BF 1042 
 
 J6 
 

 


 
 SPIRITUALISM and CHARLATANISM; 
 
 OB, 
 
 THE TRICKS OP THE MEDIA, 
 
 EMBODYING 
 
 AN EXPOSE OP THE MANIFESTATIONS OP MODERN SPIRITUALISM 
 BY A COMMITTEE OF BUSINESS MEN OF NEW-YORK. 
 
 PENDIE L. JEWETT. 
 
 '#CGP 
 
 " Miracles are ceased : 
 And therefore we must needs admit the means 
 How things are perfected." Shakespeare. 
 
 JTew-York : 4 
 
 S. W, GREEN, PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER, 16 & 18 JACOB STREET. 
 1873. 
 

 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 
 
 J. N. TIFFT, 
 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
NOTICE. 
 
 A portion of the expose of the " Committee" was origi- 
 nally published in the New- York World of Sunday, March 
 16th, 1873, and is here reproduced by permission, having 
 been revised and extended by the author. 
 
 The primary object of this publication is to expose the 
 tricks and chicanery of a large and growing class of men 
 and women, who, trading upon the most tender and sacred 
 emotions of our nature, obtain money from the public on 
 pretense of giving communications from departed friends. 
 
 New- York, March, 1873. 
 
SPIRITUALISM 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 It was early in February. The clock had struck four, and 
 the busy hum of Wall street was beginning to sink to rest. 
 Not a very eventful day. Cotton had been quiet and easier 
 both for "spot" and "future." The London quotations 
 came about steady for consols, and strong and higher for 
 the '67's and new fives. The money market more active, 
 with an advance in the rate on call to the exceptional ex- 
 treme of 1-16 per cent. The gold market opened weak, and 
 fell off to 112 J, but the gold clique, in a fresh turn of the 
 windlass, raised the price to 113f. Railroad bonds buoy- 
 ant, Southern securities steady, and Governments strong. 
 Stocks heavy and lower. There had been more animation in 
 some departments of trade, but, as a general thing, the 
 markets were quiet and unchanged. A defalcation in a 
 government office had kept the reporter of a morning paper 
 very busy during the day, hunting up the details. 
 
 Coupes began to collect on the street, and well-dressed 
 gentlemen to stand on the corner and hail the omnibuses as 
 they passed. Business life became absorbed in the social 
 and domestic as the current surged up-town. 
 
 In an office on Broadway, just out of Wall street, were 
 collected a party of seven gentlemen, all of whom had been 
 more or less interested in the various operations which I 
 
6 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 have sketched, and which formed the subject of a desultory- 
 conversation for a few moments. Their minds were evi- 
 dently jaded by them, however, and their attention was 
 readily turned to a slim-built, angular young man, who had 
 been the last to enter, when he began to recount cer- 
 tain alleged wonderful manifestations by a spirit-medium, 
 which had been told to him by a friend, and which he pro- 
 nounced "humbug," with perhaps more energy than the 
 occasion required. 
 
 "I tell you, gentlemen," he said, "these media are the 
 greatest frauds of the age, not even excepting the opera- 
 tors in "Wall street." 
 
 "Don't be personal or violent," said a gold broker. 
 " Have you a cigar about you ?" 
 
 "I attended a lecture at Apollo Hall recently," said a 
 solemn-looking merchant, " when the speaker was a trance- 
 medium. I went to sleep during the discourse, but, as far 
 as I understood her, she attempted to explain every thing on 
 the basis of ' the ineffable.' " 
 
 "Pooh!" said a banker of waggish tendencies, "'the 
 scintillations of propinquity ' beat that hollow." 
 
 " It is harder to spell," said a broker. 
 
 " Gentlemen," continued the angular young man, " your 
 minds evidently need relaxation. That is well. Relax 
 them ; but don't jest on serious things concerning which 
 you know little. Spiritualism is a natural phase of the 
 human mind. It is a necessity. It has grown up out of 
 man's nature and his teachings ; but the mass of its reputed 
 high-priests are swindlers. I am preparing an article on 
 the subject. I will read you the introduction." 
 
 " Heaven help us !" said a banker. 
 
 " Is it long ?" asked a broker. 
 
 " Stand up !" exclaimed a merchant. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 7 
 
 " Gentlemen, I ask you to listen in the interest of 
 science." 
 
 " Tyndall's lectures always bored me," said an elegantly- 
 dressed young man, who had not before spoken. 
 
 " Gentlemen !" (reading) : " Until a comparatively recent 
 date in the history of the human race, all the mysteries of 
 nature were explained on the theory of supernatural agency. 
 In the first efforts of his mind to grasp at the cause of phe- 
 nomena, man endowed every object which his senses con- 
 templated with life ; and the stars moved, the vegetation 
 sprang up and increased, the rivers flowed on toward the 
 sea, by their own volition. As in process of time his mind 
 gradually developed out of this primitive idea, he adopted 
 the theory of guardian spirits, or tutelar deities, by whose 
 instrumentality all the operations of nature, which he saw 
 around him, were carried on. Then it was the gentle fairy 
 made her luxuriant home within the petals of the lily, and, 
 with her companions, danced upon the greensward, within 
 frequent sight of the awe-struck, belated peasant ; the elves 
 peopled the air, and, reposing on the leaves of the trees, 
 were rocked to sleep by the breezes ; gentle naiads of that 
 beauty which makes nudity chaste " 
 
 " Which ?" says a broker. 
 
 " — made music in the gurgling of every stream, and the 
 sprites and fairies haunted every dell. The dwarfs and 
 trolls indulged in mad revels within the hills and mounds, 
 and genii led the way of fortunate mortals to caverns of 
 enchantment and untold treasure." 
 
 " How would such an operation affect the market in these 
 days ?" asked a broker. 
 
 " Let us be calm and non-resistant," responded the banker ; 
 " he may die." 
 
 " Gradually as the mind of man still farther expanded, 
 and he began to have a knowledge and appreciation of 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 general laws as affecting phenomena, his deities grew less 
 and less, being absorbed in a smaller number with more ex- 
 tended powers, until, in the end, they all centred in one 
 omnipotent Creator and Preserver, in whose will and power 
 lay a solution of all mystery. While retaining this idea of 
 a supreme originator of all things, as a necessary base upon 
 which his mind may rest, as one after the other of the 
 various phenomena of nature has, by patient study and in- 
 vestigation, been explained, man has constantly tended 
 toward the conclusion that they are all the result of certain 
 immutable laws, and, in proportion to his approach thereto, 
 have his fetishes, his tutelar deities and guardian spirits 
 been driven to the wall, until in his more advanced stage, 
 as represented by men of science, he has discarded them 
 altogether. And yet, such is the influence of past teach- 
 ing, increasing and intensifying as it moves along down 
 the line of hereditary descent, that the mass of mankind, in 
 the present day, retain, in some form, a belief in direct 
 supernatural agency, affecting the matters of this life, and 
 instinctively turn thereto for an explanation of any thing 
 beyond their experience or ken." 
 
 " Hold there !" exclaimed the merchant. " Let us be or- 
 thodox or nothing. I yield you up the media, but make no 
 attacks on the faith of our fathers." 
 
 "Your fathers believed according to their light. I am 
 endeavoring to increase yours. Restrain yourself. I am 
 coming to that." 
 
 " Is it long ?" asked the broker. 
 
 " There are few who doubt that we are entering upon 
 a new era of thought, in which the theological and meta- 
 physical teachings of the past, to which primarily this belief 
 in the active interference of spirits with the affairs of this 
 life is due, are to be submitted to the severest test. If they 
 Btand this test, they will come out purified as by fire. If, 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 9 
 
 on the contrary, they are consumed in the crucible, no harm 
 can result which time can not rectify; for truth is in accor- 
 dance with the natural laws which affect man, as well as 
 all else, and only error can be destroyed. An investigation 
 based upon the cumulative knowledge and experience of the 
 past, and a continued study of all phenomena, in the light 
 of that revelation resulting from the discoveries of science, 
 is the controlling idea of this era. And in this investigation, 
 no assumption of spirits is allowed. There is no longer ad- 
 mitted to be a personal responsibility in matters unexplain- 
 ed. Man is in the infancy of his knowledge. Even the 
 functions of certain organs in his body are, as yet, imper- 
 fectly understood. That there are latent, undeveloped 
 powers within his organism, destined to place him upon a 
 much higher plane in the scale of existence, possibly to ad- 
 vance him to that point which he has been wont to regard 
 as the supernatural, is being dimly perceived. This advance- 
 ment, whether it come sooner or later, will be in and of him- 
 self and without extraneous assistance. That in the phe- 
 nomena of Mesmerism, Psychology, Psychometry, and so- 
 called modern Spiritualism may be seen the first faint 
 gleams of light which precede the glorious morning, is pos- 
 sible, and if so, man, unaided by the beings of another 
 world, must deal with them alone, and alone reap the re- 
 ward of his labors." 
 
 "Wait !" said the banker, "you are admitting too much. 
 Once concede there are phenomena which can be explained 
 on the basis of no known law, and the Spiritualists ask noth- 
 ing farther. They regard their case as made out." 
 
 "And what then?" responded the angular young man. 
 "Do you take me for a pettifogging lawyer? Can you 
 destroy a truth by denying it ? Is it any the less a truth 
 because the weak and foolish distort it ?" 
 
 " I don't know about these phenomena," said the banker's 
 
10 SPIK1TUALISM. 
 
 partner, who had been quietly listening ; " if they exist, I 
 prefer to find some rational explanation of them, of course. 
 But I object to spiritualism on quite another ground. It 
 seems clear to me that, if we have an existence hereafter, it 
 is as complete in its inception and continuance, as in accor- 
 dance with some immutable law which prescribes its cha- 
 racter and conditions and defines its duties, which perhaps 
 gives to it pleasures and pains, as in the present. We see 
 that man has high duties to perform in this world, which 
 he can not avoid without the severest penalties. Isn't it ra- 
 tional to conclude that in another and higher sphere of ex- 
 istence and conscious entity, if such there be, man will have 
 his duties correspondingly high and more difficult of avoid- 
 ance ; that in another world he will meet others like him, 
 and in his relations to them and the pursuits evolved there- 
 from, his existence will be passed? Reasoning from all 
 analogy, the harmony, the completeness of nature for- 
 bid that a being can be an inhabitant of two worlds, hold- 
 ing a divided allegiance and incompatible relations. Cer- 
 tainly those who have passed the dark river and entered 
 upon another and more advanced existence, have not done 
 so to lead a life of vagabondage, nor do they remain here at 
 the beck of those of whom to say little is to be charitable. 
 
 ' Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay, 
 Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.' 
 
 But I doubt if George "Washington and a great number of 
 other worthies have gone into the show-business and are 
 engaged in tipping tables and answering foolish questions 
 in a still more foolish manner, through ignorant charlatans, 
 few of whom know how to spell." 
 
 " Bravo !" exclaimed the merchant, " I also doubt. But 
 what evidence of these phenomena is there ?" 
 
 "Plenty," responded the angular young man. "Of 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 1 1 
 
 course, I leave out the evidence of the spiritualists them- 
 selves, with whom ' the wish is father to the thought,' most 
 of whom are incapable of distinguishing between impres- 
 sion and fact, and are, as a class, the most easily deluded 
 people under the sun. Perhaps as satisfactory proof as 
 any that has been furnished, is contained in a report of a 
 committee appointed by the London Dialectical Society, in 
 February, 1869, to examine and report upon the pretensions 
 of Spiritualism. It may be found in a work entitled 
 Spiritualism answered by Science. By Edward W. Cox, 
 S.L., F.R.G.S., and made after a careful and exhaustive 
 investigation of these phenomena, extending during a year, 
 and in a manner and under conditions which absolutely 
 preclude all idea of deception. I have embodied the gist 
 of it in my article. Listen : 
 
 " ' The result of their (the committee's) long-continued and carefully 
 conducted experiments, after trial by every detective test they could 
 devise, has been to establish conclusively : 
 
 " ' First That under certain bodily or mental conditions of one or 
 more of the persons present, a force is exhibited sufficient to set in 
 motion heavy substances without the employment of any muscular 
 force, without contact or material connection of any kind between 
 such substances and the body of any person present. 
 
 " ' Second. That this force can cause sounds to proceed, distinctly 
 audible to all present, from solid substances not in contact with nor 
 having visible or material connection with the body of any person 
 present, and which sounds are proved to proceed from such substan- 
 ces by the vibrations which are distinctly felt when they are touched. 
 
 " ' Third. That this force is frequently directed by intelligence.' 
 
 " Without for a moment attributing the force or the exer- 
 cise of this intelligence to the agency of spirits, the com- 
 mittee conclude their report as follows : 
 
 " * Your committee express their unanimous opinion that the one 
 important physical fact thus proved to exist, that motion may he pro- 
 duced in solid bodies icithout material contact, by some hitherto un- 
 recognized force, operating within an undefined distance from the 
 human organism and beyond range of muscular action, should be 
 
1 2 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 subjected to further scientific examination, with a view to ascertain 
 its source, nature, and power.' 
 
 " This committee comprised men of various pursuits and 
 capacities — ingenious lawyers, practiced scientists, skillful 
 doctors, authors, artists, and shrewd men of business. The 
 meetings were held at the private residences of members, 
 and no professional medium was employed. It would seem 
 therefore absurd to question their conclusions as to the 
 facts." 
 
 "Did the committee furnish no theory in regard to these 
 manifestations ?" asked the merchant. 
 
 " None," was the response. " The author of the work to 
 which I have referred, a prominent member of the commit- 
 tee, argues that it is the result of nerve or, as he styles it, 
 psychic force, which proceeds from or, in some unknown 
 manner, is associated with the human organization, and 
 that it is controlled and directed by the intelligence of the 
 medium. He adds : ' That it is the result of an uncon- 
 scious action of the brain, the ganglion, or the nerves, will 
 probably be deemed by those who have closely noted the 
 phenomena to be sufficiently established.' " 
 
 "You say the medium employed was not a professional 
 one ?" asked the banker. 
 
 " No. She was the wife of one of the members of the 
 general committee, of high professional and social stand- 
 ing. She had never witnessed any of the phenomena with 
 others, and had discovered their production in her own 
 person by chance." 
 
 "Did she admit that the intelligence exercised was her 
 own ?" 
 
 " No. The theory is that, as the physical phenomena 
 were independent of her will and control, so was the exer- 
 cise of the intelligence. I think a long step toward an ex- 
 planation of this is in the 'Unconscious Action of the 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 13 
 
 Brain,' so ably elucidated by Dr. William B. Carpenter and 
 Frances Power Cobbe. The latter, in an article entitled 
 'Unconscious Cerebration,' which originally appeared in 
 Macmillarts Magazine, says, ' The phenomena with which 
 we are concerned have been often referred to by meta- 
 physicians, Leibnitz and Sir W. Hamilton amongst others, 
 under the name of " Latent thought" and " Preconscious ac- 
 tivity of the soul." Dr. Carpenter, who has discovered the 
 physiological explanation of them, and reduced them to 
 harmony with other phenomena of the nervous system, has 
 given to them the title of " Unconscious Cerebration." The 
 idea is, that the brain acts without our consciousness, as is 
 illustrated : First. In many of our most familiar habits, 
 such as walking to an accustomed place of business, which 
 we not infrequently do, when we had, at the start, deter- 
 mined to go somewhere else. Again, in the case of absent- 
 minded people, who unconsciously say what they think of 
 each other, when they consciously intend to be extremely 
 flattering. The mind at times acts with great method and 
 intelligence when the subject is asleep, and the cases are 
 not few where difficult mathematical problems and intricate 
 legal questions have been solved by persons in such condi- 
 tions. Another illustration of this is in recalling apparent- 
 ly forgotten names. We may strive for many minutes to 
 recall a name with which we have been familiar, and finally 
 cease the effort and turn our attention elsewhere ; when in 
 a short time, presto ! it flashes upon us. The brain, with- 
 out our realization, has been at work hunting it up in the 
 storehouse of memory, and, being found, communicates it 
 to the consciousness. These things, from their comparative 
 familiarity, attract little attention, and yet, in view of the 
 limited knowledge we have had, and still have, of the ac- 
 tion of the mind, they are wonderful in the extreme, and 
 
1 1 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 it is remarkable that the ever-convenient * spirit agency ' 
 has not been called in to explain them.' 
 
