Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1875 — The “Psycho” Mystery. [ARTICLE]

The “Psycho” Mystery.

The curious automatic “Psycho,'’ which has attracted so much attention in London, still remains a mystery. An American gentleman named Coffin claimed to have discovered the secret, aud suggested that ,tlie figure was worked by an, air-blast through the hollow-glass pedestal. This is now disproved by the exhibitors, who close the aperture in the pedestal and satisfactorily show that the figure is not controlled by pneumatic agenci.es. ,|: The Scientific American makes an extract from a letter written by Mr. J. A. Clarke, one of the inventors of Psycho, to a?gentleman in Bostou. Mr. Clarke’s account of the automaton is in substance as follows; Several years ago Mr. Clarke conceived the idea which has been embodied in Psycho, and made a rough model of the invention. He then made the acquaintance of Mr. J. N. Maskelyne, a mechanician of extraordinary ability, and Psycho 1 is the fruit -of tlieir joint endeavorer —: — u In design the automaton is an isolated . figure, said to be perfectly removed from any possible connection with afiybody or anything outside, with no communication (mechanical, electrical, magnetic, pneumatic, hydraulic or otherwise; conceivable from the stage, back, sides, roof, or elsewhere, yet controlled by the influx ence of its proprietors so that the fijgK moves wlieu aud in whatever sired. It is Maelzel’scjiess-playWover again, but without the chances for deception which that piece of mechanism allpwed. The figure calculates numbers and plays whist, but it is adapted for many other feats, and it-works precisely as if there were a person inside, and yet there is nothing beyond the mechanism. The audacious part of the invention is that a maker of automata, or other person, is allowed to see and feel all the inside of the figure, so as to satisfy all senses that there are no spaces concealed by optical arrangement or otherwise. The chief difficulty was in. demonstrating to the public that the automaton is really insulated from all connection with the, stage or with the performer; and it is sometimes exhibited in one way and sometimes iu another. It is placed upon a hollow glass cylinder twenty-four inches in height, or upon the carpet, or upon a loose wooden stand, with legs, to keep

the automaton from the floor. Sometimes the glass cylinder is set loose upon a small wooden stool that is stet loose upon another wooden stand, and the legs of the latter are set loose on glass piano forte insulators. Thff audience are at liberty to go upon the stage and handle and examine all the parts as much as they please, and anybody may remain close to it while it is in operation, and see and" feel that no threads or wires or any other things connect any parts of the apparatus with the outside. • As at presentexhibited, the performance is as follows: >The audience names two numbers, and Psycho multiplies them together and shows the answer (one figure at a time) by opening a little door in a small box and sliding the figure in front by a movement of his left hand. The audience gives it a sum in division, and it shows the answer in the same manner. Then three persons go on the stage, inspect Psycho and the apparatus, ana, sitting at a side-table, play a ganje of whist. The thirteen cards for Psycho are placed upright and singly in a quadrant rack over the range of the figure’s right baud. The arm has a radfifl motion horizontally to find any card wanted, and Psycho lifts the card and holds it up iii view of the audience.. It lifts the card up repeatedly, or keeps it up, at command of any person among the audience. The figure then covers the card to be played. Mr. Maskelyne then takes the card to the table and calls out the names of the cards as the players play them; and sometimes lie retires from the figure and card-table to show that Psycho goes on with the game independently:' of the conductor. After the game it tells, by movements of its arm, the state of the game and the number of tricks iu its favor. Psycho shakes hands with the players, and answers questions by ringing a bell. It also takes part in some unusual card-tricks. An infinite number of effects may be produced, but the above are sufficient show in general what Psycho does.— New York Sun. Says the Gold Hill News: Three wellknown professional sports, two of them belonging to'-G6ld Hill and- the third to Silver City, were, in the absence of anything better, having a little poker game at Dodge «fc Shane’s saloon yesterday morning. A Chinaman who happened to be passing by heard the cheerful clink of coin, and, looking in, discovered that a game was in progress.- John stepped m, and after looking on awhile remarked: “Me heap sabe play all same ’Melican man,” at the same time exhibiting a large sack of coin. The eyes of the sports glistened and their fingers itched to handle the coin ot the heathen. John was invited to take a hand, and in lessthan an hour afterward was seen leaving the saloon with all the spare coin the others had in tlieir possession. The question that puzzled them no less than the numerous circle of friends who gathered around to condole tlieir loss was how such an infernal, stupid-looking, pig-eyed heathen got away with the game. The question is no nearer solution now than when it was first put, and those sports go around looking dejected and feeling exceedingly cheap. They ‘ have the sympathy of their large circle of friends, who are constant in tlieir efforts to cheer them up. —A Charlotte (Va.) paper learns that recently a singular discovery liis been made at the house of Jesse Garth, for many years deceased. It is said that a distinct and accurate likeness of Mrs. Garth, who lias been dead for twenty years, could be ' seen on a pane oi glass in the upper sash of one of the windows, presenting very much the appearance of a photograph negative. 0 Non-payment ot taxes in Massachusetts disfranchises the delinquents. In Boston 24,000 names, have been dropped from the voting list for jailing to pay up.