 
 
 His committee is genuine, and blanks clean. The blanks are 
 usually on the left side of the stage viewed from the audience. The 
 committee first thoroughly examine the easel and large gilt frame that 
 is to hold the blanks. The large gilt frame is made of quite wide 
 material. When it is set upon the easel front, it is buttoned to it 
 in some way. The cloth sides of the box part of the easel have a 
 slit so that the performer can introduce his arm in between the can- 
 vases when the rear one has been slid backwards after the frame is 
 put up with the canvases in it. 
 
 The manner of presentation is like this. The curtain goes up 
 on a fully lighted stage with the easel in the center and an assistant 
 standing on each side of it. The performer now enters, and taking 
 a number of blank canvases, exhibits them and invites a committee 
 from the audience to examine them. The committee comes on the 
 stage, and selects three that they are sure are unprepared. 
 
 The easel being on castors is now shifted to the front of the 
 stage and turned all around so that all can see its simplicity. The 
 committee are invited to inspect it and they do so, walking all around 
 it. The arc light on a stand is also brought forward and shown. 
 These are now shifted to the rear of stage on the left and the big 
 gilt frame is taken down by the assistants and carried to the right 
 center of the stage where it is stood upon the floor facing the 
 audience, and supported by an assistant holding it at each side. 
 There is a narrow trap in the floor of the stage just behind the big 
 gilt frame, but it is concealed from view by the carpet. This how- 
 ever is slitted and held in position by suitable springs. An assistant 
 is directly under this trap with the portrait that is to be produced 
 The performer now steps through the big frame from the front and 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 29 
 
 comes out from behind. This is apparently to show that there are 
 no mirrors, but it is also later on to convince any spectator who may 
 be thinking it over, that there was no floor trap behind the frame. 
 Of course when passing through this frame, he steps over the 
 opening. 
 
 The performer now hands one of the selected canvases over the 
 top of the big frame down into position behind it, and the assistants 
 instantly button it in. But just at that instant, the assistant under 
 the stage shoves up the portrait, and in reality both are buttoned in 
 at once. The audience sees the front canvas go down into position, 
 but can not see the portrait come up behind it immediately after for 
 the reason that the front canvas, the wide frame, and the assistants' 
 persons conceal from view what happens behind. Next, the per- 
 former hands over the top of the frame the second selected canvas, 
 and the assistants make a pretense of buttoning it in ; but in reality 
 it goes on down under the stage in an assistant's hands which had 
 been shoved up through the trap waiting to grasp it. 
 
 The big frame, containing one blank and the portrait, is now 
 carried to the committee who puts marked stickers upon the edges 
 of the canvas frames to prevent substitution. As the painted side 
 of the portrait is next to the blank canvas, the committee thinks that 
 it is also a blank, and the one they have just selected and examined. 
 
 The easel is now shifted to the center of the stage with its 
 center leg directly over a small "pull trap" in the floor, and the big 
 frame is lifted upon the easel and apparently buttoned to it. During 
 this process the rear or portrait canvas is secretly released from the 
 big frame, and buttoned to the sliding carriage of the box-like con- 
 trivance ; and then it is slid backwards six or more inches, out of 
 focus. 
 
 Next the arc light is turned on, illuminating the canvases to 
 a beautiful transparent white; but the portrait, being back out of 
 focus, does not show. The performer now introduces his arm 
 through the slit in the side of the box-like contrivance on the easel, 
 and it can be seen through the front canvas by the audience, who 
 imagine they are looking through both canvases. 
 
 Next the committee chooses the portrait that they desire the 
 performer to produce. Inasmuch as the one that is to be produced 
 is already in the mechanism, this selection must be "forced." This 
 is done in different ways. 
 
 One performer exhibits about one hundred post cards of Paris 
 art subjects, and shows them to the audience, showing that they 
 are all different. These are now divided into two heaps and one 
 
30 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 given to each of two committeemen to shuffle. When well mixed, 
 the performer takes them and states that he will lift off one card at 
 a time, and for some one to call out when they desire him to use 
 the picture at that time in his hand. This is done and the picture 
 in his hand is of course the one the mechanism is set for. He effects 
 this "force" as follows: In the first place all of the edges of the 
 cards are black and he has them on a little black tray. He takes 
 them up and shows them to be different, which they are, and has 
 them shuffled and returned. Now he has twenty cards all like the 
 one he desires to force, lying on the tray ; but the top one of this 
 pile has its top blackened just like the tray ; and when he lifts the tray 
 his thumb rests on this black pile and keeps the cards from scattering 
 about. Of course this pile is invisible at a slight distance ; and when 
 the shuffled cards are returned, he lays them on the tray, but directly 
 on top of this invisible pile. He now picks up the entire pile with 
 the twenty cards all alike underneath, and as quick as a flash, makes a 
 "pass" well known to magicians which brings about fifteen of these 
 to the top. Now he takes the cards off slowly one at a time, and 
 the impatience of the audience causes some one to choose long be- 
 fore the fifteen are all taken off. 
 