 " Having referred to these and many other psychological 
 facts illustrative of ' unconscious cerebration,' Miss Cobbe 
 proceeds to quote, slightly abridged, from Dr. Carpenter : 
 
 " All parts of the nervous system appear to possess cer- 
 tain powers of automatic action. The spinal cord has for 
 primary functions the performance of the motions of res- 
 piration and swallowing. The automatic action of the 
 sensory ganglia seems to be connected with movements of 
 protection — such as the closing of the eyes to a flash of 
 light — and their secondary use enables a man to shrink from 
 dangers of collisions etc., before he has time for conscious 
 escape. Finally we arrive at the automatic action of the 
 cerebrum y and here Dr. Carpenter reminds us that instead 
 of being (as formerly supposed) the centre of the whole 
 system, in direct connection with the organs of sense and 
 the muscular apparatus, the cerebrum is, according to 
 modern physiology, 
 
 " A superadded organ the development of which seems to bear a 
 pretty constant relation to the degree in which intelligence super- 
 sedes instinct as a spring of action. The ganglionic matter which 
 is spread out upon the surface of the hemispheres and in which their 
 potentiality resides, is connected with the sensory tract at their base 
 (which is the real centre of conveyance for the sensory nerves of the 
 whole body) by commissural fibres, long since termed by Reid, with 
 sagacious foresight, ' nerves of the internal senses,' and its anatomical 
 relation to the sensorium is thus precisely the same as that of the 
 retina, which is a ganglionic expansion connected with the sensorium 
 by the optic nerve. Hence it may be fairly surmised : 1. That as we 
 only become conscious of visual impressions on the retina when their 
 influence has been transmitted to the central sensorium, so we only 
 become conscious of ideational changes in the cerebral hemispheres 
 when their influence has been transmitted to the same centre ; 2. 
 That as visual changes may take place in the retina, of which we are 
 unconscious, either through temporary inactivity of the sensorium 
 (as in sleep) or through the entire occupation of the attention in some 
 other direction, so may ideational changes take place in the cere- 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 15 
 
 brum, of which we may be unconscious for want of receptivity on 
 the part of the sensorium, but of which the results may present 
 themselves to the consciousness as ideas elaborated by an automatic 
 process of which we have no cognizance." 
 
 " As the result of the investigations, much more fully sta- 
 ted and illustrated than herein, the following powers and 
 faculties are credited to the unconscious brain, in Miss 
 Cobbe's article : 
 
 "1. It not only remembers as much as the conscious self 
 can recall, but often much more. It is even doubtful 
 whether it may not be capable, under certain conditions, of 
 reproducing every impression ever made upon the senses 
 during life. 
 
 " 2. It can understand what words or things are sought 
 to be remembered, and hunt them up, through some re- 
 condite process known only to itself, till it discovers and 
 pounces on them. 
 
 "3. It can fancy the most beautiful pictures, and also 
 the most terrible ones, and weave ten thousand fables with 
 inexhaustible invention. 
 
 " 4. It can perform the exceedingly difficult task of men- 
 tal arrangement and logical division of subjects. 
 
 "5. It can transact all the mechanical business of walk- 
 ing, reading, writing, sewing, playing, etc. etc. 
 
 " 6. It can tell the hour in the middle of the night with- 
 out a time-piece." 
 
 "And to what does all this tend ?" said the merchant. 
 
 " Simply this," responded the angular young man, " that 
 in the unconscious action of the brain, of which we are just 
 beginning to obtain some knowledge — may, no doubt, be 
 found the secret of the ' intelligence ' manifested in the 
 physical phenomena referred to ; and farther, that in the 
 indestructible memory, acting with or forming part of 
 such unconscious action, may be found a solution for all the 
 
1Q SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 mental phenomena which have been observed in so-called 
 spiritualism. How often do we hear from its votaries, ' I 
 had not thought of such a person or such an incident for 
 1 years,' in the presence of the clairvoyant or medium who, to 
 his astonishment, has called it up to him. And this is true, 
 as far as conscious thought is concerned ; but who can tell 
 to what extent the brain has dwelt upon such person or 
 incident, in its unconscious activity, and which has, in its 
 mysterious workings, communicated the thought to another 
 mind ?" 
 
 " I think the solution of those phenomena can be much 
 more easily explained," said the merchant, " and that it lies 
 in the fact that the medium or clairvoyant has obtained the 
 knowledge from some extraneous source." 
 
 "I grant you that in the very great majority of in- 
 stances." 
 
 While this attempted elucidation of the causes of pheno- 
 mena had been going on, another gentleman had entered 
 the office. He was pale, of thoughtful mien, and having a 
 wealth of black hair and whiskers. He had quietly seated 
 himself and listened, with much apparent interest. As the 
 angular young man finished, another, who had not as yet 
 spoken, arose with an impatient air, and as he walked the 
 floor, exclaimed, " Let us be reasonable ! What is the 
 use of all these fine-spun theories based on nothing ? It is 
 not difficult to ascertain certain facts. I will open the way 
 if you have any desire to investigate this matter. Media 
 are not frauds or humbugs. Yes, I am a Spiritualist, and 
 am content in so being. Media are the means through 
 which our departed friends communicate with us. They 
 stand between the living and the dead, and not even the 
 frequency of such communications can rid them of the feel- 
 ing of awe and reverence which their occult, unexplainable 
 powers induce within them. I have been a Spiritualist for 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 17 
 
 two years. It has convinced me that the soul is immortal, 
 that I shall live in my individuality hereafter ; that with 
 others, my friends here, I shall wander ' on the banks of 
 that eternal river.' Spiritualism furnishes to us our only 
 assurance of such existence hereafter. It shows us that we 
 enter the new life as we leave the old one ; that the affec- 
 tions and interests of this life, the love of humanity for a 
 time retain us here, but the tendency is onward and up- 
 ward toward fountains of eternal happiness. I have witness- 
 ed manifestations which are inexplicable on the base of any 
 other theory than that of an intelligent entity outside of 
 both medium and his visitor, and which the theories of 
 psychic force and unconscious cerebration, concerning 
 which the writers on those subjects seem to know little, 
 though allowed every thing that is claimed for them, can not 
 account for. I have been furnished information of which I 
 never had any knowledge, and of which the medium could 
 not, in the nature of things, by any possibility have known. 
 It is not a difficult thing to test this matter. There are 
 plenty of media in the city. Go to them for information 
 which you desire, and you will soon be convinced." 
 
 " Let us be calm," said a broker. 
 
 "I have many friends who are Spiritualists," said the 
 banker, " and they have often endeavored to prevail upon 
 me to visit a spiritual medium and try to obtain some know- 
 ledge of the circumstances surrounding my father's death, 
 who, as you. all know, was murdered some years since. My 
 brother and partner here, and myself have labored, regard- 
 less of trouble or expense, to find some clue to the mur- 
 derer, and while I have little confidence " 
 
 " Go to such medium as I direct," said the believer in 
 Spiritualism, " and I guarantee you will ascertain what you 
 want to know." 
 
 " You had better stay away," said the new-comer, " and 
 
1 8 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 save your money, to continue your efforts by earthly 
 means." 
 
 " I judge you are not a Spiritualist," said the broker. 
 
 " No, sir ! Not a Spiritualist in any sense whatever. I 
 have listened with much interest to your remarks in rela- 
 tion to this subject of Spiritualism, and, as it is one to 
 which I have given considerable attention, I would like to 
 make a few observations in regard to it." 
 
 " Couldn't you write them out, and submit them at some 
 future day?" inquired the elegantly-dressed young man, 
 with an expression of anxiety. 
 
 " Certainly," said the new-comer, somewhat abashed, " if 
 you desire to " 
 
 " Let us be serious," said the banker. " Go on !" 
 
 The new-comer, after looking around with an inquiring 
 expression, continued, " I am an adherent of that system 
 of thought and life elaborated by Auguste Comte, and 
 known as Positivism." 
 
 " Allow me to form your acquaintance !" exclaimed the 
 angular young man. " To my shame be it said, I know 
 nothing of Positivism, probably owing to the fact that my 
 tendencies are all toward Orthodoxy. Tell us something 
 about it." 
 
 JVew-comer. " It claims to be an integral doctrine, giving 
 a complete explanation of the world, of man, his duty and 
 destiny. It rejects completely all forms of theological and 
 metaphysical belief ; in other words, all forms of super- 
 naturalism. The true positive spirit consists in substituting 
 the study of the invariable laws of phenomena for that of 
 their so-called causes, whether proximate or primary ; in a 
 word, in studying the 'How' instead of the 'Why.' The 
 principle of theology is to explain every thing by super- 
 natural wills." 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 19 
 
 Believer. " Then yon are an Atheist ; at least, I am un- 
 able to distinguish between Atheism and Positivism." 
 
 New-comer. "Your inability to make the distinction 
 arises from the want of due appreciation of the exact 
 grounds in dispute. The Atheist is, at bottom, a theolo- 
 gian ; he does not reject the problems of theology ; he 
 merely rejects the solution of those problems, and in so 
 doing he is extremely illogical. So long as the mind con- 
 tinues to perplex itself with the problems, there is no bet- 
 ter explanation possible than the one spontaneously given, 
 that they proceed from supernatural will or wills. Posi- 
 tivists, on the other hand, reject the problem on the ground 
 that it is utterly inaccessible to the intellect. Moral con- 
 siderations make it imperative on us to study the laws of 
 phenomena, instead of wasting our strength in a vain 
 search for first or final causes." 
 
 Angular Young Man. " If this doctrine is what you 
 represent it to be, it should afford an explanation of this 
 wide-spread delusion of Spiritualism." 
 
 New-comer. "To give an exhaustive exposition of it, from 
 a Positive point of view, would perhaps tax your patience 
 to an extent to which you would hardly submit. It would 
 certainly do nothing toward settling the question whether 
 the media are deceivers or deceived. And though this be 
 decided, it would fall far short of accomplishing the over- 
 throw of this disease or seriously affecting its career." 
 
 Believer, {indignantly?) " I would like to know on what 
 grounds you characterize Spiritualism as a disease." 
 
 New-comer. " Perhaps a sufficient evidence that it is so, 
 might be found in a study of the mental and physical con- 
 ditions of the great mass of its votaries. But I will try to 
 make an explanation of this statement, and in order to do 
 so, we must first understand what we mean by health and 
 disease. The popular notions on this subject are wholly 
 
20 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 metaphysical ; health and disease are regarded as entities. 
 The popular language at once betrays the existing intellec- 
 tual fallacies. 'He caught a cold,' 'He caught a fever,' 
 etc., show that colds and fevers are regarded as tangible 
 entities. Now, the scientific explanation of health is this : 
 'Health is the result of the harmonious action of all the 
 organs of the body,' and the complete combination of all 
 the bodily functions is the condition or unity thus termed. 
 Disease, on the other hand, results when this unity or har- 
 mony is disturbed by the excess or defect of an organ to 
 discharge its legitimate and normal functions. This dis- 
 turbance may proceed either from without or from within, 
 when the normal limits of variation are exceeded, in a plus 
 or minus direction, by the prolonged action, either of the 
 environment or of the organism. Now, this definition can 
 be extended and applied to our emotional life as well as our 
 physical life. All the phenomena of life, whether of the 
 individual or of society, are comprised in three grand divi- 
 sions : Thought, feeling, and activity. How to bring 
 these into harmonious relations, is the problem of modern 
 philosophy." 
 
 Merchant. " How do you apply this to Spiritualism ?" 
 New-comer. " To do this, we must take a comprehensive 
 view of society ; not alone as it exists to-day, because to 
 understand the age in which we live, we must study it in 
 relation to all preceding ages. To the student of history, 
 few events afford such material for speculation as the spread 
 of epidemic delusions, especially religious delusions, and 
 history is replete with them. A critical examination en- 
 ables us to see how they may be accounted for, when the 
 definition of health, above given, is extended so as to em- 
 brace our mental, moral, and social life." 
 
 Broker. " I can't understand how such palpable absurdi- 
 ties can be accepted by sensible men." 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 21 
 
 New-comer. " The difference between tweedle-dee and 
 tweedle-dum is much greater, perhaps, than at first sight we 
 are disposed to think. Religious dogmas do not rest on 
 reason. For example, how much rationality is there in the 
 dogmas of the conception of Christ, the Trinity, and Tran- 
 substantiation, if submitted to the tests of physiology, 
 mathematics, and chemistry ? I undertake to say that the 
 vagaries of Spiritualism do not surpass these eminently re- 
 spectable beliefs in absurdity." 
 
 Believer. "I don't see that you have made out that 
 Spiritualism is a disease." 
 
 New-comer. " Let me continue, again directing your at- 
 tention to the great divisions of the individual and of the 
 social life — thought, feeling, and activity. Any undue va- 
 riation of any one of these will produce moral and social 
 disorders. Now, when we consider that in the mass the in- 
 tellect is extremely feeble compared with the feelings, we 
 can readily understand how delusions, under certain condi- 
 tions, do take possession of the minds of men. We all 
 know that epidemic diseases can be traced to physical 
 causes existing in the environment, and their disastrous ef- 
 fects are greatly enhanced when the epidemic produces a 
 panic whieh takes the imagination captive. History shows 
 us that periods of great physical suffering, caused by 
 famine, pestilence, earthquakes, and other unusual phe- 
 nomena, are prolific sources of mental disorders. In these 
 cases, the intellect and the emotions are thrown out of their 
 normal relations by physical causes. At other times, the 
 disturbance proceeds from within. The destruction of the 
 world and other startling notions have from time to time 
 taken possession of Western Europe and thrown the na- 
 tions into disorder. As to mental disorders, there are two 
 causes from whence they proceed : First, the exciting 
 cause ; next, the predisposing cause ; the one objective, 
 
22 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 the other subjective. Now, let us apply this to modem 
 Spiritualism. In this case, the exciting cause was primarily 
 the old theological belief in the existence of spirits, roused 
 into unusual activity by the strange phenomena known as 
 the < Rochester Knockings,' and the predisposing cause 
 was the prevailing rationalism which, since the inaugura- 
 tion of the scientific era by Galileo, has been going on at 
 an ever-increasing rapidity. If you examine the mental 
 condition of Spiritualists, you will find they repudiate with 
 contempt all the old theological dogmas. They are (in 
 spirit at least) in a state of war with all the traditions of 
 the past, and nearly all existing social institutions. They 
 are destructives, pure and simple." 
 
 Believer. " Yes, and we will ultimately inaugurate a new 
 era of freedom and progress." 
 
 New-comer. " I do not share that hope. Spiritualism is 
 destructive, not constructive. A glance at its present con- 
 dition does not warrant any such conclusion as you men- 
 tion. It has no well-defined purpose or object. It is 
 utterly destitute of the means by which to accomplish a 
 reorganization. Its whole scope and tendency is divergent, 
 not convergent. It rests on a vague sentimentalism. It 
 claims to be a new revelation for the healing of the nations, 
 a religion with millions of adherents, and yet it does not 
 own a decent roof under which to worship. It claims to be 
 the advocate of science, education, and morality. It has 
 founded neither a library, college, nor school. It has neither 
 a philosophy nor a polity. Its literature is a strange jumble 
 of metaphysical jargon, extracted from the limbo of worn- 
 out creeds. Its most ardent supporters are doubtful of the 
 faith which is within them, and only strive to convince 
 others, that their own convictions may be strengthened. Its 
 doctrines are evolved from the individual consciousness of 
 its members, and the one is as various as the other is nume- 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 23 
 
 rous. Judging from its effects, their faith is out of har- 
 mony with a proper performance of the duties of this life, 
 and they are useful members of society much in proportion 
 as they are derelict in their worship at the new shrine. 
 Fortunately for the welfare of society, it has no elements of 
 coherence ; otherwise its anarchical and revolutionary aims 
 and tendencies would greatly endanger its safety. In criti- 
 cising it thus harshly, but (I trust) justly, I distinctly dis- 
 claim any intention to wantonly assail those who hold this 
 "belief. As far as my observation goes — and it has been 
 somewhat extensive — they are better than their creed. 
 They are very generally found on the side of freedom and 
 justice. They have the welfare of humanity sincerely at 
 heart. I do not condemn them, only their faith. 
 
 " Our special scientists are greatly to blame for the attitude 
 they have assumed in regard to this subject. They have 
 shown themselves to be wholly destitute of their true social 
 function by prejudging this matter and treating it with 
 contempt. Happily, they are at last beginning to show 
 some appreciation of their mission by devoting some atten- 
 tion to this subject. Say what you will, there is an enor- 
 mous amount of testimony in favor of the existence of 
 phenomena of an occult nature which is not included in the 
 domain of science. But that these phenomena can be made 
 to constitute the basis of a new religion is a sad commen- 
 tary on those who direct the spiritual forces of Christendom. 
 That millions of men and women, many of whom have re- 
 ceived the highest culture our institutions of learning afford, 
 can cast aside the faith of their ancestors, and find consola- 
 tion for their souls in such a degrading superstition as this 
 modern Spiritualism, shows conclusively how inadequate the 
 popular theology must be to satisfy the spiritual needs of 
 the time." 
 
 A thoughtful silence followed this elucidation of Spiri- 
 
24 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 tualism in the light of Positivism, which the elegantly- 
 dressed young man broke by the exclamation, "Are we 
 going to dine ?" 
 
 " I have never visited any of these media," said the mer- 
 chant, " and I suggest that we make up a party and witness 
 some of the manifestations." This was agreed upon. 
 
