Hie Fetish of the Waxworks i i • REMARKABLE achievements of Ivan Brodsky, physician, whose investigations into psychic phenomena enabled him to cure spirituul diseases and to exorcise evil spirits from the bodies of their victims. 1 I A A By 11. M. EGBERT A A \ iCopyrijcht. IWJ. to W. O. Chapman.j (Copyright In Great Britain.) \UL UIIPUY, Frenchman 1 | and patriot, more Yankee Tj W than the native born, j since he took out naturali zation papers, wears the British flag in his button hole on Independence day. A story hangs upon i tvJl-J this, the story of a dead i hero to whom the pres ence or Paul became an outrage and i abomination. And it was Brodsky who saved Paul from his post-mortem ven geance. „ A story hangs upon this, the story of a dead hero to whom the presence of Paul became an outrage p.nd abom ination. And it was Brodsky who saved Paul from his post-mortem ven geance. The psychical investigations of Dr. Ivan Brodsky, and the marvelous re sults which he had obtained in his warfare against the hosts of evil, some of which I have previously re counted. had by this time made him known to a large circle of those to whom such things as spiritual pos- i session are facts rather than theories. In hospitals, in prisons, wherever we find pain and sin congregated, occult manifestations are a commonplace of existence, though fear of ridicule dei bars the inmates from making any mention of them. It was in such in stitutions that Brodslcy's reputation spread broadcast. But there are pris ons for the dead as well as the living, as I shall show. Neither Brodsky nor I was greatly surprised when a visitor entered his study one evening and implored his aid in the unraveling of a mystery which had, he was convinced, a su pernatural explanation. "At least, I , can't help thinking so myself, sir," said the man, speaking fluently, but with a slight foreign accent. "Al thonugh I am not a believer in such things myself." i Prodsky's brows clouded; that was the stock phrase that he detested. "If you do not believe in such things, how dare you make the sug gestion that they exist?" he cried. "Bo honest with yourself and with ni". man, or go elsewhere. Do you believe in them or do you not?" "Yes, sir, I do," replied our visitor. "But when one makes such an admis sion one is ridiculed —it's hard —" "Humph!" grunted the doctor. "Go ahead with your story." Tl'.e visitor sat down and fingered j his hat nervously. He was apparently j n man of the laboring class, to Judge 1 from his appearance; yet he showed ! signs of intelligence superior to that j of most of his kind. I could account j for his mental disturbance only when | ho had finished his story. "I'm a Frenchman by birth, sir," he ; b> grin, "and I've been seven years In j this country. I'm a naturalized citizen i and proud of my adopted country. I learned my trade in Paris; it's a queer trade, and there's not many throughout the whole world follows it, an that it pays well, especially as it (requires a certain amount of artistic ability, though less than you would •oppose. 1 am a maker of wax figures for the Waxworks theater on Fifth ■tri et. You may not know the place, gentlemen, for people seem somehow to huve lost interest in that form of entertainment. though it used to be ' the craze in years gone bv. My task : Is to model life-size wax figures of all people of prominence. We've got the famous murderers, of course, and the presidents, and the heme of the rev olution, and all the fuinous kings and , <pu ens of England, the great soldiers ' ami sailors Wellington, Napoleon, j Kelt, on " "Faugh!" sairl the doctor. "I.et the dead rest in their grave* Don't you know thut every time you set up an A 112 fIF I j li */«*'» tr'tit/'/ t, /• ./<IW /»*•» In » (e of Ihe d«ad you form a focus In , which all that remains or bis per ft' ' ii,' 4«A»Ml«N<litietti HK5.11,.,1 making rep , Ilea* of lilt iii moil*- which would hn.<" im I title.l v.#*, my friend. had figure* be.it known «ibt *l, and HUMt spiritual at all Do air." i.atd our v Utter, "a« I »■ I in ci.mtai.ily m *„rk faah I MM be |tr.j|ifls'.or Wo didn't have any of naval officers up to a few weeks ago. Then came Dewey's vic tory over the Spaniards and naval men became the rage. Mr. Margotson is always looking out for something new, so he says to me, 'Dupuy, let's have a few statues of naval officers of history. Do you remember any?' 