 Another method used is a process of elimination. Fifty blocks, 
 all numbers from one to fifty are used. These are separated into 
 two piles and a committeeman asked to point to one of the piles. 
 If the committeeman points to the pile containing the desired num- 
 ber (which corresponds to some numbered art subjects whose names 
 are on a large screen) he uses the pile pointed to ; and scrapes off of the 
 table the other pile, discarding them. But if he points to the other 
 pile the performer discards it just as if he had it selected for that 
 purpose. Next he separates the remaining blocks into two or more 
 piles, and asks the committeeman to point to one or two of these 
 piles. If he points to two that do not contain the desired block they 
 are scraped off and discarded ; but if he points to the piles containing 
 the desired block the performer discards the other pile. Next he 
 asks the committeeman to point to one of the remaining piles and 
 continues this method of elimination until only the desired block 
 remains on the table, or is pointed to directly. 
 
 The performer next commands the spirits to paint the chosen 
 portrait, and the confederate under the stage works either the wind- 
 ing drum and wires (which he has secretly drawn through the pull 
 trap), or rods with cog wheels and worm screws, which causes the 
 portrait to advance slowly towards the blank canvas in front and 
 gradually to materialize. If requested by any one, the spirits will 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 31 
 
 erase this portrait ; or at least it is possible in my original design of 
 the illusion. The confederate under the stage has but to work the 
 mechanism that recedes the portrait, and it will gradually dematerial- 
 ize beautifully until every vestige of it disappears. The spirits can 
 now paint it over; and when it is finished the performer lifts down 
 the big frame, and unfastening the canvases, adroitly gives them a 
 half turn, so as to bring the portrait to the front ; then taking off the 
 front frame, he deliberately turns its face to the audience, and passes 
 it down for examination. A second portrait is now sometimes pro- 
 duced with the remaining blank, and the extra one chosen ; but this is 
 of slight importance, so I shall here omit the explanation of the 
 means used in substituting this portrait from the wings. 
 
 It may be well to state that it is possible to change the color 
 of eyes, hair, flowers or tie, etc., at the second production of a 
 portrait. If some of the committee object to the color of these parts 
 of the picture, the performer can have the spirits erase it and paint 
 it over in the desired colors. Of course this committeeman must be 
 a confederate. Here the principle of compound colors must be 
 utilized. A thin piece of cloth, preferably white silk, can be dyed 
 or have the colors placed upon it and then be fastened on the back 
 of the portrait with conjurors' wax. In this case it might be neces- 
 sary to omit the affixing of the marked stickers, as, unless adroitly 
 held, the committee might see this. Now the light, on passing 
 through the double coloring for the first production would be com- 
 pound. For instance, if the tie is really red and the screen behind 
 is green, then the tie will appear brown ; as green and red make 
 brown. If the green screen extend over other parts of the picture 
 they too will appear in compound colors. Upon someone requesting 
 the performer to change the color of the tie to red, he simply has the 
 portrait faded out ; and then a cord running through the hollow leg 
 of the easel can be pulled and draw off the piece of colored silk to 
 which it must have been attached when affixing the big frame, and 
 this must then be drawn into the hollow leg of the easel. The next 
 materialization will show the tie red. 
 
 The same effect could be produced by a transparent co4ored 
 screen of small proportions being concealed in the arc light and 
 vwhich should be revolved at the right time into position. This could 
 be done by pulling a string running through its base and the stage. 
 This must afterwards at the right time be revolved out of the way. 
 The screen in the first place would have to be revolved into position 
 just as the colors begin to appear with cloud-like effect. This would 
 look like waves of color passing and changing on the canvas. Then 
 
32 THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 
 
 the portrait should be fully materialized under this colored light. 
 Now when upon request the spirits erase the painting, just as the 
 portrait becomes confused, indefinite, or cloud-like, the screen must 
 be revolved out of the light. The second materialization under white 
 light would then show the portrait in its true colors which are the 
 ones requested. I consider this method preferable to the other. 
 Colored glass or gelatine films can be used for this revolving screen 
 in the arc light. 
 