 In carrying out this suggestion, a number of visits were 
 made to different media. The two bankers, (who were 
 brothers,) as has been intimated, had heard numerous stories 
 in reference to the wonderful knowledge manifested by the 
 media, and the information which they at times afforded 
 applicants, so well authenticated as to stagger their unbe- 
 lief ; and having at heart the intensest desire to learn of 
 the manner and means of their father's death, determined 
 to consult the media, carefully complying with every pre- 
 scribed condition, in the bare hope that something might 
 come of it. After visiting several, and submitting their 
 questions, they observed that the answers received were all 
 of the most general character, affording no clue whatever 
 to the information sought ; that th,e responses from the re- 
 spective media were often directly contradictory, always 
 inconsistent, only agreeing in this, that the "spirit," for 
 some reason, could not give the required information at 
 present, but would do so on some future occasion, an inci- 
 dent of which was coming again and paying another five 
 dollars to the medium. After a variety of experiments, 
 made by these and others of the seven gentlemen men- 
 tioned, all tending to show that the pretenses of the media 
 had no good foundation, it was determined to go to work 
 and ascertain if these manifestations could not be accounted 
 for without the agency of spirits. And so " the Committee " 
 was constituted. 
 
 A few words more in detail in reference to the personnel. 
 One was a Spiritualist, made so, as he said, by the unac- 
 
SPIEITUALISM. 25 
 
 countable manifestations he had witnessed. The others, of 
 various temperaments and habit of thought, agreeing in 
 this, that they were not inclined to refer unexplained phe- 
 nomena to supernatural agency. Two were for twenty 
 years merchants in this city, and for the past ten years have 
 been engaged in a general banking business. One of these, 
 from a boy, had been an adept at sleight-of-hand tricks, and 
 had a variety of weird accomplishments with which he en- 
 tertained his friends. A habit of looking into all such tricks, 
 in order to discover the manner of their performance, had 
 made him very acute therein, and it was his boast that no 
 one of them could be repeated a certain number of times 
 in his presence without his discovering it. Both the broth- 
 ers were keen judges of human nature, and not accustomed 
 to being imposed upon. Two were gold brokers, not reve- 
 rential, but, as required in their profession, sharp, eager, 
 watchful. The fifth, a well-known lumber merchant, of im- 
 passive face and great acumen. Of the believer, a word fur- 
 ther. He was impassioned and earnest, full of reasons for the 
 faith that was in him ; a rationalist in this, that he must have 
 something tangible, or seemingly so, as a base for belief. 
 The seventh was a journalist. 
 
 And here let us pause and consider. Above all things, 
 let us be just, as, with much respect for Solomon, we are 
 speaking of something new under the sun. A journalist, 
 and accustomed to looking at human nature from that 
 stand-point, not always a flattering one. Serene forever. 
 Impudent if you please, from confidence in the strength 
 of the " third estate" at his back. Not approving of " in- 
 terviews," as calculated to bore both parties, but ready to 
 visit Lucifer himself with pertinacity and equanimity if 
 required. Knowing no difference in men in his presence, 
 whether from social, intellectual, or political position ; all 
 one before the impersonation of the great people — which he 
 
26 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 is — and so accustomed to speaking evil of dignitaries ; claim- 
 ing to know all science and all knowledge ; at least ready 
 to talk and write learnedly and exhaustively of them ; 
 from long habit discovering pinchbeck at once as though by 
 an enchanter's wand, yet not caring to talk about it, satis- 
 fied with the conscious superiority of knowing ; the equal 
 of senators and thieves, regretting that the line of demarka- 
 tion, in these latter days, is so finely drawn, thus giving less 
 scope to his talents ; having eveiy accomplishment or the 
 power of affecting them ; a statesman, politician, lawyer, 
 and theologian ; a man about town and of society ; harmo- 
 nizing with the most luxurious mansion and not incongruous 
 with the surroundings of a hovel ; a diner-out and a wit ; 
 a charm in the domestic circle ; at home in the club or a 
 corner grocery. In short, something modern. An Ameri- 
 can and a journalist, evolving from his innate consciousness 
 that there are humbugs in the world. 
 
 These gentlemen became early convinced that " Spirit- 
 ualism," as a faith or a creed, is not in harmony with a proper 
 performance of the duties of this life. Supposed intercourse 
 with the beings of another world makes its votaries careless 
 of this. They seem to reason, " What matter what ye shall 
 eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal be clothed, since 
 we are so soon to be with those who have no need of these ?" 
 and so wait, longing and useless. They saw many with 
 fortunes spent, families broken and separated, business 
 ruined, energies wasted, and, being humanitarians, desired 
 to do away with a delusion. This formed a strong incentive 
 to investigation. 
 
CHARLATANISM. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Though in the course of the investigation many visits 
 were made to some of the media mentioned, I shall, for the 
 most part, confine myself to but one interview with them 
 respectively, as a sample of the whole, though giving, at the 
 same time, the conclusions we arrived at from all the sit- 
 tings accorded us, and shall refer to the individuals compos- 
 ing " the Committee" only when necessary to a due under- 
 standing of what took place. 
 
 After consulting with our Spiritualist friend, who was 
 acquainted with all the more prominent media of the city, 
 and who was so certain of our ultimate conversion that he 
 gladly undertook to introduce us, when necessary, into all 
 the charmed circles where spirits from the vasty deep and 
 other localities most do congregate, we determined to visit 
 those considered the most convincing first. 
 
 J. V. MANSFIELD. 
 
 We therefore selected J. V. Mansfield, "test-medium," 
 who, according to his advertisement in the Banner of Light, 
 answers sealed letters, at 361 Sixth avenue, New- York. 
 Terms, $5 and four three-cent stamps. Arriving at the 
 house, we were shown into a bright, cheerful-looking room 
 on the second floor, fronting the avenue. Having no taste 
 for upholstery, I do not describe the furniture further than 
 
28 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 to say that a small table, covered with paper and papers, 
 occupied such relative position to the window as to receive 
 the best possible light from it. We found the medium a 
 well-preserved man of sixty, with black hair, combed directly 
 back from the forehead. He received us with a courtesy 
 bordering on bonhomie, and our attention was almost im- 
 mediately turned to a very museum of curiosities which the 
 room contained. He informed us that he had been a me- 
 dium for spirit communication for more than twenty years, 
 had traveled in every part of the globe, and, having a taste 
 for curiosities, had collected those we saw around us, often- 
 times at great expense, trouble, and finesse. He cheerfully 
 remarked that he allowed nothing to stand in the way of 
 obtaining possession of any thing in that line he took a fancy 
 to — a statement we readily accepted — and he recounted to 
 us one or two anecdotes illustrative of his capacity for appro- 
 priating which were quite entertaining. Some ten or fifteen 
 minutes passed in this way. Those whose task it was to 
 watch him clearly perceived that he was on the alert every 
 moment, keen, attentive, and ready to catch at any straw 
 indicative of character or expressive of a fact. He naturally 
 manifested no impatience and made no reference to busi- 
 ness. When asked if he could give any manifestations, he 
 did not know ; he could never tell ; as far as he could judge, 
 the conditions were favorable. If we desired it, he would 
 try. "However, spirits like mortals demand conditions," 
 he said, " and without these, no manifestations can be had." 
 While it would be a matter of indifference how many were 
 present, if all were in harmonious relation, it was so difficult 
 to find this in more than two persons that he had established 
 a rule that no more than that number should be present. 
 This had been anticipated, and all save the appointed two 
 with meekness and solemnity took their departure. He 
 then requested one of the visitors to sit at the table, upon 
 
CHARLATANISM. 29 
 
 which were some long strips of thin, transparent paper, write 
 a question addressed to some deceased person, sign it with 
 the writer's name, fold it over in a prescribed manner, which 
 left three or four thicknesses of paper outside of the writing. 
 This was done, the question being written by the banker, 
 addressed to the spirit of his father, asking how many per- 
 sons were concerned in his murder, and how much a certain 
 gentleman, still living, was indebted to him when he died. 
 It was handed to the medium, who seated himself and be- 
 gan manipulating, rubbing it with his hand, running out 
 his tongue meanwhile, twitching convulsively at intervals 
 without seeming result. He finally stated that perhaps he 
 required a little more magnetism, and asked to hold the 
 hand of the writer a moment. Immediately thereafter his 
 arms began to shake rapidly, he rolled the paper into a much 
 smaller compass, seized a brush from a mucilage-bottle, and 
 pasted it together so that it could only be subsequently 
 opened by destroying most of the paper. He |hen began to 
 write with his right hand, his left index-finger meanwhile 
 keeping up a constant tapping, not unlike the ticking of a 
 telegraphic instrument, which he said indicated the response. 
 He did not explain how ; probably not to the ear, as he subse- 
 quently claimed to be entirely ignorant of what his hand 
 wrote. An examination of the answer thus written showed 
 that it indicated a knowledge of the question, but gave no 
 clue to the information asked, save it stated that there were 
 three persons engaged in the murder. The " spirit " could 
 not tell how much the gentleman referred to owed him 
 when he died, but promised to investigate and respond in 
 the future. Whether this was to be done by consulting the 
 ghosts of dead papers and of records long since passed into 
 the maw of worms, or otherwise, did not appear. Farther, 
 and in general terms, the spirit of the father was present, 
 was happy to communicate with son ; couldn't " manifest " 
 
30 CHAELATANISM. 
 
 much, as control of medium not good ; happy to see son in- 
 terested in great truths of Spiritualism, and hoped would 
 continue investigations. Would communicate more freely 
 next time. The other visitor was then requested to write a 
 question, which he did and in the same manner, addressing 
 it to the spirit of his brother, and asking concerning a fa- 
 vorite cousin. The answer came back pertinent, and, as the 
 questioner glanced at it, he became very much affected, and 
 hastened to the window with his back to the others, and 
 remained there some time in a profound agitation. 
 
 " What did you write, doctor ?" asked his friend. 
 
 " I have no idea," was the response. " I never know 
 what I write when controlled by the spirits. He seems 
 very much affected." 
 
 " Very much." 
 
 The gentleman eventually recovered his equanimity, and 
 the two took their leave. On their way down-town, they 
 stepped into the respective places of business of the sup- 
 posed deceased brother and cousin, and obtained a verbal 
 certificate from them that they were not dead and had not 
 been. The former admitted that he had been out of spirits 
 during the morning, and even then had not a large stock on 
 hand ; but he was certain his spirit had not been out of him. 
 A knowledge that his brother and cousin, from whom he 
 was receiving communications as departed spirits, were alive 
 and well, accounted for his agitation while in the rooms of 
 the medium. Subsequent visits to Mansfield were made by 
 different members of " the Committee," with the same or 
 similar results. Our questions were invariably addressed to 
 living or fictitious persons, notwithstanding which their ac- 
 commodating spirits were always at hand and in responsive 
 humor. On one occasion, deceived by a pet name, the spirit 
 informed us that a person we desired to communicate with 
 was a darling little " angel in the ' Celestial sphere,' " where- 
 
CHARLATANISM. 31 
 
 as in reality she is in 210 pounds of "earth-form," and the 
 happy mother of numerous offspring. Answers from his 
 sister were given to a gentleman who never had a sister, and 
 from his brother to another who never had a brother. At 
 different times, every member of " the Committee" was com- 
 plimented on the amount of " magnetism" which his organ- 
 ism contained, and assured that he would eventually become 
 a medium of rare power. In no single instance was a parti- 
 cle of desired information obtained, even when " the condi- 
 tions" were strictly complied with ; and it soon became evi- 
 dent that the only thing to account for was how a know- 
 ledge of the question was obtained. After closely watching 
 the medium — who, by the way, from long habit, has a thou- 
 sand scarcely noticeable means of distracting the attention 
 — the manipulation and rubbing of the paper, a study of the 
 " conditions," the situation of the table with reference to 
 the light in the fore and background, the style of paper and 
 the soft pencil furnished the visitor, and the fact that the 
 medium invariably rolled up the paper containing the ques- 
 tion in much smaller compass before answering, and pasted 
 it together with much mucilage, thus rendering an imme- 
 diate examination of it impossible — the conclusion was 
 reached that the question was read through the paper. An 
 experiment under similar conditions demonstrated that this 
 could be done with the greatest ease — an ease which ren- 
 dered it wonderful that any body could have been deceived 
 thereby. One of " the Committee," of whom Mr. Mansfield 
 and subsequently other media stated, " He has wonderful 
 mediumistic powers," at once began " to develop," and, by 
 himself, and with the aid of his honest and sagacious asso- 
 ciates, soon had manifestations which were declared by promi- 
 nent Spiritualists to be the most convincing they had ever 
 seen, though they had been twenty-five years investigating 
 the subject. But of this more hereafter. Believing that 
 
32 CHAELATANISM. 
 
 the slightest inkling of our design would prevent any fur- 
 ther interviews with Mansfield, and that the extent of his 
 manifestations would be in proportion to our apparent gulli- 
 bility, we made no question of his genuineness, and accepted 
 them as wonderful, if not supernatural. 
 
 Though, at this time, fully satisfied that the " manifesta- 
 tions," not only of this medium but of others, were the re 
 suit of fraud and chicanery, such had been the wonderful 
 stories told us, we were doubtful of our ability to get at all 
 the tricks of the media. I remark, en passant, herein 
 we did ourselves an injustice. They proved very simple. 
 Very greatly inferior to the ordinary tricks of the necro- 
 mancers. We had no difficulty. But, thus believing, we 
 determined to take Mr. Mansfield into our confidence, ex- 
 plain our appreciation of his " little game," and endeavor to 
 induce him, in the interest of humanity, to assist us. I re- 
 gret to say we misjudged him. He was obdurate. To the de- 
 sired end, four of " the Committee" called on him in a body. 
 He received us without suspicion, answered some questions, 
 getting at the contents of the paper in a manner now so clear- 
 ly perceptible that a maintenance of gravity was difficult. 
 One of "the Committee" then quietly remarked to him, 
 " Doctor, we have discovered your trick, and we think it a 
 good one." Twenty years of practice in deceit had given this 
 man a marvelous power of self-control, and yet for an in- 
 stant, and in spite of himself, there swept athwart his face 
 an expression which was the best evidence of the truth of 
 our charge ; such as only the realization that the results 
 of a lifetime of labor were about to be swept away, could 
 produce. He recovered in an instant, however, and exclaim- 
 ed, " You do not mean to say this is a trick ?" 
 
 " Certainly," was the response ; " we have got it, and can 
 do it as well as you can." 
 
 " Let me see you do it then." 
 
CHARLATANISM. 33 
 
 m " Sit down at your table and write a question, complying 
 with your own conditions." 
 
 He seated himself and wrote, taking particular care to go 
 wide of the conditions he himself prescribed, making the 
 paper much narrower and so folding it that the writing was 
 in the crease, and, being reminded of this, refused to pro- 
 ceed. He was then informed that we had no desire to make 
 war upon him, but we were determined to get at the various 
 tricks of the media, and wanted him to assist us. For a 
 time he was undecided, and it was evident he was puzzling 
 his brain as to the best course to pursue. He finally asked, 
 
 "What do you wish me to do ?" 
 
 " We want you to help us to get Slade's and Foster's 
 tricks." 
 
 " I am willing to do any thing to expose fraud, but I can 
 not get a sitting with either Slade or Foster. They are not 
 friendly to me. I would go on my hands and knees to 
 Slade's house to find out the ' slate-writing.' " 
 
 " Oh ! I reckon you can get it, doctor." 
 
 By this time he had made up his mind, and resolved to 
 defy us. " I tell you, gentlemen," he said, " you are all 
 wrong ; this is no trick, and if you can do it, you are me- 
 diums." 
 
 Seeing farther effort would be useless, we arose to leave, 
 when he said, " Gentlemen, I must be paid for my time." 
 
 " O doctor !" said the banker, " you don't intend to charge 
 us for this sitting. I would advise you not." He persisted, 
 and, on being informed that we would not submit to the 
 swindle without attempting redress, he defiantly exclaimed, 
 " Do your worst, gentlemen; those who believe will continue 
 to, and those who do not will disbelieve none the more." 
 Ten dollars were given him, and we left him with his trick 
 literally so transparent that a second-rate juggler would 
 despise it ; left him to gloat over the weakness of human 
 
34 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 nature, and to trade on the tenderest emotions of the human 
 
 soul. 
 
 "dr." henry slade. 
 