'Sure!' said I, 'there's Vilieneuve and St. Page and —' 'Quit talking French,' said Mr. Margotson. 'What about John Paul Jones and Nelson?' So I set to work and made replicas of them. The one of Jones was fair, but the Nelson statue was first-rate. 1 did it ali from his portraits, and there he stands in the gallery with one arm and one eye, and everybody who comes in recognizes him at once. And that brings me to the point." "Ah, you've had trouble with Nel son?" cried Brodsky. "Moil dieti!" said Dupuy, lapsing into his native tongue as he wiped his forehead, "he's trying to murder me." The man broke off and eyed us fur tively. I had long learned to keep guard over my face, but incredulity was in my. heart. As for the doctor, he said nothing, and the man contin ued : "It must have been a week ago that the first thing happened. I was adjust ing the scabbard of his sword —we use real swords in our scabbards —and the point flew through and went right into my wrist —just missed a large artery. Look!" He held his hand up for our inspec tion. There was a ragged cut, half healed, along the base of the hand. "And I'll sweat that the figure pushed the sword through the scab bard —pushed it violently, for it cut clear through the leather. But I didn't catch on just then. Then, four days afterward, as I was passing it, the thing flew from its pedestal and keeled me over. My head just missed the iron radiator by two inches. And I tell you, it didn't fall, it fairly threw itself at me." "What does Mr. Margotson say to that? asked Brodsky. "He laughs," answered Dupuy. "I asked him to let me melt It up to-day, but he refused. But there's worse to come. Yesterday, when 1 was passing by, I felt all at once the most peculiar sensation of sleepiness come over me. 1 remember stopping and passing my hand ove; - my forehead; an instant later my wife's voice seemed to ring in my ears. 'Paul, wake up for God's sake!' she cried. I opened my eyes and I was standing in front of the wax figure, with the naked sword in my hand, pointing at my heart. And yet I have no memory of it all. But when 1 looked up the face was leering at me." "A figure of wax—" I began incredu lously. Then the man shot his final bolt, which he had kept In reserve, with all the dramatic power of his race. "It isn't wax!" he screamed, and fell to shaking from head to foot. What? I cried. "It's turning into flesh and blood, sir'" "What does Margotson say to that?" "He laughs at me. 1 don't know what to do. I've half a mind to melt It and let Margotson discharge me; and yet I have my wife to think of, and there's no demand for such men as me, the business having fallen off so. And If I stay there, one day the thing will kill me." "Enough," said Brodsky. We'll go there at once. Can we get In?" "I have the key," answered the Frenchman, putting on his hat. We three left the house together We caught a car on the main road, which ran past us one block away, and, half an hour later, stepped out at the entrance to the waxworks theater, which steal in what was now the heart of the b.illness section of the city, timl Mas, In consequence, almost completely deserted at this hour of the evening. Our companion pulled out a key and opened a aide door. We went up into a great hall, round which were ranked statue* of celebrities, lite >lze figures of strikingly human as peel And yet, uitisud Brodsky, stopping to regard a group of cleverly arranged heroes of our civil war. "the men who .•re. i these think they have nothing more than tho external sheila How ignorant th«y are ,»f the psychic quail ties of their actious' Indeed, what do th«y dreaiu of anything beyond the material' Y»t this gallery is almost a breeding ground of souls Who can iik .mure what Influent .