[2] His public demonstrations were so successful and remunerative that by January 1874, Brown had quit his job in the machine shop and launched a career as a performer.

[3] He was described in one article as holding the American people "by the nape of the neck, controlling the press as absolutely as a Napoleon or a Czar".

[4] Among people living through the progress and wonders of the Second Industrial Revolution, Brown helped create the popular impression that telepathy was a real skill that mankind was on the cusp of developing.

Beard also wrote a series of journalistic articles to this effect, but these were largely ignored by popular audiences and by his scientific peers.

[5] Brown continued performing until 1923, at which time he retired to Minneapolis, taking jobs around the area as a printer and photographer.