One of the most startling swindles I ever heard of a medium working was called “finger-printing a Spirit.” In this test the medium shows the sitter finger prints of the departed soul. I hesitated at first about including this fake, fearing to add to the stock of unscrupulous mediums but I finally concluded that the public should know about it. The scheme was first discovered by a sculptor who dabbled some in Spiritualism. One day, several years ago, a workman fell from the top of the building, in which this man had his studio, and was killed. The body was carried into the studio and while alone with it the sculptor conceived the idea of fooling some guests who were to hold a seance that night. He hurriedly made a plaster of Paris mould of the dead man’s fingers and later filled it with a rubber-like substance used in his work. When this had hardened and the plaster had been removed it resembled, even to the most minute detail, the dead hand. During the seance that night he produced finger prints with it on a trumpet which he had lampblacked and upon investigation it was found that these finger prints corresponded exactly with those of the man in the morgue. No one was able to explain the mystery and he kept the secret for some time but later another medium learned it and obtained a position in an undertaking establishment where he found an opportunity after a while to secure the finger prints of several of the dead who belonged to the wealthy class. In due time he arranged seances with the relatives and convinced them of his genuineness. There are two cases on record where fortunes were at stake because of this sort of fraud. In one case five hundred thousand dollars changed hands upon the recognition of the finger prints of a man who had died two years before. His hand had been maimed in an accident and all the scars showed in the impression on the Spirit slate. Fortunately a confession was wrung from the medium and the money went to the rightful heirs. A “manifestation” which seems mysterious but which is in reality ridiculously simple is worked as follows. A glass is filled with water and placed on the table in a cabinet. Ribbons or bands of tape are then drawn over it at right angles and the ends fastened to the table with nails. Thus secured the glass cannot be lifted and the top is entirely covered except some small openings. The medium is then locked into the cabinet for a few minutes, during which he keeps up a continual clapping of his hands, but when the cabinet is unlocked the glass is empty of water and the general impression is that the Spirits drained it. As a matter of fact the medium had worked his hands up near his face and shifted from slapping his hands to slapping his face with one hand. This left a hand free and with it he had no difficulty in producing a straw from his pocket and sucking the water from the glass.