Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

Have these spiritualists never witnessed the performance of a clever conjuror who confesses that all his tricks are worked by mechanical means and sleight of hand? or have they never seen apparent wonders performed, the mystery of which they could not unravel? They must have done so, and yet we have never once heard such men as Heller, Houdin, Professor Anderson, Maskelyne and Cooke, assert that their performances or manifestations were the works of materialized spirits. One of the tests offered by the mediums is the rope-tying trick, made so famous by the Davenport Brothers. It has been clearly demonstrated that it was merely a trick. The medium has in his hand a coil of rope about twelve yards long. The lights are extinguished, and a few seconds afterward, when the gas is lighted, he is seen securely fastened to a chair, his hands tied, and the rope made fast between his wrists. One of the company is requested to examine the rope and seal the ends of the knot. The gas is again extinguished, and a tambourine is heard bounding about the room. A hand--and a very material hand--claps the faces of the nearest persons, hats are knocked off, a bell is rung, arms are pinched, and various other manifestations occur which fully convince the astonished devotees that some one--spirit or otherwise--is evidently giving free vent to a playful and mischievous disposition. The medium, of course, claims that these manifestations are performed by spirits summoned by him; and he is believed, not because the spectators suppose that spirits could be so summoned and be made to manifest their presence, but that, because the medium is tied with a rope, the ends of which are so sealed as to prevent his getting free from the bondage into which the spirits have placed him, he cannot possibly be the one that played the tambourine, rung the bell, gave the blows, etc.--ergo, it must have been the spirits.