-i such being* | draw down to them' Well, at least : no evllsplrlt would l.e attracted hither among these men who olf» ml up their ; lives for their country"* Duput led the »») toward an end of 'lie git at hall Here I a group of tiMureh attired In lit.orglau dit>», , dfHtly NMISUH would BE found among !h*»e tint ul lltelu, feo*«Vt.r, U'rllltll I ntigularlv Int ongruuns ami t.m of plat. Ii as* a ah#.rt, thick »et man In j the tt.M.iu e .11 a U>. . haul, oi lotla) It esi.nl taotrei; | hi ail til then I dW ■. I .i m CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1910. But the proprietor seemed still more confused than his assistant. He came forward sheepishly, and a mask seemed to have descended upon his blank face and blotted out some curi ous emotions which I bad thought that I read there. "Mr. Margotson—these are two gen tlemen who are Interested in what I told you about the statue," Dupuy stammered. Margotson's face grew with rage. "Newspaper writers, eh?" he shout ed. "Come to write up my museum, I suppose! I don't want your adver tising; I've got all the customers I want and you can't do me no good. Damn your curiosity; this fool's been telling you some of his silly yarns about the Nelson statue, I suppose!" Tiiis rage appeared so abnormal that my medical training induced me to examine Margotson from the patho logical standpoint. Rut Brodsky look ed into his face steadily and laid his hand upon bis shoulder. Margotson's anger seemed suddenly to evaporate. "They're only interested in the statue's turning into flesh and blood, sir," said the Frenchman. Unluckily these words brought about a return of Margotson's frenzy. "Flesh and blood? Rubbish!"' he shouted. "Arrant nonsense, that's what you're talking, Dupuy. What's the matter with the statue? It's a very good statue, one of the best you've made. It's new wax—green wax, we call it in the trade —and it ought to have had time to mature, only the public were so crazed over the naval officers I didn't have time to let it lie. That's why it's harden ing—because of the fumes from the leather factory across the street. They drift in here something terrible. bad u/ith a ujild cry. mm iSO\ ' Look at him!' he jcr-eaxneJ. I /' j \ H» * 1 j That's all that's the matter with It. Look!" He switched on an electric light | upon the wall behind him, and for the j first time I saw clearly the face of the great English hero. There were the irregular, thin, homely features, lit by a flame of patriotic enthusiasm. Yet, admirably as the artist had caught the inspiration of the painting from which he modeled it, there seem ed to be something more, some hardly defined vein of cruelty, of caprice, that actually gave the face the property of seeming to reflect a certain change of emotions, an Instability of mind as though the thing possessed some con scious life. And the skin surely that was the skin of a man. with the blood mantling in the flesh beneath. Du puy started back with a wild cry. "Look at him? Look! I swear I never put that smile upon his face," he screamed. "He's changing He's changing, i tell you. Lord preserve us all' (Jet rid of it, Mr. Margotson." "If you hand me out any more of I that nonsense I'll fire you on the j spot," shouted the enraged proprietor j "You're going daffy, Dupuy, that's j what's the matter with you lie's j always had that smile. Kxamine the wax, gentlemen; It's hardened, that's all." With horror and repulsion I laid my linger on the smooth surface of the cheek So life like did It appear i that I could have sworn the blood [ tudi d out of the arteriole# beneath the pressure, blanching the surface of the skill. And yet It was of wax It was not flesh and blood Hut flesh and blood differed less from it than It differed from the unreal and waxen figures around It It stooped half tor ward. It seemed Instinct with slow ly dawning vitality And surely Its expresulon hud changed, It had not smiled thus, with the cold uiulevo lence ni a conqueror, when Mist I hud seen It j Then odd' ' i Margotson sc<-tued tralixlortU'd though he adapted his mood to uit Ills itiiud, he burst ! Into a wild pen I of laughter ' Good old Neh.'in,' he shouted, and 1 the sounds re echoed from th« roof ! and tang through the hall, while for on** d'i udful moment I **ould have ; sworn than an answering emotion flit 1 lag" hint *nT rIL y«tr salarj He makes me feel HO Rood. He wants ME to do something for him and I'll find out what it is and do it." "You've given him a body and he's getting your reason, my friend," said Brodsky, somewhat shaken by this un expected outburst. "Come away, come away, gentle men," cried the Frenchman, pulling us by the arms. "He's mad, God help him. I should have told you he'd been acting queer, but last night, when he laughed at me so much, I thought