 The attention of the committee had meanwhile been at- 
 tracted to Dr. Henry Slade, located at 210 West Forty- 
 third street, who is styled a clairvoyant physician, and gives 
 "physical manifestations," ostensibly from spirits. This 
 man's reputation is very high among the Spiritualists. He 
 is by them regarded as the test medium par excellence, and 
 to him is the doubting, inquiring mind led, that every cloud 
 of suspicion may be removed and the trembling neophyte, 
 awe-struck in the presence of the supernatural, may be ini- 
 tiated into the glorious light of modern spiritual philosophy. 
 And yet the doctor's tricks are very simple, easily discover- 
 ed, and easily explained. " The Committee," in one or two 
 sittings, albeit he was extremely suspicious, and doled out 
 to them only a limited portion of the manifestations with 
 which he entertains credulous believers, discovered the whole 
 thing ; though, as with every medium, the conditions which 
 his attendant spirits prescribe are precisely those which best 
 aid deception. The conclusions which I mention in my de- 
 scription of an interview are such as " the Committee " arrived, 
 at after several visits, as the same manifestations were given 
 and the same course of treatment pursued toward every 
 applicant. On arriving at the house, the visitor is ushered 
 into a reception-room by the medium's coadjutor and facto- 
 tum — a flashy-appearing individual, with something of the air 
 of a ring-master of a circus. It is clearly the task of this 
 man to take the measure of the caller and to judge how ex- 
 tensive a dose can be administered with safety. This he 
 does by a few well-turned questions and a keen examination 
 of the physiognomy and style of address. He then leaves 
 the room to ascertain if the doctor can be seen, and after a 
 time sufficient to communicate all that is needed, he returns 
 
CHARLATANISM. 35 
 
 and reports the results. If any suspicions are entertained, 
 the medium can see no one. Otherwise the visitor is re- 
 quested to walk up-stairs. Here the doctor appears in per- 
 son : no aged professor with wand in hand summoning spi- 
 rits from a great variety of places, but a tall, slim young 
 man of perhaps thirty-five years, arrayed in dressing-gown 
 and hair whose elaborateness of curl is suggestive of the 
 barber rather than nature. His manner is not impressive, 
 and with all his practice he has not yet learned to appear at 
 ease. The visitor, if calling for the first time, is compelled 
 to undergo another examination here, before being admitted 
 into the sanctum sanctorum. Several questions as to his 
 residence and business are asked him, and if he volunteers a 
 remark, is listened to with deference and encouraged to talk, 
 evidently that some clue to his character may be obtained. 
 
 " I painted that picture when in a trance," says the doc- 
 tor, pointing to a portrait in oil over the mantel. " I never 
 painted a line in my life when in a normal condition," he 
 adds. When making this remark, his eye is intently fixed 
 on the visitor, possibly that he may judge how much cre- 
 dence is given to this wonderful story, that he may shape 
 his course accordingly. It is seldom that more than one 
 person at a time is admitted, and then only in case of be- 
 lievers, who, accepting the manifestations as genuine, will not 
 be likely to scrutinize too closely. Entering an adjoining 
 room, neatly though rather scantily furnished, and present- 
 ing an air of comfort, the medium removes the cloth from 
 a table in the centre, and requests the visitor to examine it. 
 It is a plain black- walnut table, with leaves, not differing 
 from other tables, insomuch as the doctor's tricks do not re- 
 quire that it should. His specialty is " slate- writing," so- 
 called, or obtaining communications written by the spirits 
 on a slate. One of these articles is produced, and the caller 
 is requested to " examine that slate, sir." This he does, and 
 
36 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 finds nothing on either side of it. If the medium intends 
 to show a certain manifestation hereinafter mentioned, he 
 takes the slate in his hand and walks to the corner of the 
 room, returning at once. This is done as though incidental- 
 ly, and with no definite object, and generally it is not noticed. 
 Seating himself at the table on the side where the leaf is 
 raised, he places his visitor to his right with the legs of the 
 table inclosing him. He then bites a small bit from a pen- 
 cil lying near, and places it on the slate ; this is for the use 
 of the spirits. The next step is to place the caller in such 
 position that he can see nothing under the table. This is 
 accomplished by requesting him to cross his hands in the 
 centre of the table and covering them with his own hand. 
 In this position he waits for the necessary " magnetism." It 
 will be perceived that the breast of the visitor is brought 
 close against the edge of the table, and as he is thus held 
 during the sitting, he has no opportunity to see the opera- 
 tions of the medium's right hand, his legs and feet beneath. 
 The slate held in the right hand of the medium begins mov- 
 ing to and fro, which is attributed to the spirits. After a 
 time, the medium asks, " Will the spirits write ?" Three 
 raps against the leg of the table are heard and again un- 
 der the heel of the medium, indicating, " We will." The 
 slate is forced with great violence against the table near 
 the edge, the medium making apparent efforts to force it up 
 against the leaf, which is finally accomplished. A sound of 
 writing is heard, and after a few moments the slate is brought 
 out. If, after the examination of the slate by the visitor, 
 the doctor walked to the corner of the room as described, a 
 long and well- written communication from some spirit, gen- 
 erally that of his deceased wife, as he states, appears upon 
 it. If, on the contrary, he did not go to the corner, only a 
 few marks are found on the slate, bearing some resemblance 
 to writing, and which the medium deciphers to suit himself. 
 
CHARLATANISM. 37 
 
 " I can read it because I am accustomed to it," he naively re- 
 marks. It must be borne in mind that the writing is on that 
 side of the slate which is seemingly close against the under 
 side of the table, and the visitor who has seen it placed in 
 that position with no writing upon it sees it withdrawn 
 with the hieroglyphics upon it, and is mystified. As this is 
 his most important and convincing manifestation, and the 
 only one at all difficult to understand, which he would show 
 the members of " the Committee," I may as well stop here and 
 explain. And first let me say that all the demonstrations 
 by the medium, in rapping the slate against the table in the 
 violent manner described, his apparent endeavors to get it 
 in proper position against the lower side of the table, follow- 
 ed, when it is once there, by a sound as of a pencil writing, are 
 made after the communication is written. The success of 
 the trick is in leading the spectator to believe the writing is 
 in progress when in fact it has been accomplished previous- 
 ly. When the medium goes to the corner of the room, af- 
 ter the visitor has examined the slate, he returns with an- 
 other slate upon which the long and well-written communi- 
 cation has been previously prepared. In no single instance 
 has a second communication of any length been written, or 
 one in a legible hand, the medium remaining at the table. 
 The long dressing-gown he wears and a limited knowledge 
 of sleight of hand render this change very easy. The few 
 words of unskillful writing in which the later communications, 
 invariably consisting of a few words, are couched, are writ- 
 ten with a grain of pencil similar to those placed on the top 
 of the slate in the presence of the sitter, lying on the finger 
 of the medium and against the lower side of the slate, and 
 this is done during the time the slate is moving to and fro 
 while the medium has his left hand upon the crossed hands 
 of the visitor in the centre of the table, waiting for " mag- 
 netism." As the slate is about to be withdrawn, by another 
 
38 CHAELATANISM. 
 
 motion which is " quicker than sight," it is turned as it is 
 brought out, and the credulous spectator is certain the same 
 side is presented to him which was against the table. This 
 was evidenced to " the Committee" on several occasions by 
 marks on the respective sides of the slate, which, being close- 
 ly watched, showed that one side went under and the other 
 came out. The members of " the Committee" were often as- 
 sured by Slade's supporters that the writing was done upon 
 the top of the table. To one of these a considerable sum, 
 to be devoted to distressed mediums, was offered if Slade 
 would do this in the presence of any one of our number. A 
 sitting was obtained, and the doctor was informed of what 
 was desired. " Oh ! yes ; that has often been done," he said. 
 " I don't know how the conditions are. Probably if you 
 come for just that thing, you will not get it. The spirits do 
 as they choose, and will not be dictated to. However, I will 
 try." An application was made to the spirits, who, being in 
 an obliging humor, rapped out an affirmative by using the 
 medium's knee against the table. This was highly satisfac- 
 tory, and much interest was manifested. The two were 
 seated at the table as before described, and the slate in the 
 doctor's right hand began moving here and there, under the 
 table, as usual, and the doctor began writing with his fin- 
 gers as usual, too. He made several efforts to get the slate 
 on the table, but without success. As he was about to suc- 
 ceed and release it from his hand, the visitor exclaimed, 
 " Turn it over, doctor ! I can see there is no writing on this 
 side now." " I will," was the response, but he didn't. He 
 shot the slate across the room, and going to pick it up re- 
 turned and said, " You see there is no writing on either side." 
 That was true, but the finger-marks where he had rubbed 
 the writing off when he picked it up were plainly visible. 
 The attempt thus proving a failure, it was not repeated. 
 He then stated that he was suffering very much from 
 
CHAELATANISM. 39 
 
 worriment of mind, owing to sickness in his family, which 
 prevented his giving satisfactory manifestations. He was all 
 " unstrung," and should not sit again for several days. The 
 two gentlemen then withdrew. As we were satisfied that 
 no farther manifestations would be given us, and with a 
 view of ascertaining how much this "worriment," which 
 prevented his sittings, was real, within an hour after his 
 statement that he would give no more sittings, a slim-built, 
 thoughtful-looking young man, with long hair, residing in 
 a country village near Albany, might be seen ringing the 
 door-bell of the famous test-medium, Dr. Slade. The door, 
 as usual, was opened by the obliging Simmons, of whom he 
 inquired, " Is this Dr. Slade ?" 
 
 " No, sir ! but walk in." 
 
 Ushered into the reception-room, he was asked if he de- 
 sired to see Dr. Slade. 
 
 Yes ! As he happened to be in the city, and his friends at 
 home were much interested in the subject of Spiritualism, 
 he had called, hoping to see some manifestations ; but per- 
 haps the doctor 
 
 " Retain your seat. Where do you reside ?" 
 
 " Near Albany." 
 
 "Have you seen any spiritual manifestations ?" 
 
 "Well, some. We have our circles at home, and the 
 table sometimes moves, and the raps are heard, but nothing 
 further. We have read of Dr. Slade in the Banner of 
 Light, and " 
 
 " Excuse me a moment, and I will see if the doctor is dis- 
 engaged." 
 
 The thoughtful-looking young man retained his seat and 
 soon Simmons returned and requested him to walk up-stairs, 
 which he did. He was met at the top by the doctor, who 
 requested him to walk into the parlor, to which he assented 
 
40 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 without remonstrance. He mentioned his name and was in- 
 vited to sit. 
 
 " I called, doctor," he said, " in hopes to see some mani- 
 festations ; hut I am aware " 
 
 " Have you seen any manifestations ?" 
 
 " Some few. I am not much inclined to helieve in such 
 things ; but my friends wanted me to call, and if " 
 
 " Walk into the other room." 
 
 He did so, looking around with a certain solemn gravity 
 as he entered. The doctor removed the cloth from the table, 
 and requested him to examine it. 
 
 " O doctor ! I am sure I have no idea ! Pardon me ! It 
 is rather a delicate " 
 
 " Oh ! I think nothing of that. Examine it." 
 
 He did so in a very cursory way, and seated himself as 
 requested in a chair to the right of the doctor. A slate 
 was then produced and examined. It was chipped in one 
 corner of each side, and in a different manner, which the 
 thoughtful young man perceived, and which enabled him to 
 verify the fact that the slate was turned on being placed 
 under the table. The manifestations of slate-writing which 
 followed need not be referred to, as they were in no way 
 different from those already described. That the explanation 
 heretofore given is correct was easily seen. At this time, 
 the medium began to see lights in various parts of the room, 
 now hovering over the back of a chair, now on the wall, 
 again forming a halo around the head of the young man, 
 who felt flattered, but was not otherwise impressed. He re- 
 mained passive, not having much confidence in his ability to 
 see these lights, as the spirits had declared previously that 
 he was not a medium, and only after the doctor repeated, 
 " Look there ! there ! don't you see it ?" several times, did 
 he turn his head. Some manifestations — such as the tipping 
 
CHARLATANISM. 41 
 
 of the table by the doctor's foot or rapping with his knee — 
 invariably followed. A small accordeon was then produced, 
 and, after it was examined by the visitor, the spirits were 
 asked if they would play on it, and they rapped "yes." 
 The hands were again crossed on the table, and the medium, 
 holding the instrument in his right hand, under the table, 
 played a familiar air upon it in a very creditable manner. 
 That he was so playing was clearly perceptible in despite 
 of the position. The visitor's attention being again called 
 to the light, the slide in the accordeon was thrown out and 
 upon the table. After a few minor manifestations, such as 
 raising the table with his leg, which as it came down un- 
 fortunately struck that of the visitor extended for that pur- 
 pose, the doctor announced that he was sometimes con- 
 trolled by the spirit of an Indian. This Indian, as others 
 had been informed, died before the pale-face landed, but 
 somehow had managed to acquire an imperfect knowledge 
 of English, though with a peculiar objection to the nomi- 
 native case. " I feel him coming now," said the doctor. 
 A shudder or two, his eyes closed, and, extending his hand 
 in salutation, he said, " Me Indian, me control this me- 
 dium ; me come see you ; happy you come ; your friends 
 glad you come here ; investigate Spiritualism ; make them 
 very happy ; no manifestations much this time. You come 
 again. Me control this medium, make many manifestations. 
 Me go now. Good-by." And the medium opened his eyes. 
 A few desultory remarks followed, the doctor stating, 
 "We don't always get the best manifestations at the first 
 sitting." 
 
 " Yes ! so the Indian said." 
 
 Solemnly the young man rose to leave. " You will find 
 Mr. Simmons below, who will settle with you," cheerfully 
 remarked the doctor. Mr. Simmons was there, and took 
 his $5, as the medium had prophesied. Three minutes after, 
 
42 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 a young man with long hair might have been seen seated in 
 a Broadway car, whose cheerful countenance attracted the 
 attention of the passengers opposite. Deceived by his air 
 and language, both factotum and medium had been imposed 
 upon, and the latter went through his entire role of tricks 
 in so careless a manner that they were seen through without 
 effort, and without any evidence of that worriment he had 
 spoken of. 
 
 "DOCTOR" H. C. GORDON". 
 
 The wonderful manifestations made through this distin- 
 guished medium were early brought to the attention of " the 
 Committee." He was one of the few who possessed the 
 occult power, not only of calling back from the spirit-world 
 those who had departed hence; but, such was the wonder- 
 ful development of his physical organism, that out from it 
 went an emanation, which enabled the spirit to materialize 
 itself, and once again appear in the form and with the linea- 
 ments it had while here, only with a glorified beauty, which 
 is of the realms where sickness and sorrow are unknown. 
 Controlled, as was stated, by the spirits of a number of 
 Catholic priests — the most prominent of whom was the late 
 Bishop White — who had carried with them to another 
 world the tastes and habits of this, the " doctor" had 
 erected within an extension of his parlors, at 406 Fourth 
 avenue, an altar, over which long wax candles shed a solemn 
 light ; within whose niches and arches stole the fragrant 
 incense, possibly as grateful now to the good bishop, using 
 the olfactory nerves of the medium, as when on earth he 
 waved the censer before awe-struck, kneeling thousands. 
 Lying iu the centre was a copy of the New Testament re- 
 vised by the spirits, who, it is hoped, manifested more in- 
 telligence in the revision than they have when treating of 
 matters purely earthly ; and the walls were decorated with 
 
CHARLATANISM. 43 
 
 numerous scrolls, containing quotations from it. Other or- 
 namentation, of the " Leo and Lotus" style, gave a pleasant 
 if somewhat flashy aspect to the surroundings. Within it 
 all sat the " doctor," an unpleasant spider, notwithstanding 
 the corresponding gorgeousness of his raiment. White- 
 haired, even to the eye-brows, and very pale, he affected a 
 certain solemnity, eminently suggestive of unpleasant sen- 
 sations in the stomach. The front-parlor was devoted to 
 visitors, at so much per head, which kept the medium going 
 until, his great work done, he should join the souls he had 
 so much obliged by the use of his " earth-form" while in 
 this life. Here, as within the " holy of holies," gathered 
 the faithful and solemn, yet collected, witnessed the " spi- 
 rits" called up by the " doctor's" art. Seen in a dim light, 
 to be sure, and through a gauze curtain which hung across 
 the room in front of the altar, some distance from it, and 
 yet with sufficient distinctness to enable them to recognize 
 parents, daughters, sons, friends, whose forms stole upon 
 the retina, with weird mystic movement, accompanied by 
 the " doctor." 
 
 It was a good thing ; as witness the following certificate 
 in the Banner of Light of January 11th, Anno Domini 
 1873: 
 
 SPIRITS MATERIALIZING THEMSELVES. 
 
 Editors Banner of Light : The following is an account of a 
 seance held at the rooms of Dr. H. 0. Gordon, 406 Fourth avenue, 
 which, as secretary for the circle, I have been authorized to send 
 you, with a request that you publish the same in the Banner at your 
 earliest convenience. I have the original signatures in my posses- 
 sion, and any person can see them by calling upon me at my ad- 
 dress. Respectfully yours, 
 
 Edwin A. Quick. 
 61 West 18th Street, New-York, 7 
 December 30, 1872. j 
 
 The undersigned, from an earnest desire to assist in spreading the 
 
4 4 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 truth, and from a sense of justice to a medium, very cordially bear 
 testimony to the occurrence of the following facts, which we severally 
 witnesse'd at the rooms of Dr. H. 0. Gordon, 406 Fourth avenue, 
 New-York, on the afternoon of December 29th, 1872. There were 
 present, besides the medium, ten gentlemen and three ladies. 
 