 For the canvases, stage performers use quite stiff white artists' 
 paper pasted on tarleton. This is so thin and transparent that the 
 arc light gives an unusually beautiful effect. The paints are pastels 
 pulverized and dissolved in sweet gin, or some good liquid fixative. 
 This is "the spiritual paint" that "defied the chemists of the world." 
 It works nicely on a paper surface, but can be put on in only one 
 coat like water colors. Pastels show beautiful tints under trans- 
 mitted light and are well suited for this particular work. In making 
 the canvas frames, their surfaces must be kept absolutely level and 
 true, for if warped the slightest they will not contact with each other 
 nicely, and will not show the portrait clear and sharp. This causes 
 performers more trouble than any part of the illusion. The front 
 surface of the sliding carriage must also be perfectly true, and the 
 portrait must be buttoned to it perfectly tight. The big frame must 
 also be held rigidly and perfectly parallel to the portrait, so that the 
 contact will be perfect. 
 
 When in Portland, Oregon, Selbit produced the portrait of a 
 lady's mother, who had died sixteen years before in Germany and 
 of whom no photograph existed ; the lady recognized the portrait. 
 
 Here is how this happened, according to Mr. Selbit who related 
 it to me. Representatives of the press challenged Mr. Selbit to 
 permit a physician to examine and mark two canvases and then to 
 produce a portrait that the latter should choose on one of them. 
 Selbit accepted the challenge. The physician did not want to use 
 Selbit's list of portraits, so Selbit took a list that had been published 
 in the Reviezv of Reznetvs, and the physician agreed to use this list. 
 Each portrait Mr. Selbit had would fit about three titles, and he 
 secretly arranged and numbered a list in advance to correspond. 
 
 Here is how the feat was accomplished. Instead of two blanks, 
 Selbit took six to the physician ; and he examined them and then 
 wrapped them, affixing a seal. This was Selbit's suggestion ; as he 
 said the audience would feel better if the two were selected and 
 marked in their presence. The physician and Mr. Selbit then de- 
 posited these at the box office until evening. This was to prevent 
 
THE SPIRIT PORTRAIT MYSTERY. 33 
 
 the physician from opening and secretly marking them in advance. 
 When the physician first came upon the stage, Selbit asked him if he 
 had chosen a portrait; and he drew out his Hst, and Selbit saw 
 which number was checked. Pretending not to have seen the num- 
 ber, he requested the physician to keep the list until they were ready. 
 Meanwhile he secretly sent word to the assistant under the stage 
 what portrait to use, which was a subject that would fit the title 
 of the one selected. 
 
 Next the physician opened the canvases and selected one, per- 
 mitting the committee to select the other. Mr. Selbit suggested that 
 they omit affixing marked stickers in the usual way, but to use a 
 diflFerent means of marking these. He then had his assistants place 
 first one canvas in the big frame as usual, and then apparently place 
 the second one in. The assistants then brought the big frame to 
 the physician, who wrote his name on the frame of each canvas. Of 
 course the portrait was already in the frame. 
 
 This made such a stir in the press that a gentleman who seemed 
 to believe in spiritualism very strongly, wanted his mother-in-law's 
 portrait made. The next evening Mr. Selbit used the only old lady 
 picture he had ; and after its production, it was taken into the box 
 office to see if the gentleman's wife could identify it. The lady and 
 her relatives went in, and she denied its resemblance at first ; but her 
 husband and relatives insisted so strongly that it was correct that, 
 by taking a feature at a time and shading off the rest of the portrait, 
 they induced the lady to acknowledge that there was a resemblance 
 in each separate feature when viewed by itself. They then with 
 great emphasis insisted it was the lady's mother ; and the lady ap- 
 parently quite timid, reluctantly acquiesced. Then returning to 
 the theater it was announced from the stage that the lady had recog- 
 nized her mother's portrait. If a conjurer who lays no claim to 
 mediumship got this effect, what could a medium do? 
 
 When the reader remembers what a profound and absolute 
 mystery this illusion was, and then reflects what simple means are 
 employed for its production, it should be a lesson well remembered 
 when dealing with the mysterious performances of mediums. 
 
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