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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS
friends that he could accomplish it—and he did.
The second concerns an equally popular actor, a comedian this time, the elder Sothern (1826-1881). On March 20, 1878, a writer in the Chicago Inter-Ocean communicated to that paper the following curiously descriptive article:
Is Mr. Sothern a medium?
This is the question that fifteen puzzled investigators are asking themselves this morning, after witnessing a number of astounding manifestations at a private séance given by Mr. Sothern last night.
It lacked a few minutes of 12 when a number of Mr. Sothern's friends, who had been given to understand that something remarkable was to be performed, assembled in the former's room at the Sherman House and took seats around a marble-top table, which was placed in the center of the apartment. On the table were a number of glasses, two very large bottles, and five lemons. A sprightly young gentleman attempted to crack a joke about spirits being confined in bottles, but the company