 The firat spirit-form appearing — whose hair and beard gave evi- 
 dence of the snows of many winters, and who was clad in Episcopal 
 robes — was said to be Bishop White, the controlling guide of the 
 medium ; an Indian woman then appeared, and after advancing and 
 receding twice, permitted Mrs. M. J. Beaudine to place her hand 
 upon her [the spirit's] head, when it vanished almost instantly. 
 During the afternoon, a female spirit-form was developed, who finally 
 advanced, passing in front of three persons to within six inches, and 
 directly in front of her father, Dr. F. E. Andrews, who distinctly 
 recognized her as his daughter. This spirit remained visible for the 
 space of seven minutes, thereby giving all present an opportunity to 
 see her very plainly. After this effort, the medium sank to the floor, 
 apparently ver}' much exhausted. These were not simply flat pic- 
 tures, but the head and shoulders (and in some instances, part of 
 the body) were fully developed. 
 
 In conclusion, we wish to say that every opportunity was given us 
 to examine the rooms and surroundings, and we make this emphatic 
 declaration : We know that we were not imposed upon nor deceived. 
 
 William H. Wheat, James H. Monckton, 
 
 Charles Winterburn, M.D., Henry Budlong, 
 
 Mrs. Anna Kichman, J. H. Sheilds, 
 
 James Bursen, M.D., Henry Whithall, 
 
 William Mills, Mrs. M. J. Beaudine, 
 
 Edwin A. Quick, Mrs. N. D. Monckton. 
 
 Who could doubt ? 
 
 "The Committee" was represented here but once. Un- 
 toward events prevented a repetition. They realized the 
 sensation of a cat in a strange garret. Also that 
 
 " Decorations of the golden grain 
 Are set to allure the aged fowl in vain." 
 
 At the opened folding-doors, nearest the manifestations, 
 was a table, at which sat a circle of believers, including 
 several ladies, placed to the right and left of a vacant chair, 
 to be occupied by the medium when desirous of obtaining more 
 " magnetism." This is the subtle fluid through which the 
 
CHARLATANISM. 45 
 
 spirits work. It will be seen that our desire is to instruct 
 as well as entertain. These ladies reposed in a sublime 
 faith ; they did not scrutinize closely. They also retained 
 their seats, which made it embarrassing, since, to get near 
 those " manifestations," it would be necessary to go over 
 those ladies, faith and all. While the faithful were coming 
 in, and contributing their dollar apiece, the medium was 
 dressed in a blue gown, extending to his feet, with a uni- 
 versity cap, likewise blue, and a waistcoat, from " Leo and 
 Lotus," very pronounced. Until the dollars ceased to flow, 
 he moved around within his temple, without any visible 
 purpose, occasionally seating himself at the table and heav- 
 ing a profound sigh, which was echoed in the bosom of a 
 young lady of fifty, seated at his side. He finally wrote on 
 a piece of paper, and handed it to a pale young gentleman, 
 who proceeded to play a variety of popular airs on a melo- 
 deon. The ladies sang a variety of airs, not popular, while 
 the circle joined hands and went through a variety of con- 
 tortions. The medium then wrote again ; this time a salu- 
 tation from Bishop White, who, it seems, had appeared on 
 the surface, but had not yet struck the retina of any one 
 present. The bishop was glad to see us, but as he had so 
 much the advantage of us, his greeting was received in 
 silence. The medium then arose, retired to his sanctum, and, 
 turning down the lights therein, changed his gown and 
 commenced some performance, which could not be seen, as 
 only a dim outline of his form was visible. A tall gentle- 
 man, of inquiring mind, arose and turned down the gas in 
 the room where we were seated, and as this made the light 
 around the altar the stronger, the " conditions" were de- 
 stroyed, and the " doctor" came out of his trance, and re- 
 turned to the table in a normal state. The light was turned 
 up again, and precautions were taken against a repetition 
 of the outrage, which was calculated to bring the spirits 
 
46 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 into stronger relief than they were accustomed to, and the 
 medium resumed his unconscious condition. Farther occult 
 performances around the altar followed, not visible to the 
 audience, which sat in solemn stillness, awaiting events. 
 Soon he appeared behind the gauze, clad in a long white 
 robe, not unlike a surplice, but of sufficient fullness to inclose 
 two or three persons, of his own size. By his side, and, as 
 near as could be seen in the dim light, clasped in his ex- 
 tended arm, which was covered with the folds of the gown, 
 hovered a figure with the face of a young woman. It was 
 devoid of expression, and with that stiffness of contour 
 peculiar to masks or automatic figures, and yet an enthusi- 
 astic lady recognized it as the face of her daughter, and 
 " wished to state" that it frequently appeared to her in the 
 street, and at her home ; that the features were as familiar 
 to her as when on earth. After the exhibition had con- 
 tinued for a few minutes, the medium retired, with his 
 "spirit," to the darkness surrounding the altar. Other 
 faces were shown, in the same manner, and afterward, upon 
 the long kneeling-board of the altar, was seen the form of 
 a " spirit-bride," extended at full length, and in bridal-robes. 
 The picture was touching, and excited much admiration. 
 
 While this was going on, the ladies were singing, mostly 
 in falsetto, " Angels now are hovering round," " A charge 
 to keep I have," and other orthodox hymns. The exhibi- 
 tion over, the gas was turned up and the medium appeared 
 with a censer in his hand, and, lighting the incense, waved 
 it in front of the altar and above the floor where he had 
 stood with his spirits ; at one time stamping with the ball 
 of his foot as though scrunching a cockroach. This over, 
 he seated himself at the table and wrote a communication 
 from Bishop White, promising a different order of manifes- 
 tations, more wonderful and convincing than ever before. 
 He then came out of the trance and the seance ended. 
 
CHARLATANISM. 47 
 
 Though this man's recent exposure has been thoroughly- 
 ventilated through the press, I have given the details of 
 the exhibition to show upon what puerile mummeries, pal- 
 pable frauds and absurdities, many of the Spiritualists 
 build their faith. To the eye of common sense, these fig- 
 ures, exhibited with all the surroundings necessary to deceive 
 the vision, were as easily explainable as any series of tab- 
 leaux, arranged in a parlor for an evening's entertainment. 
 There was not a single wonderful thing about them, not 
 even a sleight-of-hand trick, and yet hundreds of Spiritual- 
 ists, including many who claim to be men of sense, were 
 deceived by them and fancied they really saw spirits of the 
 departed. 
 
 " The Committee" determined to go once more and then to 
 see if those " spirits" were not as tangible to feeling as to 
 sight. All the necessary arrangements were made, but hap- 
 pily we were forestalled. A party of gentlemen — all Spirit- 
 ualists and yet not to be gulled by such palpable hum- 
 bugs — sprang in upon Gordon at the opportune moment and 
 obtained possession of the "spirit" then in hand, and, 
 searching through the apartments, found all the parapher- 
 nalia, including the masks and figures he had used. These 
 were subsequently exhibited at a conference of Spiritualists 
 at Apollo Hall, in this city, and though there were, even 
 then, found some who were ready to excuse and justify 
 him, it was generally admitted that he had practiced de- 
 ception. The majority, however, seemed to entertain the 
 opinion still, that he was a medium of rare power, but had 
 been influenced by evil spirits. 
 
 b. w. FLINT. 
 
 It has, no doubt, ere this been observed that the various 
 media have their specialties, and that the spirits, probably 
 with a view of promoting harmony, do not trespass upon 
 
48 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 the domains of each other. As with the necromancers, 
 they all have their peculiar " manifestations," and, though 
 in process of continued " development" for years, and re- 
 ceiving communications from every class of spirit, and, 
 very often, from the same spirits, no medium ever performs 
 as his neighbor does. In other words, each continues his 
 little round of tricks, year after year, and, finding they an- 
 swer his purpose, makes no change in them. 
 
 Another class of media, whose pretenses, in the mind of 
 common sense people are shattered by the simple statement 
 of them, are those who answer " sealed letters." That is, 
 those who answer communications contained within several 
 inclosures, sealed with any number of seals and any amount 
 of mucilage, and, as alleged, read by the agency of spirits 
 without being opened. 
 
 Of this kind is Mr. R. W. Flint, who has an office on 
 Broadway, and whose terms are two dollars and three stamps. 
 The attention of " the Committee" being called to him, a 
 package was prepared containing the same question address- 
 ed by a son to his father, which Mansfield had pretended to 
 answer. It was placed within five envelopes, several of 
 which were tied around with a string, and sealed with a 
 great number and variety of seals, and taken to him. It 
 was retained in his possession for a week. "When asked 
 why this long time was necessary, he responded that the 
 communications must be answered in turn, and showed the 
 inquirer a large number he had on hand, inclosed in a great 
 variety of ways — some in iron, others in tin and closely 
 riveted. " Do you answer these ?" was asked. " Certainly," 
 he answered. From the fact that at different visits made 
 by the members of " the Committee" at intervals of longer 
 and shorter duration, the same packages were shown, a con- 
 clusion was pardonably drawn that they were made up for 
 the occasion. At the end of a week, the question was re- 
 
CHARLATANISM. 49 
 
 turned with an answer showing a knowledge of it, but 
 furnishing no information save that, contrary to what 
 Mansfield had said, it stated two persons were engaged in 
 the murder. Farther than this, it was but another form of 
 " spirit of father present ; happy to communicate with his 
 son ; can not answer question without investigation ; con- 
 trol of medium not good ; happy to see son interested in 
 great truths of Spiritualism ; will communicate more freely 
 next time." The seals, strings, and mucilage, however, 
 seemed all intact. This puzzled the Committee for a time 
 and until the experiment of opening a similar one was tried. 
 It will hardly be thought necessary to go into a detailed 
 account of the results of the experiment and the means 
 used to open letters and restore them to their condition as 
 originally closed. Dishonest post-office employees and 
 others have done this with success for many years. Suffice 
 it to say, that sealing-wax, made intensely cold, will easily 
 separate from the paper on which it has been used ; muci- 
 lage and glue can be softened by the application of steam ; 
 and a little ingenuity and a careful observation of the ex- 
 act condition of the inclosures, when received, makes the 
 operation an easy one. In the opening of letters, as here- 
 inafter described by the " medium" of the Committee, no 
 other utensils than such as are found in an ordinary busi- 
 ness office, and the steam from the heater, were used. 
 
 A question, inclosed in several thicknesses of tissue pa- 
 per and stitched down with a sewing-machine, made " the 
 conditions" so bad that Mr. Flint could not get any " mag- 
 netism," though he tried, and it was not answered. 
 
 "dr." PARKER. 
 
 Hearing that the spirits had learned to control the tele- 
 graph and communicate through it by means of a young 
 medium at the house of Dr. Parker, on Forty-sixth street, 
 
50 CHAELATANISM. 
 
 and thinking it of interest as tending to the advancement of 
 science, " the Committee" proceeded thither in a body with 
 precipitance. Ushered into a parlor, we were greeted by 
 the doctor, an old gentleman of shabby exterior, who pro- 
 fesses to cnre all diseases by clairvoyance and mediumistic 
 power. On announcing the object of our visit, we were 
 shown into an adjoining room, and a circle was formed. A 
 number of Spiritualists were present, among them a seedy' 
 gentleman who had been a Methodist preacher, a doctor, 
 lawyer, farmer, judge, and a variety of other things. A 
 wire from a battery in a closet and connecting with an in- 
 strument was carried around the circle and grasped in the 
 hands of every person. In this manner we sat for half an 
 hour, but the anxiously expected ticking by spirit-hands 
 was not heard. The medium then began to tap on the ta- 
 ble, in pretended use of the telegraph alphabet. Unfortu- 
 nately for this small effort at deception, one of the gentle- 
 men present was a practical operator, and, of course, at 
 once detected the fraud. He then announced that " the 
 conditions" were bad, and no manifestations of this cha- 
 racter could be had. Upon being applied to, the spirits 
 agreed to move the table, and another long sitting followed 
 without result, until, at their request, the room was made 
 perfectly dark. After an interval, the table began to tip, and 
 the member of "the Committee" sitting near the medium 
 perceived that he was tipping it. Attention was suddenly 
 called to the beautiful stars shining in one corner of the 
 room. All looked in that direction, and, true enough, there 
 were two stars plainly visible to all, shining with a certain 
 nickering light very peculiar. " Don't break the circle !" 
 exclaimed one of " the Committee," who was seated between 
 two of his friends, at the same time dropping quietly on 
 his knees to the floor and beginning to creep around to dis- 
 cover the cause of those stars. This was soon accomplish- 
 
CHARLATANISM. 51 
 
 ed, and taking a pin, he inserted it into a minute hole in the 
 panel of a side door, and the stars went out suddenly. The 
 light burning through this small hole, only perceptible 
 when the eye was on a line with it, struck on a mirror or 
 some other reflecting body, and was thrown upon the wall 
 in the locality mentioned. Meanwhile, as no manifestation 
 could be had from the spirits, it was concluded to render 
 them some assistance, and thenceforward the table tipped, 
 at one time turning entirely over ; raps were heard in every 
 part of the room ; the ex-preacher distinctly felt the grasp 
 of a spirit-hand on his shoulder and leg, which he wished 
 " to state for the benefit of those present ;" and all this 
 without the slightest suspicion on the part of the Spirit- 
 ualists present that they were the tricks of the unbelieving 
 visitors. This sitting was subsequently referred to at a 
 special meeting of believers as one of the most satisfactory 
 and convincing that had been experienced by those present. 
 Many other media were visited whose pretensions had 
 not even a transparent trick to support them : " Developing 
 media," who pretended to bring out the inherent mediumis- 
 tic tendencies of applicants in such manner as they desire, 
 as writing, talking, singing, or materializing media ; clair- 
 voyant and magnetic physicians ; lazy, ignorant women, 
 starving on their pretense in tenement-houses, holding up 
 impositions so transparent as to be painful ; men who, with 
 little knowledge of the healing art, claim to be influenced 
 by a familiar spirit in the shape of a big Indian, and give 
 advice in a certain broken English, the like of which no 
 Indian either living or dead ever used. 
 
 DR. FOSTER. 
 
 It has been a source of great regret to " the Committee," 
 that the absence of the famous test-medium, Dr. Foster, 
 has prevented their attending upon his seances and witness- 
 
52 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 ing his manifestations. They are, however, consoled by 
 the fact that the " doctor" has inadvertently lighted upon 
 the spirit of investigation in his peregrinations, and has 
 been, as is claimed, thoroughly exposed by Dr. Thomas 
 Nicholson and Dr. J. R. Graves, of New-Orleans. For the 
 benefit of those who have not visited him, we state that he 
 too has his little round of tricks, of which " the blood-red 
 writing on the arm," hereinafter referred to and explained, 
 is one of the most prominent. The expose mentioned 
 takes up eight columns of a newspaper, and, of course, is 
 too long for us to give any thing more than a condensed 
 report of it, which we do by reproducing the following, 
 which originally appeared in the New-Orleans Picayune. 
 After some preliminary remarks on the subject of Spiritu- 
 alism and previous exposes of pretended media, Doctor 
 Nicholson says, 
 
 " I shall now proceed to give a description of my seance 
 with the celebrated test-medium. 
 
 " I went to the St. Charles Hotel expecting to meet Dr. 
 Rollo Knapp and others, to have a sitting with Mr. Foster. 
 I misunderstood the time of our meeting, and as I was 
 about to leave, I happened to see a well-known lawyer in the 
 rotunda of the hotel, to whom I mentioned my purpose. I 
 did not know that he was an intimate friend of Foster, and 
 a real believer in the creed 01 Spiritualism, which dur- 
 ing the seance I found him to be. He wished me to 
 make some convincing tests, which I decided to do, with a 
 determination to use and deceive, if possible, the famous 
 medium. 
 
 " He then wrote the names of three persons on three sepa- 
 rate cards at the clerk's desk of the hotel, one of which he 
 showed me. The cards were sealed in three hotel enve- 
 lopes, which he handed me to put in my pocket, and we 
 started to Mr. Foster's room, No. 83. I requested my 
 
CHARLATANISM. 53 
 
 companion not to mention my name, but to introduce me 
 as Dr. ****** ? a friend. 
 
 " Mr. Foster required me to sit in a chair, close up to the 
 table, and my companion sat opposite to him, saying he had 
 proposed some tests which he had given me. I thought 
 this a little hasty on his part, but thinking that the tests 
 would be a fair illustration, I put them on the table. Mr. 
 Foster seesawed them one after the other, in a conjuring 
 sort of manner, across his forehead, and throwing one to 
 me, he said, ' That is Mrs. Nelson, who died in Tennessee. 
 Open it and see.' I found it to be true. This was the card 
 shown to me before entering the room. Throwing another 
 one to me, he said, ' That is Mrs. Stephenson. Open it and 
 see.' It was true. ' And that is W. P. N". Open it and 
 see.' This was true. 'He is standing by you,' said Mr. 
 Foster. Now I thought my time had come for a genuine 
 test. I told him I would write him the name of a dead 
 friend, to see if I could get a communication from him. In- 
 stead of doing this, however, I wrote a note to my com- 
 panion, stating that I intended to test whether P. N. was 
 really there or not. I said in the note that I did not know 
 Mr. N". intimately, but would say that I was very intimate 
 with him to Mr. Foster, and that I had done such services 
 and acts of kindness to him that he would give some token 
 of gratitude and tell Mr. Foster my true name. I carefully 
 folded the note and gave it to my companion to put in his 
 pocket. I did this because I did not intend that Mr. Foster 
 should say that I would not acknowledge the ' facts. ' I 
 then wrote five fictitious names, one of which was Dr. 
 Wadsworth, the only one with Dr. prefixed to it. I admit 
 that Mr. Foster requested me to write my own name, which 
 I did not ; for I decided to follow the advice of the celebrat- 
 ed philosopher Descartes — namely, in the investigation of 
 the unknown, never to accept any thing as true which we 
 
54 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 do not clearly know to be so. That is to say, carefully 
 avoid haste or prejudice and to comprise nothing more 
 in our judgments than what presents itself so clearly and 
 distinctly to the mind that we can not have any room to 
 doubt it. 
 