that it was only overwork. He's as mad as a loon." We did not need to be urged, nor was there necessity of excuses. Mar gotson had already forgotten us and was standing before the statue alter nately capering and grimacing. "Now, I'll give you my advice and shortly, and you can follow it or not at your peril," said Brodsky. "Get your employer home in safety and then slip back and chop the thing to pieces before a tragedy supervenes. No, that's all I've got to say to you except just this; Give up your trade and learn something that won't bring you into conflict with all these vital forces that hang round such places." And with these words he fairly hurled himself out of the place, leav ing me to follow him as best I could. I think I mentioned once how sen sitive the doctor always was to the morbid things of life. Perhaps it was a certain sensibility to those invisible influences whicfi accompany moods and invest those places where any violent emotions have been at play. At any rate, having seen so much of the dark er side of life, Brodsky was strenu ously insistent upon cleanliness and wholesomeness. "We've got to leave such things alone and work in the sun," he- used to say. "This is our working day; when the night comes at last, may our good deeds he our protective armor against all the host of devils .on the night shores that we shall pass through." "You believe we have to pass through some place of purgation?" I asked. "We'll have to clean up somehow, in this life or the next," he answered. "We can't get into heaven with dirty fingernails." So, on this occasion, I forebore to question him when we got home, ltrod sky went to a closet where- he kept many relics of his earlier life, and came out with a small Union Jack up on a moldering staff. "The flag of the vessel that bore me from Poland, where the Czar's emissaries were seeking my life." he said sadly "To what better use can It be put?" Then he explained the mystery. "It is a fetish," he said filling his pipe and putting at It slowly. "It Is i xactly similar, In every particular, to the idols of the West Africans— or, for that matter, to any Idol The savage makes some dreadful Idol to worship, sacrifices to It until the thing becon es instinct with life and filled with all the passions of the worship pers; then a devil has been called in to existence whose evil Influence Is Incalculable. I tell you, It was no mythical devil that the early Christi an missionaries bad to face, nor those of today "After death the pure spirit flies to Its appoiutetl resting place, b-uv ing its two bodies moU'erlng behind it One Is that earthly body that we all know; the other Is the soul body, the body of desires, a semiconscious force that survives for months or y<ais, according to the condition of ! the di<,iit being Do not mistake me, this is not Kelson That great ad ' mini! is unconscious of this replica of his there In the Waxworks theater It Is a group nf • motions such as po» i sesm-d N'elson, a man of strong feel lugs. iet not necessarily hi.. The , war HI ••uthusla M of the CROWD* that I have visited that plain have fo< used i the»< emotions, much as the buriilnii gla i fm uses the raM <>i the «u* He member, as yet this creature Is only half conscious It vaguely, as In a dre«l»>. feels this life within llilsi If. i It Is rising toward a conscious n { I lil>'iiie Vint that fool Margotson is 1 the tool by which It means to wreak its enmity upon Dupuy." "But why does it hate the French man so much?" I asked. "Do you not recollect Nelson's mot to?" the doctor asked—'hate a French man as you would the devil?' This elemental being that has attracted these emotions that made up the great admiral's soul body has neces sarily the identical feeling. What does it know of the time that has elapsed, or the changes of history? There is the Frenchman, and it will have his life —by itself, if possible. If it cannot kill him, as it tried, it will certainly do so through Margotson. Well, it's none of my business,'' he said. "I've warned Dupuy." And he went to bed, while I forgot to ask the purpose of the Union Jack, which I saw him stuff into his pocket. But I knew that Brodsky could not dismiss his own responsibility so easily. He did not undress, for, from my room, which adjoined his own, I heard him pacing the