Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1879 — Heller’s Second-Sight Feat. [ARTICLE]

Heller’s Second-Sight Feat.

Among the many other things which Heller devised for the mystification of the public was what he was pleased to term •* second sight,” or the supposititious transmission of intelligence of the nature of objects from nis own mind to that of another far removed from him. Everyope knows with what success the trick was performed in this and Eastern cities. It baffled the investigations of savants and newspaper reporters, and was finally acknowledged to have been so cunningly devised as to be inexplicable. Accompanying Heller was a brown-haired lady, who appeared on the stage as a blonde, whom he introduced as his half-sister, and who was supposed to possess this mysterious power of second sight, at least to, appearances having some supernatural attributes of mind which could not be explained. On Howard street, in tlds city, at present resides W. H. A. Chapman, a gentleman who traveled with Heller for upward of six years, over a large part of the world, and who claims to nave assisted him in constructing the system on which Haidee Heller, the lady above referred to, was enabled to perform such wonderful feats. In conversation with a representative of the Call yesterday, MrChapman stated that Miss Heller was not Miss Heller at all, but a very smart young lady named Miss Rosa* Kitts, who had become acquainted with Heller in London in 1863, while the latter was doing his tricks at the Haymarket Theater. It was at this time that Heller and Chapman had about perfected the “second-sight” mystery, the latter having previously taken the place subsequently taken by the lady on the stage, and Miss Kitts was instructed in the mystery, and, as the result showed, proved a grand success—the mysterious power in a handsome woman having greater fascinations for the public than in a man. In reply to a direct interrogatory as to the “second-sight” mystery, Mr. Chapman refused to ex* plain it. He stated, however, that, while it was founded on a system of intonations in Heller's voice when he asked Miss Kitts the question as to what he held in his hand, the fact that no one had ever discovered the secret showed the system to be complicated. The ability to learn and master the trick he considered a gift, which this lady possessed in an eminent degree, and, having which, practice was only necessary to reqdersuccess certain. At one time, after Heller and Chapman had fallen out, and while both were in Australia, the latter organised a “sec-ond-sight” entertainment on his own hook, and totally regardless of Heller’s hook, .which resulted in considerable excitement in that country. However, as “second-sight” competition proved unprofitable to both magicians, the enterprises were soon mutually abandoned.—San Francisco Call.