 " Handing the names openly to Mr. Foster, I remarked 
 
 that if Mr. P N was present, he would select my 
 
 name, for he was intimately acquainted with me, and the 
 services and kindnesses which I had rendered him were of 
 such a character that he would certainly manifest some 
 gratitude. Mr. Foster tore the names off the slip of paper 
 separately and rolled them between his thumb and finger 
 into pellets, threw them upon the table, and picked up this 
 one and that one, saying, finally, ' Is this it ? Be sure. 
 You say this is it ? ' He threw it to me, at the same time 
 going off into a mediumistic swoon, spasmodically grasping 
 
 my hand, exclaiming, with intense emotion, ' P says he 
 
 will never forget your services and kindness to him, and he 
 will follow you spiritually to the grave to bless you.' 
 (!!!) Now, Dr. Wads worth was not my name, nor had I 
 ever benefited the lamented gentleman whose spirit Foster 
 pretended to be present and speaking through him. 
 
 " How could I have deceived the spirit of P !N~ 
 
 and Mr. Foster too ? And why would Mr. N" make 
 
 such a huge fool of the world-famed spirit-seer ? 'The 
 fraudulent imposture foul ' is too glaring. This one 'fact' 
 alone is such a powerful negative against the claims of 
 Spiritualism as to annihilate its pretensions to truth. 
 
 " When I informed him of the deception, his face was 
 blood- red, and he became very angry. After my companion 
 quieted him, he was willing to let me proceed further. But 
 he tried to make it an absolute condition that I should ask 
 questions that were genuine. I consented vaguely, and 
 with a bucketful of mental reservation. 
 
CHARLATANISM. 55 
 
 " Again I assumed to be writing names, but I wrote an- 
 other note to my companion, saying that I wanted to see if 
 the spirit of Mr. Alford was present, a fictitious person I 
 knew no more about than I do the gentleman in the moon. 
 Handing the note to my companion, I folded up the name 
 of Alford and gave it to Mr. Foster, stating if that gentle- 
 man were present, I would surely get a communication from 
 him which would test the whole of these curious things. 
 Well, I got a splendid manifestation from my dear depart- 
 ed friend, Mr. Alford ! Mr. Foster told me a great deal of 
 Mr. Alford's regards for me. I endeavored to get a de- 
 scription of my spiritual-found friend, but alas ! Foster 
 turned his attention to something else. 
 
 " I was afraid to say any thing about this deception. If 
 I had, my seance would have ended. I 'made out,' as the 
 children say, 'that it was all so,' and Mr. Foster, I was 
 exceedingly glad to see, thought he had gained a glorious 
 triumph. I wrote another note to my companion, saying 
 I was going to try to get a manifestation from Mr. Henley, 
 a being as fictitious as the ubiquitous Alford of spiritual 
 fame. My companion put it into his pocket. Giving the 
 name of Henley, which was folded up several times, I soon 
 heard from this apocryphal spirit. Foster told me he was 
 standing by my side, and he says 'his name is Henley.' (! ) 
 ' Mr. Foster, will Mr. Henley select my true name if I write 
 it among several others ?' 'He says he will,' said Foster. 
 ' Very well, sir ; I will write them.' A few fictitious 
 names were written, among which was my own. Mr. Foster 
 treated them as he did the others, and selected Dr. Thomas 
 Nicholson ! The inner temple of my being had generated 
 so much humor that it was ready to burst. I could hardly 
 proceed any further. The ridiculousness of the thing was 
 getting too Quixotic. I managed, however, to get to my 
 father, about whom I felt the awe of natural impulse. 
 
56 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 " I prepared another note for my companion, telling him 
 my father's name was George Nicholson, and if he were 
 dead at all, I had good reason to believe he had died in 
 Liverpool, England. 
 
 " I asked Mr. Foster if my father were present. * Your 
 father is standing by your side.' 'Well, where did my 
 father die, Mr. Foster ? ' He gave me no answer, but told 
 me to write the name of the place he died at among others, 
 and he would select the time and place. I wrote several 
 places in America, and Manchester, England. He selected 
 Manchester. I told him no. ' Did you put the real name 
 of the place he died?' 'No sir.' That worked him up 
 to another rage. He demanded that I should write the 
 right place. I pledged him that I would. He finally select- 
 ed Liverpool, but had selected Mobile and Dublin before. 
 I told him that it was impossible that my father could have 
 died at the four places pointed out by him. He tried to 
 throw the fault on me for deceiving. As a desperate final- 
 ity, I said I did not know whether my father was dead or 
 alive. This ended the scene. He got up from the table 
 and paced up and down the room very angry. He would 
 not, by any persuasion, accept my $5 ! There are several 
 gentlemen of the city, whom I can mention, who have de- 
 tected this self-asserting test spiritual medium. 
 
 "I had unconsciously made a complete catspaw of my 
 companion, but Foster would not listen to the notes in his 
 pocket. 
 
 " Dr. J. R. Graves devotes eight columns of his paper in 
 exposing the impositions of Foster. I will only quote the 
 following at present. Dr. Graves says, 
 
 " 'After some time, he again looked toward me and said, 
 "George Snyder, have you no relative by that name !" 
 " Yes, sir ; what does he wish ?" " To speak to you." " Is his 
 name Dr. George Snyder ?" " Yes, sir ; that's his name — 
 
CHARLATANISM. 57 
 
 Dr. George Snyder." " Will he tell me where he died ?" A 
 long silence ; but Mr. Foster busily engaged answering 
 others. Finally, " Mr. Foster, you keep the doctor waiting 
 a long time ; he is an impatient spirit unless greatly changed 
 since last I saw him. Permit him to answer my ques- 
 tion." "He says you must write down several places, and 
 the correct one among them, and he will indicate it." I did 
 so, and folded the slips and handed them to Mr. Foster, 
 who soon returned "Memphis." I called the special atten- 
 tion of the gentleman sitting by my side to the answer, 
 when Mr. Foster anxiously asked me if it was correct. I 
 informed him that Dr. George Snyder had dined with me 
 an hour since, and if this was indeed his spirit, he had died 
 within the last hour. The company was only momentarily 
 stunned, but each eagerly urged him to obtain answers to 
 their questions.' 
 
 "Mr. Foster had no more communications for me during 
 the rest of the sitting !" 
 
 THE COMMITTEE'S MEDIUM. 
 
 "—Ways that are dark 
 And for tricks that are vain." 
 
 I have stated that, as the various tricks of the media 
 were discovered, one of the members of " the Committee" 
 began to practice them — the object being to show how 
 easily they could be performed and people be deceived 
 thereby. We had observed that every medium had a fami- 
 liar, in the spirit of a departed wife, or brother, or early 
 love, which acted as a messenger in hunting up absent 
 spirits, gave response to questions in the pretended absence 
 of those called for, generally finding fault with " the condi- 
 tions," and advising the visitor to come again. In a word, 
 this familiar is used to tickle the fancy of people, induce 
 them to return by promises of some wonderful manifesta- 
 
58 CHAKLATANISM. 
 
 tion, put them off for a time, and so avoid inconvenient 
 questions, and give time for investigation into the habits 
 and associations of the sitter, if it should be thought worth 
 while, in order to astonish him on some future occasion. 
 As a test of this, many experiments were made, which, we 
 well knew, would nonplus the medium, and never in a single 
 instance did "the familiar" fail to come to the rescue, 
 generally stating, through the medium (of course) that "he 
 is exhausted ; the spirits will not control to-day ; the condi- 
 tions are bad ; come again," and so on, ad infinitum, and ad 
 nauseam. Our medium therefore found it necessary to 
 have a familiar, and so selected " Kate Hughes," that being, 
 in his estimation, a euphonious and pretty name, and thence- 
 forward "Kate" was kept very busy in performing the 
 duties of her class as described. No admission of trickery 
 was at first made ; all the manifestations were received by 
 " the Committee" with entire gravity and commented on as 
 wonderful. The fact that a new medium had appeared, 
 with wonderfully versatile powers ; indeed, not — as were 
 the others — confined to any specialty ; a gentleman of 
 wealth and social position, who made no charge and was 
 therefore beyond suspicion, was whispered around among 
 " the faithful ;" and as Spiritualists are never satisfied, but 
 always seeking new tests, applications from them for a sit- 
 ting were many and persistent. There was just enough 
 difficulty placed in their way to stimulate curiosity, but the 
 applications were always granted in the end, and not once 
 was the fact of his being as wonderful a medium as report- 
 ed questioned. The calm, steadfast, rapt expression of 
 his face, growing gradually paler in his awful communion, 
 was noticed and commented upon. Around his head was 
 seen a halo of light from which looked out spirits of se- 
 raphic loveliness. Placing his hand on a folded paper, con- 
 taining a question, a la Mansfield, he adopted the style of 
 
CHARLATANISM. 59 
 
 that distinguished gentleman — only not lolling out his 
 tongue, as having an unpleasant effect — and wrote answers 
 to hundreds of questions, giving messages from long de- 
 parted and forgotten friends, concerning whom the visitor 
 was ready tc swear the medium could not, by any possibil- 
 ity, know any thing. Raps were heard about the room, the 
 furniture moved, ghostly vapors made the air thick and 
 redolent of spirit presence. Slates were obtained, upon 
 which " spirits " wrote, under the table and on top of it, 
 after the closest examination by the sitter, and without its 
 being " out of his sight " for a moment. A clear explana- 
 tion of how this could be accomplished was one moment 
 given a visitor, and to his entire satisfaction, and the next, 
 he would be bewildered and mystified by something incon- 
 sistent with such explanation, and more startling than he 
 had seen before. Amid it all, " Kate Hughes" was as active 
 as a " little busy bee," now running off into space in search 
 of somebody's grandmother, again settling some point of 
 spiritual philosophy ; defining the status of Jesus and Mo- 
 hammed ; rebuking a doubter ; explaining an inconsistency, 
 and promising better " manifestations " on another occasion. 
 She could control the medium when no other spirit could, 
 and a nice though very busy time she had of it. 
 
 Late one afternoon, after a variety of "manifestations," 
 in the presence of many persons, and while they were being 
 thoughtfully discussed, a knock was heard at the door, 
 which, being opened, admitted a stranger of most respec- 
 table appearance. He seemed somewhat astonished at the 
 company present, but at once introduced himself, and was 
 recognized by his name as a gentleman of great prominence 
 in the financial world. After a short preliminary conversa- 
 tion, he stated that he had been informed of a spirit-medium 
 there, who answered questions in sealed inclosures, and he 
 had called to submit one. He was told that such things 
 
60 CHAELATANISM. 
 
 had been done, and was requested to write his question. 
 " No !" he said, " I have it all prepared," and drew from 
 his pocket an inclosure, made of blocked-tin, and securely 
 soldered down. At sight of it, many of the Spiritualists, 
 who were in entire sympathy with the medium, began to 
 protest and talk about " conditions," etc. Such members of 
 the Committee as were present remained calm, having an 
 abiding faith. The medium took it in his hand, and stated 
 that no such test had been submitted to him, and he could 
 not tell. He held it for some time, placed it upon the 
 table, covered by his hand, and gazing at the ceiling with a 
 far-off, dreamy look, exclaimed, "We can answer it, but it 
 will be necessary to form a circle." This was done, some 
 twelve or fourteen sitting around and holding one and 
 another's hand. The medium retained the inclosure in his 
 grasp, and after a few moments became very much agitated 
 and convulsed, and, turning to the table, wrote a detailed 
 answer, involving the recital of a number of circumstances, 
 and the mention of dates and names. After letting the 
 pencil fall, and glancing over the communication, he re- 
 marked to the gentleman who had brought it, "This is not 
 addressed to you, sir." " No ?" said the other. " Well ! 
 I didn't know but there might be something in this idea of 
 1 thought-reading,' and I requested a friend to write it. I 
 do not know what it is." Naturally, much anxiety was felt 
 to see the question. After much difficulty, the inclosure 
 was opened, and the question was found to be addressed to 
 the name that was signed to the answer, and each pertinent 
 to the other. The gentleman who had written the question 
 subsequently stated that he had never written or spoken of 
 it to the medium or any one else, and that the answer was 
 entirely correct. Naturally, the Spiritualists were much 
 delighted, and, as usual, convinced. On another occasion, 
 a question, inclosed in a bar of soap, was answered with 
 
CHARLATANISM. 61 
 
 equal facility. A gentleman of experimental tendencies, 
 having some vague theory about electricity and non-con- 
 ductors, submitted a question inclosed in a glass vial, im- 
 bedded in a block of wood, and thoroughly sealed. A 
 number of Spiritualists were especially invited in to witness 
 the experiment. A circle was again formed and an answer 
 written, which gave a detailed account of the death of a 
 gentleman by a railroad accident ; how his body was so 
 charred by fire as to be unrecognizable, and that it was 
 only identified by his watch ; his place of burial was also 
 mentioned. This was found to be correct in every parti- 
 cular. Two of these inclosures were taken to a conference 
 at Apollo Hall and publicly exhibited, as convincing evi- 
 dence of spirit intercourse. 
 
 The success of this "medium" in answering sealed com- 
 munications sent in by various parties was equally great. 
 A large number and variety of seals, etc., were used, but 
 afforded little difficulty in opening them. Several " tests" 
 were offered, consisting of questions so inclosed that the 
 writers were confident they could not be opened without 
 
 detection. Of this class was one sent in by Mr. P , a 
 
 well-known Spiritualist of this city. He had inclosed it 
 within a number of envelopes, the last being very inge- 
 niously sealed with brass eyelets, perforating the paper 
 containing the question on the two sides of a small enve- 
 lope. These eyelets also inclosed on either side a circular 
 piece of blotting-paper, tightly glued to the envelope, and 
 very likely to be injured from the slightest tampering. 
 Extending around the envelope and securely pasted were 
 thin slips of paper of a peculiar character, manufactured 
 especially for the use of the questioner in his business, 
 very easily torn, and, of course, almost impossible to re- 
 place. He admitted that he had furnished no spiritual 
 medium with any such test. Notwithstanding the difficul- 
 
■ 62 CHAELATANISM. 
 
 ties, it was opened, the question read and replaced. It was 
 subsequently returned to Mr. P , with the usual re- 
 sponse of the media when they fail, " I get nothing." He 
 smiled a significant smile, and, opening the outer inclosures, 
 was satisfied it had not been tampered with. He was after- 
 ward furnished with an answer which astonished him. 
 
 The well-known and belief-exciting manifestation of 
 " blood-red letters on the arm," referred to in the descrip- 
 tion of Foster's performances, had an amusing illustration 
 on one occasion. Our " medium" was in a private parlor, 
 where were gathered a party of ladies and gentlemen, who 
 were shown a variety of manifestations. Among them was 
 an unbeliever of emphatic manners, whose only reply to 
 demands on him for an explanation of certain marvelous 
 things was, " 'Tis all stuff and nonsense !" He was urged 
 to write a question himself, which he for some time refused 
 to do, but in the end assented. The " medium" took it in 
 his hand, raised his eyes to the ceiling, and assumed the 
 rapt expression for a moment, placed the paper to his 
 forehead, gave a convulsive shiver, and exclaimed, in a 
 sepulchral tone, " Would you know to whom your commu- 
 nication is addressed? Bare my left arm !" This was 
 hurriedly done, and there, in plain red letters, stood out a 
 name. " Would you hear the answer ?" he continued, and 
 then proceeded to recount certain circumstances at some 
 length, which afterward proved a complete and truthful 
 answer to the question. " That happened before the me- 
 dium was born," said an elderly lady present conversant 
 with the facts. The questioner was " dumbfounded," and 
 every body else convinced. This trick is performed in one 
 manner by writing with a pointed instrument upon the 
 arm, and afterward rubbing it briskly, which brings the 
 blood to the surface, and causes the letters to appear. 
 
CHARLATANISM. 63 
 
 There are, however, other and better means of accomplish- 
 ing it. 
 
 "Touches by spirit-hands" is another manifestation 
 which the "medium" early acquired. His method, which 
 is the same as that used by the impostors, is to form a " dark 
 circle," the sitters being close together — knee to knee. Any 
 number may sit, but four or five is better for the purpose. 
 Each then places a hand on the shoulder of his neighbor, to 
 the right and left, so that every hand may be engaged, and 
 no collusion possible. This, with the exception of the me- 
 dium, upon whose head is placed the palm of the hand of 
 the one sitting next to him on the right. The arm of this 
 one, so extended to the head of the medium, is then tightly 
 clasped by both his hands, the one partially covering the 
 other, and the under thumb raised so as not to touch the 
 arm. Clasping tightly for a few moments, the circulation 
 is impeded, and the arm becomes slightly numb. The me- 
 dium then gently lets fall his under thumb upon the arm, 
 and, at the same moment, raises his upper hand, which is 
 then at liberty, while the owner of the arm realizes no 
 change in his sensations, but believes and will readily tes- 
 tify that his arm was clasped by both hands every moment. 
 The "medium" can now use his disengaged hand as he 
 chooses, taking care not to relax his grasp with the other. 
 He can lightly touch the shoulders or heads of those near 
 him, finger the strings of an instrument, throw something 
 across the room, and, with the aid of the imagination of his 
 company, apt to be abnormally excited in the dark, do all 
 the wonderful things concerning which we hear so much in 
 connection with this " manifestation." 
 
 It would be tedious and useless to give in detail all the 
 manifestations given by the medium. Suffice it to say, that 
 no manifestation was shown us in our investigations which 
 we did not repeat many times. And further than this, we 
 
64 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 produced as many samples of wonderful and unaccountable 
 phenomena, showing knowledge of facts and names of 
 which " the medium could know nothing," etc., as ever did 
 any of the media in the same length of time. 
 
 In my description of certain of these " manifestations," I 
 have spoken of them as they appeared to the uninitiated 
 observers, not thinking it necessary to explain the " way 
 and manner," as it certainly is not now to say to the reader 
 that they were all the result of trick and collusion. 
 
 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 In closing this investigation, " the Committee" desire to 
 call attention to a few well-ascertained facts, which, inde- 
 pendently of our discoveries of trickery, at least tend to 
 preclude the idea that the manifestations of the media are 
 the result of supernatural agency. 
 
 And first, we wish to state that our experiences and their 
 results are herein embodied for the benefit of those who are 
 ready and willing to accept rational and natural explana- 
 tions of phenomena. To the class — and it comprises not a 
 few — which says to us, " Because you imitate the things 
 which Mansfield and Slade do, it is no evidence that the 
 phenomena in their presence are not the results of spirit 
 agency, though they may be of trickery in yours," we have 
 nothing to offer. We assume that, if we can show that all 
 the pretended manifestations can be explained by natural 
 causes, intelligent people will discard the idea of their 
 being the work of spirits. Of others, we can only say, 
 " They are joined to their idols," and we are willing toilet 
 them alone." 
 
 We have found that the Spiritualists differ essentially as 
 to who are genuine media, those upon whose revelations the 
 faith is built. Some insist that certain ones are impostors, 
 and others are fully convinced that the manifestations made 
 through them are truthful and of spirit agency. 
 
CHARLATANISM. 65 
 
 The clairvoyants who pretend to be under control of 
 spirits, and to exercise a power of vision and perception 
 beyond that of man in his normal condition, are as liable 
 to be, and are, deceived as others, believing implicitly in 
 the mediumistic powers of those afterward shown to be 
 the most arrant knaves and cheats. An explanation of this 
 is sought to be found in the statement that there are good 
 and evil spirits which control the media, and this is called 
 in to explain the myriad absurdities which are constantly 
 appearing. It is not necessary to call attention to the fact 
 that this entirely destroys confidence in any thing which 
 " the spirits" may say, and that the faith built on the foun- 
 dation of their revelations falls to the ground at once. 
 There is, of course, no base for the statement ; it is a pure 
 assumption, and in this the Spiritualist is consistent. 
 Among philosophers and men of science — whom these 
 people despise, claiming to be " babes and sucklings," as 
 contradistinguished from the wise — it is the custom to as- 
 certain facts and then devise a theory in explanation, and 
 in such proportion as it is consistent with the facts is it 
 considered correct. But the Spiritualist, illogical in this as 
 in every thing, invents both theory and facts. 
 
 Communications addressed through different media to the 
 same spirit result in entirely different and inconsistent an- 
 swers, and, though communications from one spirit are ob- 
 tained through a dozen different media in succession, no one 
 ever refers to any previous interview had elsewhere, but all 
 start off with an expression of pleasure in being able to com- 
 municate, "have long desired to," etc., and this, though a 
 long interview had taken place half an hour previously 
 through another medium. 
 
 We have found that no statement of a believer in this 
 monstrous delusion, touching any "manifestation," can be 
 relied on, though he be ever so honest at heart. They in- 
 
66 CHARLATANISM. 
 
 variably mistake the impressions they receive for facts, and, 
 not infrequently, will claim for the medium what he never 
 claimed for himself. 
 
 Noticing the intentness with which media are in the habit 
 of listening to every word let fall, it became the custom of 
 the members of " the Committee" to casually mention names, 
 ostensibly of friends deceased. These were invariably re- 
 produced by the respective media, on some other occasion, 
 whether of real or fictitious persons. 
 
 The great successes of the media are constantly blazoned 
 abroad, and the impression is created among the unthinking, 
 that these are fair samples of their powers. The mani- 
 festations that are by no means remarkable make up the 
 great mass ; but occasionally — for example — the medium 
 somehow obtains a knowledge which enables him to surprise 
 and startle. Names and circumstances are lugged in, not 
 incidentally — the medium seldom having sense enough for 
 that — but with a directness which betrays the purpose. And 
 these are the tests which are made known to the world. 
 
 No medium has ever imparted any valuable information 
 to the world. Our ignorance of the " Great Unknown" is 
 as dense to-day as ever. It is claimed that media have 
 given valuable advice to business men. Well ! This Com- 
 mittee can do that too. Farther, there have come to its 
 knowledge several instances where immense sums of money 
 have been lost by men who have been foolish enough to fol- 
 low the advice of " spirits," given through media. It is, 
 moreover, a sufficient answer to this pretense to say, what is 
 well known, that these people, as a class, are among the most 
 impecunious in society. 
 
 If any one will take the trouble to read the literature of 
 Spiritualism or listen to a number of its orators, he will see 
 that it has no well-defined doctrines, no creed ; that the 
 theories and speculations are as various as those who enter- 
 
CHARLATANISM. 67 
 
 tain them are numerous, and, like the German metaphysi- 
 cian, its votaries evolve their ideas from the depths of their 
 inner consciousness. Though, as they state, in constant 
 communication with the beings of another world, few agree 
 upon the character of that world, the condition of its inhabi- 
 tants, or upon their aims and purposes. ~No Spiritualist is 
 thoroughly satisfied of the truth of spirit intercourse with 
 mortals. They are all " investigators," though they may 
 have been professed Spiritualists for a quarter of a century. 
 They are constantly seeking for new and more satisfactory 
 " tests," and they resent any attack on their theories with a 
 sensitiveness which evinces a consciousness of their weakness. 
 A theory very generally advanced is, that media are pe- 
 culiarly susceptible to the influence of both good and evil 
 spirits, and that they are not responsible for their actions 
 when thus influenced. The grossest immorality is preva- 
 lent among some of them, which is sought to be excused by 
 even certain upright and well-meaning people, on the ground 
 that the spirit, and not the medium, is responsible. Nume- 
 rous anecdotes, calculated to make the superficial laugh, and 
 yet of the saddest moral, are told, showing the evil actions 
 committed and the immoralities indulged in by both men 
 and women under this pretended influence, and for which 
 they insist they are not responsible. We need not point out 
 how every prop of morality, every bulwark of society, is 
 thrown down by this hideous assumption. 
 
AN APPENDIX. 
 
 Natttkally the expose of fraud and charlatanism on the 
 part of the most prominent media of the city or of the world, 
 as it originally appeared, created a profound sensation among 
 the Spiritualists, and the attendance at the regular weekly 
 conference, at Apollo Hall, held on Sunday afternoon, the 
 16th of March, was very large. The usual platitudes were 
 indulged in by a variety of speakers, who — probably out of 
 regard for human life — are confined to ten minutes of time. 
 Though they made no allusion to the expos'e, it was evi- 
 dently in the mind of every one, and an uneasy, agitated 
 spirit was abroad. A young man finally arose, announced 
 himself a " searcher after truth," and said he came there to 
 speak about what appeared in that morning's World. This 
 broke the ice, and a fearful onslaught was made upon " the 
 Committee" by several speakers, the most virulent of whom 
 were certain persons who had pronounced the " manifesta- 
 tions" through " our medium" the most convincing tests 
 they had ever witnessed. We are pleased to be able to say 
 that the more thoughtful and intelligent Spiritualists have 
 been with us from the start, have manifested no disposition 
 to uphold the cheats and tricksters we have undertaken to 
 expose, but on the contrary, have sustained us in every way, 
 and have furnished us with a great variety of valuable in- 
 formation, going to show the fraudulent character of the 
 media. 
 
 Those who attacked us on the occasion referred to were 
 especially emphatic in their indorsement of Slade, who had 
 for them produced the manifestations of slate- writing many 
 times without, as they alleged, ever touching the slate, and 
 
AN APPENDIX. 69 
 
 they were ready to guarantee he would do it again. This 
 led to the following correspondence : 
 
 LETTER TO DR. HENRY SLADE. 
 
 New- York, March 17, 1873. 
 Dr. Henry Slade, 210 West Forty-third Street, City : 
 
 Dear Sir : Yesterday, at Apollo Hall, we made the fol- 
 lowing proposition ; viz., that we would donate five hundred 
 dollars ($500) to any charitable institution which might be 
 selected by the members of the conference, on condition 
 that you would write or cause to be written a single line, 
 across a slate laid on top of a piece of pencil, placed where 
 we may desire to place it, upon your table ; the slate to be 
 furnished by ourselves, and your hands never to touch the 
 slate or the pencil. It is claimed by'those who firmly be- 
 lieve it, that you have done this and more, and that you can 
 do it again. If you really can, we suppose you will be more 
 happy to be the means of contributing this amount to cha- 
 rity, than you would be to receive the ten dollars which 
 would otherwise be the cost of the seance, hence we expect 
 the stance free. It is, of course, expressly conditioned that 
 the writing shall be done in the presence of Mr. Grant and 
 Mr. Tifft, and as many others of our friends as you choose to 
 admit. We, however, insist only on the two. If you are will- 
 ing to submit to this test, please inform us by bearer in 
 writing, naming any hour of any day this week (in the day- 
 time) when we can meet you, and we will call at your place. 
 Your kind attention and reply, giving us at least one day's 
 notice, so that we may arrange our business accordingly, will 
 greatly oblige, yours very respectfully, 
 
 (Signed) J. N. Tifft, 
 
 William G. Grant, Jr., 
 John S. Schultz, Jr., 
 Henry R. Tifft, 
 F. D. Merserau. 
 
70 AN APPENDIX. 
 
 THE EESPONSE. 
 
 210 W. 43rd St. K Y. 
 
 March 18. 1873. 
 Mr. J. K Tifft and others. 
 
 Yours of yesterday containing your proposition made at 
 Apollo Hall on Sunday the 16th inst. viz : 
 
 That you would donate five Hundred dollars to any chari- 
 table institution on condition that I would write or cause to 
 be written a single line across a slate laid on top of a piece 
 of pencil placed where you might desire to place it on my 
 table — 
 
 The slate and pencil to be furnished by yourselves, and I 
 am not to touch either slate or pencil. 
 
 In reply I must inform you that your proposition does 
 not come within the province of any thing I might claim in 
 regard to the manifestation of writing, that has repeatedly 
 occured in my presence. Therefore I have no warrant or 
 authority for accepting it — For obvious reasons. You pro- 
 pose that I shall write a line across a slate, or cause a pencil 
 to write a line without myself touching either slate or pen- 
 cil. 
 
 My dear Sirs you would have been just as consistent to 
 have made this proposition to your nearest neighbor as you 
 have been in making it to me — Because I claim the writing 
 that has so often occured in my presence during a period of 
 some years is a phenomenon over which I have no controll 
 whatever. 
 
 Therefore I have no authority to say that it will occur 
 again — 
 
 It is recorded in history and believed by many that on a 
 certain occasion a hand appeared and wrote upon the wall. 
 
 Was either of the persons present charged with writing 
 the ominous sentence ? 
 
 Or were they ever called upon to repeat it ? It is not un- 
 
AN APPENDIX. VI 
 
 comon for me to sit with persons for these manifestations 
 and fail to obtain any 
 
 This is no disappointment to me — 
 
 But when they do take place my surprise can hardly be 
 less than those who witness it for the first time — And were 
 they never to occur again it would be no evidence against 
 the genuineness of those witnessed by thousands of inteli- 
 gent men and women whose testimony would be taken as 
 evidence in any court of Justice upon any other question — 
 
 This it seems you are trying to overcome by declaring 
 that you have failed to witness what others may have told 
 you they have seen — 
 
 If that is satisfactory to you it certainly is to me. for I 
 am fully aware that an acceptance or denial by one man or 
 any number of men will make no difference with the facts. 
 
 It is unpleasant for me to attempt to discuss this or any 
 other question, as it unfits me for the duties to which I am 
 devoting my life — and the conditions you propose under the 
 circumstances in this case would create that anxiety of mind 
 with me that I could not for a moment expect the manifes- 
 tation to occur. 
 
 I will say in conclusion your offer financialy considered is 
 liberal. 
 
 And should you still be very desirous of bestowing it 
 upon the needy, I trust you will have no difficulty in finding 
 those to whome it would be acceptable. 
 
 Respt 
 
 Dr. H. Slade * 
 
 Subsequently many of the intimate friends and ardent 
 supporters of Dr. Slade endeavored to prevail upon him to 
 
 * This letter is reproduced here with all its excellencies and defects, as written. 
 —Author. 
 
72 AN APPENDIX. 
 
 attempt the manifestation. All were very positive he would 
 consent. A number of " Angel Guides" informed their sub- 
 jects that he would ; in substantiation of the great truth of 
 spirit intercourse. But he didn't and wouldn't, and so the 
 " great truth" suffers for want of this confirmation. 
 
 The Committee is willing the reader should draw his own 
 conclusion from this correspondence, only desiring, in this 
 connection, to say a word in reference to a manifestation 
 which has been frequently called to our attention, and of 
 which Dr. Slade speaks in his letter. . We refer to the 
 " Handwriting on the Wall." The Committee admit a cer- 
 tain degree of ignorance concerning it. It occurred some 
 time since, and who the medium was is not stated. We 
 have only to say : Had we been there, and been called upon 
 to pay $5 for the exhibition, we should have made some in- 
 quiries. And here, too, we would call attention to the 
 remarks of a Spiritualist, reported in the World of March 
 23 d, as follows : 
 
 " Such a proposition as the one made to Dr. Slade is ab- 
 surd, if there is any truth in the manifestations from spirit- 
 land — a mere begging of the question. Just apply it to 
 one of the miracles of old, and see. Moses went up forty 
 days into the mountain, and was hid from the people in fire 
 and smoke. When he returned, he brought the tables of 
 stone, written on by the finger of God. Imagine a com- 
 mittee from the Hebrew laity, taking him by the beard and ad- 
 dressing him in the spirit of Slade, < See here, Moses, that 
 writing is very well done, but you were gone forty days in 
 the mountain, and hidden all the time in clouds and sulphur 
 smoke. Now we will put faith in the miracle, if you will 
 let us furnish a couple of tables, and take a deputation from 
 our number up into the mountain with you, do away with 
 the clouds and smoke, and write, or cause to be written, a 
 single law upon our tables.' The merits of the question of 
 
AN APPENDIX. 73 
 
 spirit-manifestations in fact, are precisely the same in one 
 case as in the other, and the reply in each the same." 
 
 Though Spiritualists are energetic and persistent in their 
 denunciation of the Bible, and stigmatize those who believe 
 in it as a divine revelation, they are ever ready to go to it 
 for facts, when it suits their purposes. Unlike them, we ac- 
 cept the venerable tradition referred to in the above extract, 
 but .we fail to see the parallel in the two cases. If Moses 
 had been in the habit of going up into the mountain and 
 bringing down stones with inscriptions, which he claimed 
 were written by supernatural agency, and making the 
 children of Israel pay $5 apiece for the exhibition thereof, 
 we think a committee of the Hebrew laity would have been 
 justified in taking a look inside of the cloud. This " Com- 
 mittee" certainly would have donned its " sandal-shoon and 
 scallop-shell " at once. 
 
 We have, during the past month, received an immense 
 number of letters, making inquiries, reciting tests, inform- 
 ing us of tricks on the part of certain media, discovered by 
 the writers, and more than all abusing us, in a manner 
 which savors more of the sensual and devilish than the 
 spiritual and lovely. Although causing us much trouble 
 and expense, we have endeavored to answer all such as have 
 been addressed to us in the spirit of courtesy. To others 
 we have paid no attention. 
 
 At this point we desire to state, that we entertain the 
 usual opinion among gentlemen, regarding anonymous 
 writers. Their communications find their way, at once, to 
 the waste-paper basket, when addressed to us, without the 
 compliment of reading. 
 
 We have thought a sample of the correspondence in 
 which we have been engaged may be of interest here, and 
 we insert one or two. 
 
74 AN APPENDIX. 
 
 [From N. Y. Herald, March 30.] 
 THE EXPOSURES OE MEDIUMS. 
 
 To the Editor of the Herald : 
 
 Is there no love of truth and fairness in the New-York 
 press while treating of Spiritualism? The Herald has 
 seemed most fair in giving all sides of questions, so I have 
 appealed to it. If the papers must have sensations, why 
 not attempt to slaughter some cause that is a little less 
 sacred than the only one which pretends to give facts in 
 proof of the soul's immortality ? Lately the Sun, and still 
 later the World, have attempted to expose our principal 
 mediums, and show that they are all frauds, and although their 
 correspondents have skillfully perverted facts to suit their 
 prejudices, the Times has seemed to believe them and 
 comes out editorially, signifying that mediums are impostors 
 and Spiritualists a set of dupes who can not see into deception 
 excepting when others show it to them. The stupidity of 
 this insult may be seen when it is remembered that many 
 of the most eminent men of science and letters of the day, 
 many of the greatest geniuses of all ages, and all the mon- 
 archs of Europe admit the facts of Spiritualism, and enter- 
 tain spiritual mediums. The seven "gold brokers" and 
 others, who went out to get up a sensation for the World, 
 by tearing down characters which are precious to thousands, 
 say they have " friends and relatives," who, since they have 
 become Spiritualists, have been " of little or no practical use 
 to themselves or any body else," and that a desire to rid 
 these people of a " delusion" exercisecta controlling influence 
 upon them. I do not wish to be personal, but it is not a 
 good omen for them to have " friends and relatives" so in- 
 ferior as to be injured by the beautiful facts of spirit com- 
 munion, and, moreover, it would have looked better if they 
 had possessed a supreme desire to ascertain the truth with 
 
 I 
 
AN APPENDIX. V5 
 
 reference to these mediums, instead of having such a deter- 
 mination to put them down for the good of these friends. 
 But multitudes almost too great to number have received 
 benefits from Spiritualism — have been convinced of the 
 soul's immortality and glorious destiny — have been cured 
 of what were pronounced incurable diseases by all other 
 methods, and have had the fear of death completely dissi- 
 pated. The monarchs of Europe are also sufficiently ad- 
 vanced to see the benefits of Spiritualism ; for the freeing 
 of the twenty million serfs of Russia, and the great move- 
 ments for religious liberty in Austria and Italy, were 
 brought about through the hated mediums. But what have 
 these seven men of the world done ? Have they loved truth 
 as did the eminent savant, Professor Hare, who proved this 
 matter through all kinds of machinery and experimentation 
 for years, through mediums, until he was converted from 
 his atheism ? Have they equaled Judge Edmonds, who made 
 this great subject a special study of over two years before 
 he decided ? Have they imitated the " Dialectical Society," 
 which includes many of the greatest scientists of England, 
 and which, after forty meetings for investigation of the sub- 
 ject, decided that there was a power manifested apart from 
 all visible forces, and one which exhibited " intelligence" ? 
 No ; they are not that sort of men. They have manifested 
 great ignorance of the philosophy of mediumship to start 
 with, which they might have remedied if they had read 
 Mr. Hazard's treatise on the same. This is what they have 
 done : 
 
 First. They have perverted the truth with regard to Drs. 
 Slade, Mansfield, etc., by pretending to do all that they can 
 do, while they in reality counterfeit only the poorest part 
 of what hundreds of the sharpest and most intelligent men 
 in the country have seen these same mediums do. Thus, let 
 a stranger bring them a double slate of his own, place it on 
 
70 AN APPENDIX. 
 
 an uncovered table in daylight, place a small pencil inside 
 it, cause the small pencil to write by itself so that every 
 stroke is heard, and then on opening it find a message writ- 
 ten in English or French, and perhaps a name of a departed 
 friend signed. This will be truly imitating one of Slade's 
 difficult features. Further, I hold in my pocket a long slip 
 of paper, on one end of which I wrote a question, and then 
 after folding it ten times so that no mortal eye could read it, 
 handed it to Dr. Mansfield, who answered it immediately, 
 and gave several names of departed friends that no one in 
 New- York, himself included, had heard of. Multitudes 
 have had equal experiences, and fourteen languages have 
 been written through his hand. But I have not space here 
 to notice the slashing remarks about others, especially 
 Foster, whom they admitted that they had not seen at all. 
 
 Second. These brokers and merchants, who, from their 
 avocation, should understand the money market better than 
 the subtle laws of mind, have after these brief investigations 
 attempted to settle what scientists require years for, by 
 blackening the characters of several much esteemed men, 
 and have wounded the feelings of thousands who under- 
 stand this subject far better than they. They are welcome 
 to their reward. E. D. B. 
 
 THE RESPONSE OF " THE COMMITTEE." 
 
 [From the Herald of April 6th.] 
 
 THE EXPOSURE OF MEDIUMS. 
 
 To the Editor of the Herald : 
 
 As we are equally satisfied with your correspondent " E. 
 D. B.," in his communication with the above heading, 
 published in your issue of last Sunday, that the Herald is 
 fair in giving all sides of questions, we venture to appeal to 
 it in response. 
 
 Though "E. D. B." sees fit to cloak himself under these 
 

 AN APPENDIX. 77 
 
 initials when attacking gentlemen whose names have been 
 made public, yet it is easy to perceive from the tenor of his 
 communication that he is a believer in the alleged mani- 
 festations, since, like the majority of that class, he deals in 
 pure assumptions, without a single prop to support them, 
 and in an entire perversion of facts. And first we challenge 
 him to name one single scientist, recognized as such, who 
 admits the assumptions of modern Spiritualism. It is true, 
 some of them have admitted the fact of strange phenomena, 
 but no one the explanation given. On the contrary, they 
 have, with natural unanimity, especially disclaimed the idea 
 of spirit agency. How men of science really regard this 
 delusion may be gathered from the response of Professor 
 Huxley to the Committee of the Dialectical Society of Lon- 
 don, appointed to investigate and report on these pheno- 
 mena, asking him to join it. He says, in effect, "In my 
 investigations, which have been of considerable extent, I 
 have discovered only gross ignorance or willful fraud, and, 
 &s far as I am individually concerned, I would rather live 
 and be a crossing-sweeper than to become a spirit and talk 
 nonsense through a medium at a guinea a seance." And 
 Professor Tyndall, who recently went from among us, and 
 whom we all so much admire, has expressed similar views. 
 
 As to the greatest geniuses of all ages, what their opinions 
 may have been we will not stop to inquire, only, as Spirit- 
 ualism celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary last Sunday, 
 if what " E. D. B." says is true, they must have believed in 
 Spiritualism in the spirit of prophecy. 
 
 We confess our ignorance of the "beautiful facts of spi- 
 rit communion," notwithstanding our many visits to the 
 more prominent mediums with a view of learning of them. 
 If they consist of table-tipping, writing nonsensical answers 
 to foolish questions, playing a cheap accordeon with one 
 hand under a table, then we have some knowledge ; but 
 
78 AN APPENDIX. 
 
 after hearing many spiritualist orators, and reading much 
 of the literature, we are ready to challenge its votaries to 
 point out one new fact, new truth, or new thought which it 
 has discovered or originated. There is not one. As has 
 been said, " Its literature is a strange jumble of metaphy- 
 sical jargon extracted from the limbo of worn-out creeds." 
 
 In reference to the report of the London Dialectical So- 
 ciety, " E. D. B.," as usual, tells only half the truth, and so 
 leads the reader to an utterly false conclusion. While this 
 committee admitted strange phenomena, so far from admit- 
 ting the assumption of spirit agency, they called for further 
 scientific examination to ascertain the true source, nature, 
 and power of the force displayed, and its more prominent 
 members — notably Mr. Edward W. Cox, in his Spiritualism 
 answered by Science — have shown that the phenomena, 
 including the " intelligence" manifested, were wholly incon- 
 sistent with the spirit theory. 
 
 We admit that Professor Hare was an eminent special 
 scientist, and we state, moreover, that he is not recognized 
 or quoted as an authority on scientific subjects ; that Judge 
 Edmonds and Robert Dale Owen are men of intelligence. 
 That so few of their class have accepted Spiritualism is an 
 evidence that the age is breaking off the shackles of super- 
 stition. These men have proved as perfect a godsend to 
 Spiritualists as has Fred Douglass to the colored race, and 
 they are hurled at the head of disbelievers at every turn ; 
 but, with feelings of high regard for these gentlemen, we 
 respectfully decline to believe because they do, nor have we 
 been able to find, either in their speeches or writings, any 
 thing which convinces us. 
 
 It is no new thing for the monarchs of Europe to enter- 
 tertain themselves with fools and jugglers. It has been the 
 custom for some centuries ; happily in former times more than 
 at present. That they continue to do so, may be cause for re- 
 
AN APPENDIX. 79 
 
 gret. It certainly can not be regarded as an evidence of 
 the truth of Spiritualism. 
 
 As to the freeing of the 20,000,000 serfs of Russia and 
 the great movements for religious liberty in Austria and 
 Italy being " brought about by the hated mediums," we 
 have only to say, in the language of the Scotch verdict, 
 " not proven." 
 
 In reference to the investigations and exposures of me- 
 diums made by this "Committee," we would state that the 
 manner in which they have been received by the more in- 
 telligent and thoughtful Spiritualists of Apollo Hall has 
 been a sufficient reward. We do not claim to be men of 
 science, nor was it necessary for the purpose of this investi- 
 gation that we should be. We do claim to be able to detect 
 fraud and expose trickery, and now repeat that every mani- 
 festation made by Slade, Mansfield, and others in the presence 
 of the members of this Committee were mere tricks, which 
 we have reproduced again and again in the presence of and 
 to the entire satisfaction of more than a hundred of the in- 
 telligent Spiritualists referred to, as they will readily testify. 
 And, further, we repeat that this committee have offered to 
 Dr. Slade, and now offer to any medium, the sum of $500, 
 to be devoted to any charitable object named by him or 
 her, if he or they will write or cause to be written, or in- 
 duce a spirit to write, one line or two words on either a sin- 
 gle or double slate lying upon a table, in the presence of 
 this " Committee," or any two members of it — the slate not 
 to be touched by the medium after our final examination of 
 it. And we further offer the same sum of $500, to be applied 
 as stated, to any medium, if he or she will show or cause to 
 be shown any manifestation or manifestations of any cha- 
 racter whatever, which they ascribe to the agency of spirits, 
 which this Committee can not explain and fully account for 
 by natural causes, we being at liberty to pursue our investi- 
 
80 AN APPENDIX. 
 
 gation in our own manner. And herein, let us add, we feel 
 quite as safe as does a certain gentleman who for a long 
 time has had on deposit in Paris a large sum of money 
 which he offers to any medium or clairvoyant who will de- 
 scribe it. 
 
 As to Mansfield and his fourteen languages, again "not 
 proven ;" and if it were, it constitutes no evidence of spirit 
 agency. A smattering of fourteen languages is not a won- 
 der. Very respectfully, yours, 
 
 J. N". Tifft, 57 Broadway, 
 
 For the Committee. 
 
 A PRIVATE LETTER.* 
 
 Mr. J. N. Tifft, 57 Broadway, New- York : 
 
 Dear Sir : I have noticed, from time to time, statements 
 in the New York World in regard to a self-styled Commit- 
 tee, who have taken upon themselves to expose Mansfield, 
 Dr. Slade, and other well-known mediums. You state in 
 your letter in the Herald of yesterday, that you can do any 
 thing that has been done through Mansfield. I would like 
 to meet your Committee some evening this week, and test 
 their powers. 
 
 I will give you below what was part of my first expe- 
 rience with Mansfield. August 21st, 1871, my wife passed 
 from the mortal to the immortal. On the 9th of September 
 following, I called at Mr. Mansfield's rooms on Sixth avenue. 
 Mr. M. was an entire stranger to me, and I had no conver- 
 sation with him save to receive instructions how I should 
 write my question. I wrote on my first slip of paper, " Will 
 my dear wife, Mary Ann Jones, communicate with me?" 
 which I signed with my name in full. I folded this up seve- 
 ral times, so that it would be impossible for Mr. Mansfield 
 
 * The names in body of letter and of writer are fictitious. 
 
AN APPENDIX. 31 
 
 to read it ; as soon as he had pasted it up and placed his 
 finger upon it, he began to write as follows, " Well ! my 
 dear old friend J., I am with you, and recollect you 
 kindly, and the many talks we had before I was so fully 
 satisfied spirits of the departed could return and talk with 
 mortals. Well ! I now have rid myself of all doubt. I do 
 exist a conscious individuality. By and by I will tell you 
 more. Charles has gone for Mary Ann — he will soon be 
 here. — Z. W. Thompson." 
 
 The above was from one of my oldest and best friends, 
 who was an inveterate skeptic in regard to a future life ; in 
 fact, a Deist. He and I had spent many an hour investigat- 
 ing the phenomena of Spiritualism, and he was at the time of 
 his death as confirmed a skeptic as ever in the past. I met him 
 a few months before his death in Maine, and we had the 
 same old argument over again. As I left him, I said, 
 " Friend Thompson, the probabilities are that you will pass 
 on to the unknown before I do, and if you do, I want you 
 to come and tell me which of us is right and which is in the 
 wrong." At this time I said to him, " I shall never ask for 
 you ; you must come without calling." The communication 
 is characteristic of him in every way. He was one of 
 nature's noblemen — a gentleman of wealth and culture, and 
 well read in the abstruse sciences. I had not thought of 
 him, in any way, on that or previous days. The Charles 
 that was mentioned was a mutual friend who had been dead 
 fifteen years. I had no conversation with Mr. M. at this 
 time, nor had he any means of knowing me or my antece- 
 dents. I went there for the sole purpose to see if my wife 
 could talk with me through Mr. M., which she did to my 
 full satisfaction. I had several other sittings with him, all 
 of which were satisfactory to me. Now, I am neither a 
 bigot or a fool. If you can produce, from the arcana of 
 nature, any thing for me as straightforward and inde- 
 
82 AN APPENDIX. 
 
 pendent as the foregoing, I should be very glad to meet 
 you and your Committee. I have not seen Mr. M. since I 
 had my visits with him. I believe in fair play, and if he is 
 a fraud, I would gladly aid in his exposure. Until so con- 
 vinced, I shall believe him honest. * * * 
 
 Yours truly, John Jones. 
 
 THE REPLY. 
 
 New- York, April 9th. 
 
 Dear Sir : Yours of the 7th inst. is received and contents 
 noted. . . . 
 
 However correct you may be in other particulars, you 
 are evidently laboring under a delusion in supposing that 
 " the Committee" is at the beck of the public, or such por- 
 tion of it as may desire to " test its powers." Notwithstanding 
 which, we profess ourselves ready and willing, at such time 
 as our engagements will permit, to meet any one who may 
 choose to call on us. We certainly do pronounce every 
 thing which Mansfield did for us the result of fraud and 
 trickery, and we are fully able to do the same things by 
 natural means. Farther than this, neither in the .Herald 
 nor elsewhere, have we professed to go. Through an article 
 in the World and at various meetings of the Spiritualists 
 at Apollo Hall, we have given the public the benefit of our 
 experience. It has cost nothing and the public is welcome 
 to it. We can not afford to deal with the experience of 
 others. We have therefore nothing to offer in explanation 
 of the " test " you refer to. The mention of names, you 
 speak of, in Mansfield's answer to your question, seems to 
 us but a repetition of a trick we have discovered to be very 
 prevalent among media, of ascertaining the names of de- 
 parted friends of visitors, and then bringing them forward 
 at the opportune moment as an evidence of spirit agency. 
 We have practiced the same ourselves with success, and 
 
AN APPENDIX. 
 
 have given strangers and believers what they declared to 
 be the most convincing tests they had met with in many 
 years of investigation. As we have been thus able to blind 
 people, without money or price, and with a very limited ex- 
 perience, we are satisfied others can do it much better, 
 under the incentive of one five-dollars secured, and many 
 more likely to follow, and with the advantage of twenty 
 years' practice in fraud. However, these suggestions are 
 not offered to influence your mind, and if you are satisfied 
 that Mr. Mansfield could have obtained a knowledge of the 
 names mentioned, and the relations of the persons holding 
 them to you, by none other than supernatural means, we 
 can only envy you your facility for believing. Assuring 
 you that we shall be happy to see you at the office of the 
 undersigned, at any time between three and five o'clock 
 p.m., I am very truly yours, 
 
 J. K Tipft, 
 For the Committee. 
 
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