floor with short, quick footsteps, the greater portion of the night. I fell asleep at last, and had hardly closed my eyes two min utes, as it seemed, before I heard the front door bell jangled violently. I started up in bed, filled with horrible presentiments of evil, and began to dress myself hurriedly. A few mo ments later Brodsky tapped loudly up on my door. "Dress yourself as quickly as you can," he called. "There's work on foot for both of us before the morn ing." As I hurried on my clothes I heard an agitated voice in the sitting room outside, which 1 had little difficulty in recognizing as that of the assistant. My judgment was correct; when I emerged I found him seated in a chair in a condition of collapse, and Brodsky standing over him, holding a glass of some stimulant to his lips. The doctor was fully dressed, even to his hat, and from his pocket there protruded a small corner of the Brit ish flag. We went out together with out any explanations. Luckily the cars ran at intervals, and we saw one approaching us when we reached the corner of the main street. We clam bered in; it was empty, and, during the ride, I learned in broken ejacula tions from the man the cause of his visit. He had halted irresolutely at the entrance to the Waxworks theater aft er we left him. Then he retraced his steps, determined to carry out the doctor's instructions as soon as he could get Margotson away. He saw his employer standing before the statue, regarding it silently, as though in a trance. Dupuy crept up to him, passing the statue of necessity upon the opposite side. And then he real ized that Margotson had been ob serving him. Margotson had drawn the sword from the scabbard of the admiral and stood in such an attitude that Dupuy could neither advance nor retreat. At the same time he experienced a return of that deathly faintness that had possessed him on a previous oc casion, as he described to us. As in a trance he saw Margotson advance stealthily toward him, while he re mained incapable of resistance; then, once again, he heard his wife's voice ring in his ears and recovered his senses. He leaned aside as Mar gotson thrust, and, running like the wind, gained the street outside, and had presence of mind enough to lock the door behind him. "But I don't come in,"he insisted, as we gained the side door. "No, sir, I've seen enough for to-night. I don't go in." It took all Drodsky's resolution to persuade Dupuy to come. Without his presence, the doctor said, he would be- powerless. With him, he might still break this spell and bring back Margotson to sanity. And at last, very timidly, Dupuy crept in be hind the doctor. As Brodsky un li U | I 1 tjfood jf/JI, bi.i up%ua locked tlit< door the key fell from hi finger* "The key! You mum And It,"he | cried to me "Under no clrcum I stances may you follow us without |it To do MO may be fatal Iteuieiu ! ber!" And before I hot time to an | swor I Hitw him spring lightly up the Slull'uiiy, drugging the unwilling ! Frenchman wlih him My lm• <JIMi• - impuUc vius to iiiixli after liliu then 'lt*' Iplltte rente to my aid ami I I sltm|nil for the key. The uitftit *us j dark, Mini It was two minute* before I found It Then suddenly, from with In, I ln-uid Mild shoutN unit » Mam I sprang up the stairs and »l««m the { rlench'td tut* till I gained <he •-ml. I where | a» shadow* h<nerlng Pratt tlcally I switched on an electric tight. Then I perceived Margotson, his faoe aflame like a madman's, thrusting at Brodsky's with the admiral's sword while the doctor parried hi > with admirable grace and ease. Dupuy came running up to me. "He rushed at me," he cried," with his sword drawn, and Dr. Brodsky snatched a sword from Paul Jones' re plica and met him. Look! The doc tor wins!" Like every Polish gentleman, Brod sky was an adept with the foils. Cer tainly a clumsy mechanic such as Margotson could not have expected to overcome him. Yet, as I watched the tense interchange of sword play I was amazed at the skill shown by Margot son. It seemed as though the courage and prowess of the great admiral had descended upon him. Twice he lunged so fiercely that the point grazed Brodsky's arm; then, with a sudden twist, he sent the weapon fly ing from the doctor's hand, and rushed—not at him, but straight to ward Dupuy. So swift was the im petus, he was upon us before we could stir. And then, just as the blade seemed about to pierce the French man's heart, something came flutter ing downward over his head and the sword fell from Margotson's hand and he stood still, his eyes fixed up on vacancy, his body immobile, while Dupuy released himself from the folds of the union jack that Brodsky had so admirably thrown over him. "And—you think I can go back to my job?" asked Dupuy the next morn ing. "By all means," answered the doc tor. "Margotson will remember noth ing whatever of his insanity. So you'd better hurry up, or he will want to know why you are late. You need not fear the statue. It will have re sumed its natural aspect, and, in case any remnants of its power remain, a small British flag in your buttonhole, especially on holidays such as Inde pendence day. Yes, that's your pen alty, Dupuy, patriot as you say you are; the only alternative being the destruction of the statue, which Mar gotson won't allow. And, when you can. try to get another occupation." "It was a desperate chance," con fided Brodsky to me afterward. "Still, one can deal with these elemental forces much as with lunatics; the mad impulse of national hatred was shattered instantly when it perceived the flag of its country. When Margot son wakes up upon the floor of th» gallery he will think that he got drunk the night before." "But tell me," I cried suddenly," why did you make me wait till I found the key?" Then the solution came to me. "You knew our lives were in danger and wished to save me from the possibility of injury," I cried. "Pshaw!" muttered the doctor. "Just accept facts and don't put senti mental interpretations upon them." "FOR VY?' 7 ASKS THE DUKE Customer Indignant at Treatment Ac corded Him When He Visited Swell Barber Shop. The duke of Essex came to Prank's bootblack stand in front of the Esse* market court yesterday, asking; "Vy is it a swell barber is so fresh?" The stand inquired to know, the New York Sun says. "To-day I have been by one to get me a shave and haircut. Which was all I wanted —no more. No sooner do I get in the chair comfortable and feeling slick than he grabs my cheek by two fingers and looks awful at it. 'Wnss isst?' said I. 'For vy do you look like that at my face? Vat's de matter vit it? Ain'd it a good face?' Oh, meestair,' says he 'you need a raass-arge.' 'Nix on that," say I, 'I don'd need notliin' more expensive than a shave and haircut,' 1 nearly was shampooed and had to fight off a boy that would shine my shoes, a rat haired swell manicures, and a whisk broom kid. And besides it cost me 40 cents and five cents for the barber Vy is it?" " 'lt's holiness,' ventured Able Sol peek. "Business not!" snorted the duke "Ven a man comes to my office an' says"l vant my will drawn,' do I say to him. "Sure, but you also want to get a divorce from your old woman and a warrant for de little boy of your neighbor?" Veil I goto buy a hat does the man say to me, 'Ve have hats dat'll lit you. but if you let us hammer down your head a little It would help some.' Or I goto buy a necktie an' do dey try to sell me a rocking horse aiul a barrel of her rings and den say, 'lf you take our swell choking treatment your neck lies will look bedder?' I RUCS* not! "Barbers," said the duke, depart ing. "Is anudder word for rascals I wish I had not given de swell barber dat nlcktle." Origin of Blnocle. The word hlnoele Is spelled in many different »uys, all of which are, how ever, phonetic equivalents of the cor reel one The word Is evidently the Latin blnus, double, and oculus, at) eye. and was probably adopted on a«' count of the Importance of the doubl* combination* which are the chief counting element of the game, In all German works on card game*, and a>* lordlntc TO IIO>IM, the name Is spelled as we give it; but the prouunclatlcu of the initial "b" In Herman Is so near that of "p" that "pinochle" is tourer the correct spelling than any other form There ia no authority fur the Introduction of the "h," which has led some persons to think the word a • om|Miiind of bla' and "knockle," and In, gtwn rise to the forma bittoehK pinochle pinochle, pinuale, pemtclfe. II aa> hie. peauvkle anl plnuckel, all wf »I'lth may be found lu various works
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers