BF 1289 
 ■ S7 
 
 Copy I 
 
 PRICE TJ©IV CENTS 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT 
 
 OF 
 
 THE VflHIPIBES OF ONSET, 
 
 PAST AND PRESENT. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRESS OF S. WOODBERRY & CO., 
 105 Summer Street. 
 
 1892. 
 
SOME ACCOUNT 
 
 OF 
 
 THE VAMPIRES OF ONSET, 
 
 PAST AND PRESENT. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRESS OF S. WOODBERRY & CO., 
 105 Summer Street. 
 
 1892. 
 
 I 
 
PREFATORY. 
 
 THE compiler of this little pamphlet is not an opponent of spiritualism ; on 
 the contrary, he has for many years been interested in the study of psychical 
 phenomena. He is proud to say that he counts among his steadfast friends 
 many well-known spiritualists, and has their approval of this work. He fully 
 believes all rational, law-abiding men and women among spiritualists and 
 sympathetic investigators will indorse all efforts to show up the records of 
 some of the vile creatures who, under the mask of mediumship, have been 
 coining money from the most sacred feelings of the human heart ; who, with 
 diabolical cunning and all the artifices of the mountebank and prostitute, have 
 plied their wiles to victimize and demoralize heart-broken mourners seeking 
 knowledge of their beloved dead. The claim sometimes made, that these vend- 
 ers of spurious wares, these destroyers of manhood and womanhood, and 
 wreckers of virtue, have mediumistic power, may well seem absurd to ordinary 
 common sense, and those who admit the claim should regard them as all the 
 more dangerous on that account. That such vermin are permitted among people 
 claiming to be civilized and respectable, is a matter of profound astonishment 
 to a large number of spiritualists, and to the world at large ; but that these 
 pests should be publicly recognized and treated with consideration and courtesy 
 due only to decent people, and this by officers of the Onset Camp and leading 
 representatives of the spiritualists in Bdstim and elsewhere, is a matter for 
 serious alarm and energetic protest, ff 'this brief but authentic compilation 
 shall assist in awakening virtuous spiritualists to the deplorable state of affairs 
 at Onset and elsewhere, so inimical to public morals and proper study of psy- 
 chical phenomena, the purpose of its publication will have been acconu 
 plished. 
 
 Boston, July i, i8g2. 
 
 V 
 
MRS. HANNAH V. ROSS. 
 
 THE Providence Journal of March i, 1884, contains an extended sketch of 
 Mrs. Ross. The headlines will give an idea of the biography ; they are as 
 follows: "A great show exposed." "The bogus materializations of Mrs. 
 Hannah V. Ross." " A domestic quarrel leads to unpleasant developments." 
 " The police being summoned, mother and daughter denounce each other as 
 public frauds." The account explains the several methods by which confed- 
 erates were introduced into the cabinet, and details the writer's interview with 
 Mrs. Ross's mother-in-law, Mrs. Daniel V. Ross, who is spoken of as "a 
 very respectable woman." After telling the interviewer that she had been a 
 spiritualist for over thirty years, and claiming that for years the secret of her 
 daughter-in-law's deception was kept from her, she is reported as saying: 
 " It so happened that one night this winter, one of the confederates failed to 
 appear, and Hannah asked me to assist her in the cabinet. I was never more 
 surprised in my life, and I indignantly refused to play upon the feelings of any 
 one." The account continues : 
 
 "Mrs. Ross, Sr., also informed the writer that Hannah 'fooled ' her hus- 
 band for two years after she married him, and that when he learned of the 
 deception he was greatly exercised in mind, and informed her (his mother) of 
 it. Hannah had also boasted to one of Ross's relatives that " if she could eat, 
 drink, and sleep with Charles (her husband), and fool him, she could fool 
 anybody." 
 
 Then follows an account of a domestic row between Charles and Hannah, 
 in which she seems to have got the best of the fight. " She attacked him," it 
 is alleged, " and tore his clothes, scratched his face, and closed and blackened 
 one of his eyes." After this fight, Mrs. Hannah bundled up some clothes and 
 went off with her milkman. Returning, some weeks later, she found her 
 husband gone and that she had no home. "On learning the condition of 
 affairs," continues the Journal account, " she was like an infuriated tigress let 
 loose. She attacked Mrs. Ross, Sr., it is alleged, knocked her down, black- 
 ened her eyes, and bruised her face and body." Details of broken china, hot 
 water, etc., followed, but need not be repeated. The affair culminated in police 
 interference. In the presence of the policeman, criminations and recrimina- 
 tions were thrown about freely, Mrs. Ross, Sr., saying, "You are a fraud, and 
 earned the money by deceiving the public." " I know I did," retorted the won- 
 derful materializing medium ; "but didn't you and your son help me to do it? 
 You are just as much in the mud as I am in the mire." Mrs. Ross, Sr., denied 
 that she had any hand in the " base deception," as she termed it. 
 
 This is enough to show the character of Mrs. Hannah V. Ross, but it may 
 be well enough to say that she was detected at Lake Pleasant Camp in 1883, 
 on account of which Mr. Thomas S. Tice was published in the Providence Jour- 
 nal subsequent to the appearance of the biographical sketch hereinbefore men- 
 tioned. We have no desire to parade the dark side of human nature in the 
 Journal, but we were recreant to our duty did we not putfthis matter before the 
 public at the present time. 
 
4 MRS. HANNAH V. ROSS. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF HER FIRST EXPOSURE IN BOSTON. 
 
 The plan was as follows : It was agreed that when the Indian should make 
 his appearance, some one man, who had previously been selected, should seize; 
 him, another should occupy himself with Mr. Ross, a third with Mrs. Ross, 
 a fourth should light the gas, and the others put in the best possible work. If 
 the Indian did not appear, then the chimes of the little French clock on the 
 mantel striking nine should be the signal. Mr. C. A. Braman provided him- 
 self with a box of lucifer matches, so that a bright light could be obtained at 
 short notice. Thus prepared, the party assembled in the front parlor of 96 
 West 'Concord Street, last Monday evening, and the gentlemen state that 
 everything started off as usual. The cabinet was examined ; Mr. Ross made 
 his little speech ; the lights were extinguished, save a small lantern situated 
 in the opposite corner of the room from the cabinet ; the doors leading to the 
 back parlor were closed, and the performance began. The curtains were drawn 
 aside, and a shadowy form revealed for an instant. Soon the manifestations 
 remained longer, and finally began to move around the room. For some 
 reason the Indian did not appear, and the fatal hour of nine was approaching 
 without any action having been taken by the company. At last a "spirit," 
 who claimed to be a friend of Mr. McLauchlan, called him to the cabinet. Mr. 
 McLauchlan said at a venture, " Is that you, Harry " ? The " spirit " nodded 
 an assent. "My dear friend," continued Mr. McLauchlan, putting out his 
 hand, which the " spirit " took, v I am very glad to see you." Mr. McLauch- 
 lan tightened his grip on the " spirit's " hand. " Come out here," he said ; 
 and then, in a quick, sharp voice, he cried, "Come on, boys, I've got 
 something ! " 
 
 The party responded to a man. Mr. Braman 's matches flashed into flame, 
 and in an instant the room was as light as day. The " spirit Harry " found 
 himself in the middle of the floor, with the ghostly muslin stripped from his 
 face ; Mrs. Ross was securely held, while the stalwart Mr. Willard caught the 
 gentle Mr. Ross in his arms just as that gentleman pulled his revolver. But 
 the most singular part of the affair was yet to come. Young Mr. Braman, 
 who is a finely-built, muscular fellow, sprang to one side of the cabinet, and 
 as he lifted the curtain, he saw his " big Injun " with an uplifted chair, pre- 
 pared to brain the first person who entered. Under a blow like a flash of 
 lightning, which landed on poor Lo's jaw, the now thoroughly materialized 
 "spirit "fell to the floor. 
 
 While the battle in the cabinet was progressing there was a general melee 
 going on in the parlor. Poor Mr. Ross was struggling in the embrace of 
 brawny Mr. Willard, begging to be released, and acknowledging that the 
 game was up. The "spirit Harry" broke away from his tormentor, and 
 succeeded in making his way up stairs. 
 
 There were taken from the cabinet three boys, or young men, and a poor 
 little trembling girl not over eight years old. She was completely terror- 
 stricken, and clung to the dress of Mrs. Ross, crying bitterly. The " staff" 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Ross turned out to be three boys and the little girl. The 
 " big Injun " proved to be a young man twenty or more years old. Mr. Ross 
 did not attempt any explanation, but refunded the money paid by each one of 
 the audience present, and the company departed, well satisfied with the night's 
 work. 
 
MRS. HANNAH V. ROSS. 
 
 N. W. GILBERT'S STATEMENT. 
 
 Winter Park, Fla., Feb. 25, 1887. 
 
 On the evening of January 31, of the present winter, I was one of a party 
 of about twenty ladies and gentlemen to attend a " materializing seance "at 
 the house of Mrs. H. V. Ross, at 96 West Concord Street, Boston. The 
 " manifestations " were such as are usually seen at such places. Several 
 " forms " came out of the " cabinet," or appeared at the apertures in the cur- 
 tain, and claimed, by nodding assent when questioned, to be the spirits of 
 deceased relatives of some person or persons present. 
 
 Shortly after nine o'clock, one of the young men of our party seized a pre- 
 tended spirit which stood behind the curtain, and pulled it suddenly out into 
 the room. At the same instant, by preconcerted action, we lighted the chan- 
 delier and pulled away the curtains forming the " cabinet," and found therein 
 two other young men, and a little girl apparently about eight years old. The 
 three boys — the two in the cabinet and the one just taken out — were about 
 fourteen, eighteen, and twenty-two respectively ; of course, judging by their 
 looks and appearances. These we captured and held, and talked to and heard 
 them talk, their silent nods having been exchanged for good Saxon speech, 
 whereby they begged piteously to be let go. We also held in custody for the 
 time being Mr. and Mrs. Ross ; and 1 distinctly and also repeatedly heard Mr. 
 Ross say to the man who held him, words to this effect : " You have exposed 
 us ; what more do you want? Why can't you let us alone now? " He then 
 offered to pay back our admission fee, which he did, and promised that the 
 next day he would refund all we had ever paid him, saying that he had no 
 more money in the house at that time. 
 
 N. W. GILBERT, 
 
 415 Washington Street. 
 
 STATE OF FLORIDA, 
 ORANGE, SS. 
 
 February 25, 1887. 
 
 The above-named N. W. Gilbert personally appeared this day and made 
 oath that the above statements by him subscribed are true. 
 Before me, 
 
 JAMES S. CAPEN, 
 
 Notary Public, 
 
 Note. — Seven other statements under oath, substantially the same as Dr. Gilbert's, were pub- 
 lished in the Morning Post. 
 
6 MRS. HANNAH V. ROSS. 
 
 SECOND EXPOSURE OF MRS. ROSS IN BOSTON. 
 
 The following account is from the "Boston Post : Some six or eight gentle- 
 men, some of them prominent spiritualists, attended the seance yesterday 
 afternoon, at the house No. 96 West Concord Street. In the party were Lieut. 
 Walker and Officer James G. Arbecam, of police headquarters, in citizen's 
 clothes. They carried in their inside pocket a warrant for the arrest of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Ross on charge of obtaining money under false pretences. Also 
 among the number was a representative of the Post, who was probably the 
 first reporter who had ever crossed the threshold since the premises had been 
 occupied by the Ross family. 
 
 The mediums evidently had no suspicions that anything unusual was 
 about to happen, for though the members of the party arrived at different 
 times, no opposition was made to their entrance. Mr. Ross, who is a tall man 
 with thin hair, a heavy brown mustache, and a keen eye, as usual, acted as 
 master of ceremonies. The interior of the room has already been described in 
 these columns. 
 
 Presently the silence was broken by the squeaking parlor organ, which 
 sounded " Nearer, my God, to Thee," and a number of the expectant watch- 
 ers took up the strain. After the music had gone on for two or three min- 
 utes, the curtain of the cabinet slowly parted, and a figure robed in spotless 
 white slowly emerged and began a sort of nondescript dance, which was kept 
 up for a minute, and then disappeared behind the curtain. The sepulchral 
 music kept on, and presently the snowy figure again appeared and went 
 through a weird sort of motion, in which it moved its arms, which, in the 
 faint light, looked very plump for the arms of a spirit without flesh and blood. 
 Again the figure glided noiselessly behind the shielding folds of the curtain, 
 and again it came forth and went through the same motion. It paused a 
 moment and beckoned to some one in the circle. Mr. Ross approached one 
 gentleman and said, " I think she wants to speak to you." The man arose 
 and went to the figure, who whispered something to him that was inaudible 
 to the spectators. The gentleman returned to his seat with a long-drawn 
 sigh, evidently not satisfied with the revelations made to him. Again the 
 spirit disappeared. The organ changed its tune, and in a moment a male 
 •'spirit," dressed in black clothes, came forth. It did not remain long, but 
 quickly returned to its hiding-place. Presently a good-sized Indian glided into 
 the presence of the pale faces. It was doubtless " Bright Star " ; but he was 
 soon called back, and didn't appear again. 
 
 Presently two female figures, clothed in the regulation white, stepped forth ; 
 one of them was that of a young girl, apparently fourteen or fifteen years 
 old. One of the gentlemen was called for and approached the smaller figure, 
 and, after a critical examination, returned to his seat, saying, "It is my 
 daughter." When one of the female spirits again came out, Mr. Ross beck- 
 oned to the reporter, and said, " She wants you " ; but on a near approach, 
 Mr. Ross concluded that the spirit was mistaken ; but not until the reporter 
 had touched her arm, and found that it was plump and warm. The next 
 materialization was a woman and two. little children, all in white. A gentle- 
 man present was called for, and approached. He kissed them, and the kiss 
 sounded like a reai old-fashioned, fleshly smack. 
 
 The next and last manifestation was the fatal one. A gentleman who was 
 
MRS. HANNAH V. ROSS. / 
 
 one of the party of investigators was talking with the fourteen-year-old spirit, 
 when he suddenly seized her in his arms and carried her bodily across the 
 room. Mr. Ross, who was on the alert, made a spring at the man ; but, 
 although he was quick, he was not as rapid as Lieut. Walker and his assist- 
 ant, Officer Arbecam. The limbs of the law and the man medium met in the 
 middle of the room, and in an instant the place was transformed from a 
 darkened abode of spirits to a scene of wildest confusion. The others in the 
 party took a hand ; some securing Mrs. Ross, who was in the cabinet, while 
 one or two turned their attention to a large individual named Dr. C. H. Ayer, 
 who began to be demonstrative. The shutters were thrown open and daylight 
 admitted. The appearance of the room was almost indescribable. Chairs 
 were overturned, women were screaming in wild alarm, while the struggles of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Ross were terrific. Mr. Ross fought like a tiger for his liberty, 
 shrieking in his rage, and vowing all sorts of vengeance on his captors. The 
 sight of the badges of the officers and the exhibition of the warrant acted in 
 much the same way as a bucket of water would on a wax taper. Dr. Ayer 
 was not quieted until the twisters had been put on him by the police. 
 
 But the worst struggle of all was with Mrs. Ross, for she is a powerful 
 woman, weighing nearly two hundred pounds. When found in the cabinet 
 she was quite scantily clothed, having disrobed to assume male attire for the 
 next manifestation. Her clothing was found on the floor of the cabinet, 
 where she had just taken it off. In her scanty habiliments she made a fierce 
 fight for freedom. She seemed to have the prowess of an Amazon, and finally 
 broke from her captors and ran down cellar, where she was found and brought 
 back by the officers. Finally, when thoroughly exhausted, she consented to 
 go to her room, where, under guard, she dressed herself. The child dressed 
 surrounded by several ladies who were ammg the spectators. The child posi- 
 tively refused to give any informatiou concerning herself. She was taken to 
 Station 5, but was afterwards released. A search of the premises was made, 
 but no more forms v/ere found, although it is believed that two persons made 
 their escape. Mr. and Mrs. Ross were taken to police headquarters, where 
 they gave bail in three hundred dollars each for their appearance this morn- 
 ing, and the discomfited pair were released. During the fight in the parlor, 
 the organist,* Longley, and a man named Dr. Pratt, who was active in seat- 
 ing the visitors, made their escape. 
 
 [From the Boston Herald.] 
 
 The result of the expose was most conclusive, for not only was she caught 
 in the act of impersonating a spirit, but the child as well. Instead of demate- 
 rializing, as well-behaved spirits should, both turned out to be decidedly 
 human — one being almost insane with rage, and the other in an equally 
 demoralized condition through fear. 
 
 At the trial of Mr. and Mrs. Ross, Judge Parmenter, in his charge, said : 
 " But here, nevertheless, is a fraud, practised on persons who have full faith 
 in spiritual phenomena. It seems to me that it is far beyond the deceits ordi- 
 narily practised, as, for instance, that of three-card monte. In such cases the 
 
 * C. P. Longley, the composer of " beautiful songs " for seances, and confederate of the Rosses, 
 also a popular performer in other materializing circles, notably Mrs. Hatch, attached to Ayer's 
 Temple, but since confessed her fraud. 
 
 ,v 
 
8 MRS. HANNAH V. ROSS. 
 
 cupidity of the dupe is excited, or else he hopes to show superior skill to the 
 trickster ; but here the finer sensibilities of the deceived are worked upon, and 
 1 can conceive of no greater disappointment or humiliation than to have such 
 sacred confidence unduly violated. It is certainly a cruel thing to revive their 
 grief wantonly, and if there is no weapon in the armory of the law to reach a 
 fraud of this kind, it is sincerely to be deprecated. I therefore propose to 
 investigate the matter thoroughly, and to do so I shall be unable to render a 
 decision until Friday of next week, until which time the case stands ad- 
 journed. The defendants were held in the same bail." 
 
 Williamsburg, May 15, 1887. 
 
 MR. C. A. BRAMAN: 
 
 Sir, — I avail myself of the first opportunity to write you the little I know 
 in regard to the " Ross expose." 
 
 I was at my friend W. W. Currier's on the second of May, I believe, 
 Monday evening, I think (may have been Tuesday, can tell by referring to 
 my diary), when by request and invitation Mrs. Griffin came over to Brad- 
 ford, to Mr. C.'s residence, from Haverhill, and told us the story of the 
 expose. She is the lady who said, "For pity's sake, let me take Mrs. Ross 
 and dress her ; she is a woman, no matter what she has done." She said 
 she took two coats and put around Mrs. Ross, and took her up stairs, after 
 Mrs. Ross had run part way down the basement stairs and been brought back 
 by the men. That when she was first dragged from the cabinet she had on 
 soiled stockings, drawers, and chemise, and that this last article, in the scuffle, 
 was torn or taken off in some way ; that Mrs. Ross talked most frightful 
 language and used very vile terms. 
 
 She helped Mrs. Ross dress, and also learned what she could. Mrs. Ross 
 remarked that this was the work of another materializing medium that had 
 vowed to put her down, etc. I will not say positively, but I believe she ac- 
 cused Mrs. Fay of being said medium. Mrs. Ross was very much excited at 
 first, but grew calm. Mrs. Griffin asked her if she had anything that she 
 could help her about, and after some parley, Mrs. Ross said, " Yes, I have 
 something they must not get hold of. I have a package I was going to take 
 to Providence,' R. I., with me. It is in this closet, on shelf, I think she 
 added.* Just as they were taking out the mysterious parcel one of the 
 police came to the door. They threw it back into the closet, and, after satis- 
 fying himself that all was well, he went out. Then Mrs. G. took the pack- 
 age, and, by Mrs. R.'s directions, tied it on to her body as a bustle. Before 
 Mrs. G. put said parcel on, the police, or some one, again came up, and Mrs. 
 G. was obliged to hold the parcel between her knees for some little time ; 
 then, as I said above, tied it on her person. The officers then took Mrs. R. 
 away, and were going to take the little girl, who had been down stairs, half- 
 dressed as she was caught, crying and trembling all this time. 
 
 Again Mrs. G. interceded and got permission to dress the child. As soon 
 as they were alone, the child straightened up, and said, with some bad words, 
 " I ain't half so scared as they think I be." Mrs. G. questioned the girl, but 
 she was shy, although she said "there were a number that helped Mrs. R.," 
 and " they were almost done that day, and in a few minutes Mrs. R. would 
 have been dressed all right." Mrs. G. asked, " Does not Mrs. R. get some 
 true materializations?" " Yes," said the girl, "once in a while, but that 
 ain't so easy." 
 
 About this time a lady came to the house, was admitted at last, claimed to 
 be Mrs. R.'s dressmaker, was told Mrs. R. was under arrest; looked sur- 
 prised, said there was, perhaps, a little girl there ; she would know of the 
 dressmaking, etc. ; would like to see her ; Mrs. G. and dressmaker go up to 
 the room where the girl is ; the dressmaker gives the girl a peculiar look ; the 
 girl tells Mrs. G. no more; Mrs. G. begins to talk to the dressmaker; gets 
 
 * This was the well-known "wire form," that could be extended, and in the dim iight ot a seance 
 room, look like a spirit, and worn as a bustle by the medium on entering her cabinet. 
 
MRS. HANNAH V. ROSS. 9 
 
 into her good graces ail she can, then they go down to the basement and ask 
 a son of the Rosses if there is anything to be disposed of ; he said, " Yes, but 
 we cannot burn them, they will smell so " ; then Mrs. G. said, " Well, let us 
 get the things, and see what there is, and what we can do." Ross boy. — Are 
 you up to this business? Mrs. G.— Well, I guess I am. The boy goes and 
 opens a door near the stairs, across from the circle-room, if I understand it 
 correctly, and brings out a lot of old lace, tarletan, cotton cloth, night- 
 gowns, etc., and an Indian costume, which in part consisted of turkey feathers 
 and an old table spread. Mrs. G. says, " What shall we do? " Ross boy 
 said, "We cannot burn them, they will smell so." Mrs. G. — Go, get a 
 washtub, put in water, and the small pieces at the bottom, the night-gowns 
 on top." He did so. Then, " What is to be done with this Indian costume? " 
 The dressmaker says, " Fix it for a bustle, and I will put it on." They did 
 so. It made her dress several inches too short in the back. Mrs. G. felt 
 ashamed to be seen with the woman and bustle on the street, but could not 
 yet leave her. A young man met them with a strange remark (I will not. 
 repeat it, as I cannot recollect it fully) ; also a young lady gave them a hint 
 that they were watched, or words to that effect. At last Mrs. G. got away, 
 went to the Boston & Maine depot, and home to Haverhill that night. She 
 told her husband the story, and opened the package she had worn home. 
 
 The next time she related it and showed the package was at W. W. Curri- 
 er's, in the presence of Mr. Currier and wife and myself. We all examined 
 it carefully together, in their house. What the package contained as it was 
 undone by Mr. Currier we discovered to be a piece of white cotton cloth, 
 pinned up, and around it a black rubber tape, about half an inch wide, with 
 strings to tie it to the body as a bustle ; also, I believe, undoing the cloth, 
 inside was a form made of coarse footing or crown-lining lace, with white 
 covered wires once in about six inches, like a hoop-skirt, only the wires were 
 such as milliners use. There was a head, and on it was one of the thinnest 
 masks, with false hair, etc. A loose piece of cheese-cloth which you can throw 
 out on the floor, then bring the rest after as a form that materializes and 
 dematerializes right in your sight. It is all very simple. Mrs. G. took it 
 home after we had performed experiments with it. 
 
 Now I wish you to either go to Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Currier, or write and 
 get their statements of this matter ; also ask them to take you to Mrs. G., 
 and \ almost know she will tell you much more than I can or have. I have 
 been as careful as possible, but, writing wholly from memory, in my case, is 
 hard work, I have so many things to think of and attend to. This is, how- 
 ever, to the best of my memory, a true statement of what Mrs. G. told us. 
 Yours for the truth, 
 
 JENNIE B. HAGAN. 
 
 P. S. — I wrote Mrs. Griffin, and asked her to send you the address of the 
 mask and form maker. You will see or hear from her very soon. 
 
 J. B. H. 
 
 [From Alcyone.] 
 
 MRS. ROSS AND HER RUBBER BABY. 
 
 DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE FRAUD RECENTLY ATTEMPTED ON THE 
 
 SPIRITUALISTS. 
 
 On learning that much more might be known of the Boston woman exposed 
 by the Argus last week, your correspondent sought the lady at whose house 
 the seance was to have been held, and found that, though she was a business 
 and test medium herself, she had but little faith in materializations, and was 
 perfectly willing to state what she knew about the Boston woman, Mrs. Ross 
 byname. Her statement, in substance, corroborated by her husband, was, 
 that she was requested by the spiritualists in charge, to allow the use of her 
 
10 MRS. HANNAH V. ROSS. 
 
 parlors one Friday night for a seance, to which she consented. Some time 
 during the day Mrs. Ross came to the house, and immediately commenced to 
 investigate the premises, making such changes as she thought necessary. 
 She also produced a paper from her bosom, containing the names of those who 
 were to be admitted to the seance, and wished the lady to inspect it and vouch 
 for the list. Mrs. Whitney asked her what difference who came, if the thing 
 was honest; to which she replied, with a laugh, that she "wanted to be 
 sure that none got in but those who were fools enough to expect to see spirits.' 7 
 
 The medium was accompanied by an accomplice, who coolly informed Mrs. 
 W. that she should expect to remain incog, while at her house, and she fur- 
 ther informed her that she should require the use of Mr. Whitney's wardrobe 
 for the seance, as she expected to personate a male spirit during the evening. 
 Mrs. W. stated that her suspicions had been growing from the first, but now 
 she was fully satisfied, and she determined to send at once for the parties who 
 were backing the show, and make them acquainted with the true character of 
 the woman and her accomplice. On mature deliberation she concluded to 
 appear to enter into her schemes, for the purpose of being able to more fully 
 expose her. The Boston woman being thrown off her guard, Mrs. W. was 
 treated to a revelation of duplicity and depravity that almost took her breath 
 away ; as she expressed it, it fairly made her dizzy and sick until she got her 
 out of the house. " Why, of course the whole thing is a fake," said the 
 medium; she didn't suppose there were many in Portland simple enough to 
 suppose anything else. Why, I can teach you the whole thing in four hours,. 
 so you can do it as v/ell as I can. Half the people in the world live by 
 swindling the other half." 
 
 She then regaled her hostess by showing her the contents of her pack, which 
 consisted of flimsy dresses, while she was also prepared to transport her vic- 
 tims by the apparition of baby spirits, which she did by inflating to different 
 degrees of obesity a " rubber dummy," to which an elastic cord was attached, 
 which enabled her to scoot it to any part of the roam she wished, and have it 
 return. 
 
 Mrs. Whitney was further advised by this woman of a particularly popular 
 feature of these " materializations," which was nothing less than the 
 charming facilities offered for ladies to bring their "favorite gentlemen," as 
 the room had to be darkened much of the time for spirits. It was equal to 
 going through a tunnel. Besides, when these "favorite gentlemen" had 
 become thoroughly en-rapported with their female attendants, they were never 
 disposed to grab at the dummies or other paraphernalia of the medium. Mrs. 
 W. informed her that she had no intention of making an accommodation 
 house of her home ; but the medium only laughed at such squeamishness, 
 and said, " Portland folks are too goody-goody for anything, but you ought 
 to see the way we do things up in Boston," or something to that effect. 
 
 Mrs. W. had by this time become fully satisfied as to the character of her 
 guest, and, though it was nearly time for the seance to commence, a messenger 
 was dispatched post haste for the gentleman who maintains a general oversight 
 of these spiritual seances, and he was made aware of the state of affairs, 
 and his presence requested immediately at the house. He came in haste, and 
 after a hurried consultation (for the audience had already arrived), Mrs. W. 
 decided that no seance could be given by the woman at her house, and, fur- 
 ther, that the woman and her accomplice must leave the house at once. 
 
MRS. HANNAH V. ROSS. 11 
 
 Here was another surprise for the faithful, who were already out in force. 
 They were not aware that the woman had an accomplice. The woman had 
 especially enjoined upon Mrs. W. that no one was to know that any stranger 
 was in the house. By this happy device the medium could sit in full view of 
 the audience the entire evening, while the confederate operated from another 
 room, where the muslin and gauze dresses, men's suits, rubber dummy, and 
 flim-flams were arranged previous to the seance, so as to be all ready to jump 
 into and out of during the great transformation acts, where spirits, all the way 
 from the tender babe of six months to the old sinner of ninety, were to be 
 made to pass in kaleidoscopic succession, each to be recognized in turn by 
 some one of the audience. But the outcome was that the two worthies were 
 turned out of the house, bag and baggage, and no spirits walked that night.* 
 
 Mr. Wether bee, a correspondent of ^Alcyone, writes as follows: "Mrs. Ross, 
 good lady, honest and no taint of fraud in her manifestations." 
 
 " The children on the occasion of which I am speaking constituted a very 
 interesting feature, one or two of them being babies in adult arms. They 
 were kissed and handled by me, and they were living flesh and blood." This 
 statement of Mr. Wetherbee as to what he did is strictly correct, for the writer 
 was present at the time referred to, and not only saw but heard the osculations. 
 
 But what of the baby? It will scarcely be credited that this medium had the 
 audacity, well knowing the credulity of her adherents, to stand in her dark 
 cabinet and present, by the aid of an old night gown thrown over her arms,, 
 her bare maternal bosom as the face and head of a materialized baby, nature 
 having endowed her in this direction in almost mammoth proportions. 
 
 Not only Mr. Wetherbee, but scores of other phenomena hunters followed 
 his example, month after month, until the secret came out, when there were 
 no more spirit babies in the Ross cabinet, and that lady forthwith relegated 
 her bosom to nature's proper sphere, thus exploding one of the most ingenious 
 frauds ever perpetrated. 
 
 * Mr. and Mrs. Whitney sent this account of Mrs. Ross, under their own names, to the Batiner 
 of Light for publication, which was refused. The compiler therefore uses their names, instead of 
 " Blank," as in the original. 
 
12 MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN. 
 
 [From Boston Herald.] 
 
 A MATERIALIZING SPIRIT MEDIUM EXPOSED. 
 
 STRIPPED OF ALL HER POOR DISGUISES AND PROVEN A CHEAT AND 
 SWINDLER. MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN ENDORSED BY SPIRITUALISTS 
 GETS INTO A RUSHING BUSINESS. 
 
 In spite of the warnings of the past, and eager to clutch the dollars of too 
 willing dupes, Mrs. Amanda M. Cowan fitted up a suite at 219A Tremont 
 street, and advertised herself as a materializing medium. She claimed to have 
 been developed by George T. Albro, who was manager of the Berry sisters, 
 and attained considerable notoriety in this line of business. The following 
 advertisement recently appeared in the 'Banner of Light: 
 
 GEORGE T. ALBRO. 
 
 Private sittings for the development of mediumship. The following mediums, 
 who are at present in the field, doing good work, were developed under his care : 
 Helen C. Berry, 
 
 E. Gertrude Berry, 
 
 Amanda M. Cowan, 
 
 Mr. E. T. Johnson. 
 Will also attend Developing Circles in or out of Boston. For terms apply at 
 No. 55 Rutland street, Boston, Mass. 
 
 The development of women, in the parlance of this class of people, means 
 their sitting in a dark cabinet or closet with the male developer, and numerous 
 charges of attempted immorality have been made by respectable women who, 
 up to that time, had had, implicit faith in the genuineness of the mediums. 
 Such being the general method of development practised in this line of busi- 
 ness, it is interesting to note that Mrs. Cowan points with evident pride to 
 her having graduated at Mr. Albro 's academy. She began operations in a 
 house on Shawmut avenue, near Dover street, about two years ago, and seems 
 to have been held in high esteem in materializing circles. In fact, so enthusi- 
 astic did her friends and admirers become, that they joined in tending her a 
 testimonial in the shape of a surprise party and a purse of money, the spokes- 
 man on that occasion having been John William Fletcher, the hero of the 
 famous Hart-Davies exploits in England. This case rivals the Diss Debar 
 conspiracy in New York, and revealed a most sensational plot, of which the 
 courts of England took such cognizance that Fletcher and his wife were in- 
 dicted in the Bow street police court for obtaining valuable laces and other 
 property with intent to defraud. Mrs. Fletcher was found guilty, and sen- 
 tenced to twelve months' imprisonment at hard labor. Mr. Fletcher does not 
 care to visit England at present, as there is an indictment pending against him, 
 but he has no hesitation in posing before the Boston public as a great and good 
 man, the champion of materializing mediums. He is to lecture, by the way, 
 in the Spiritual Temple on Newbury street next Sunday afternoon, on the sub- 
 ject of " Materialization." 
 
 On the occasion of Mrs. Cowan's testimonial, which occurred about the 
 first of the year, after referring to the happiness and satisfaction derived from 
 attendance upon her seances, and to the high esteem in which Mrs. Cowan 
 was held, the following resolutions were offered, which are herewith given in 
 
MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN. 13 
 
 full, as illustrating the stupendous effrontery with which these professional de- 
 veloping mediums carry on their system of deceit and delusion: 
 
 WHEREAS, having been privileged with exceptionally fine opportunities, 
 through the mediumship of Mrs. Amanda M. Cowan,- of becoming assured 
 beyond all question that those who have experienced the event termed "death" 
 can, under suitable conditions, render themselves visible to their friends on 
 earth, and converse with them; and recognizing an earnest desire on the part 
 of Mrs. Cowan and her spirit guides to furnish all available means to investi- 
 gators for obtaining evidence of the truth of the phenomenon known as full- 
 form materialization; therefore, be it 
 
 Resolved, that we tender to Mrs. Cowan our sincere thanks for the oppor- 
 tunities she has afforded us, and continues to afford us, for interviews with our 
 angel friends, and freely and fully commend her seances to the attention and 
 patronage of all who long 
 
 " for the touch of a vanished hand, 
 
 And the sound of a voice that is still," 
 
 thereby to receive palpable proof that death does not end all. 
 
 T{esolved, that for their endeavors to eliminate from the seance room every 
 appearance that might by any possibility suggest that what is therein seen 
 and experienced is not what it is represented to be, and to establish conditions 
 that cannot fail to be satisfactory to every honest seeker for the truth, Mrs. 
 Cowan and her guides are entitled to, and should receive, as they now do from 
 us, the esteem and gratitude of all who would promote the development of 
 elevated and refined mediumship, and aid in the dissemination of that knowl- 
 edge which modern spiritualism is designed to impart. 
 
 Resolved, that to Charles D. Cowan, the husband of Mrs. Cowan, and 
 manager of these seances, our thanks are also due, and are hereby tendered, 
 for his hearty co-operation with Mrs. Cowan and her guides, for his orderly 
 conduct of the seances, his considerate regard for the wishes of all who attend 
 them, and his kindly disposition to assist everyone to a comprehension of 
 their high import. 
 
 Resolved, that a copy of these resolutions be sent to the editor of the 'Banner 
 of Light, with a request that they be placed before the readers of that able ex- 
 ponent of the truths of modern spiritualism, thereby benefiting the cause by 
 making known through its widely extended circulation one who, as a medium 
 for the materialization of spirit forms, has proven herself to be eminently 
 worthy of the confidence of the public. 
 
 E. A. BRACKETT, » J.H.WOODBURY, 
 C. PAYSON LONGLEY, W. F. WHITNEY, 
 J. B. SIMONDS, JOHN S. ADAMS, 
 ABBOTT WALKER, J. S. BALCOLM, 
 W. H. PEASLEE, W. C. NOBLE, 
 
 W. S. RIPLEY, SIMEON SNOW, 
 
 MRS. KATE R. STILES, C. A. THORNE, 
 
 MRS. L. M. VIERGE, WM. ERSPENMUELLER, 
 
 FLORENCE E. RICE, MRS. SIMEON SNOW, 
 
 F. R. REED, MARY A. THOMAS, 
 A. S. BABCOCK, MRS. F. R. REED, 
 MARIA E. BROWN, SAMUEL WRIGHT, 
 MRS. A. S. BABCOCK, MRS. CORA S. ALDEN, 
 MISS CLARA STEVENS, MARGARET ELLIS. 
 
14 MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN. 
 
 TRAPPING THE "GHOSTS." 
 
 MRS. COWAN SQUARELY CAUGHT— HER HUSBAND ARRESTED FOR 
 
 ASSAULT. 
 
 Last evening the writer decided to pay Mrs. Cowan another visit. He had 
 heard that a small party of gentlemen, several of whom were satisfied of the 
 fraudulent nature of the business, intended to get at the bottom of the thing 
 without much ceremony. These gentlemen had made up their minds to act 
 together at a given signal, and the ladies of the party were provided with ma- 
 terials for instantly illuminating the scene at the proper moment. About 25 
 gentlemen and ladies were present. The seance continued for nearly half an 
 hour, and several " spirits " had been seen. At length two female forms arose 
 as if from the floor, and advanced toward an old couple on the front row. 
 They were declared to be the dead daughters of the aged people, and, it was 
 said, communicated with them about things celestial. At length three forms 
 were seen moving about, one of them that of a little girl, who laughed and 
 chattered with childish glee as she was " recognized " by this one or that one 
 among the circle. Suddenly a shriek was heard, and in an instant lights were 
 ablaze in the room. Some one had seized a " spirit " form and was trying to 
 peer into her face. She proved to be of veritable flesh and blood, and struggled 
 desperately. 
 
 In an instant all was confusion. Whack! Smash came a stove lifter down 
 on the head of the curiously disposed individual, while three or four sluggers 
 in the employ of the establishment made a grand rush to cut off further inves- 
 tigation. But two of the unbelievers were there before them, and succeeded in 
 forcing their way behind the curtains. There they found the medium, Mrs. 
 Cowan, partially disrobed, a man in his shirt sleeves, and a little girl. 
 
 " They're killing the medium!" screamed an excited female. 
 
 Smash! Down came a black-jack on the head of a man who tried to force 
 open the cabinet, which, by this time, was found to be barricaded by a heavy 
 wooden partition and secured by means of a stout spring lock. It resisted the 
 united efforts of three or four men who tried to kick it down. The two men 
 who had been inside succeeded in dragging out one of the women and stripped 
 her of a cheap cheese-cloth garment with an elastic neckband and short sleeves 
 of a size such as might be worn by a girl of 16. The man who did the club- 
 bing was seen to be Cowan, the husband of the medium, and in his assaults 
 he was joined by two other men, while the fourth contented himself with pul- 
 ling and hauling at the investigating party. In all a half-dozen blows with 
 black-jacks and the stove lifter were struck by Cowan and his heelers, and 
 one of the visiting party was badly cut on the neck, crown of the head and 
 over the right eye. The resistance made by Cowan was savage and persist- 
 ent, and not until officer Hensey of the 4th police division burst in the door 
 and placed the twisters on Cowan's wrist did he desist from showing fight. 
 
 By this time all the " spirits " outside the cabinet had made their escape into 
 other parts of the suite. One of the visiting party, turning to the officer, ex- 
 claimed: 
 
 " Mr. Officer, I ask you to arrest that man for assault on this gentleman 
 with this billy," holding aloft a wicked-looking black-jack. 
 
MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN. 15 
 
 " It's a lie," retorted Cowan, " I didn't hit him. 1 was only protecting my 
 wife." 
 
 " He did hit him," was the chorus of a dozen voices. 
 
 " 1 tried to pull him off," said one excited lady in the room; " it made me 
 sick to see the man so terribly beaten." 
 
 About this time an irrepressible individual cried out: "This man is a fraud; 
 he has been swindling us out of our money." 
 
 "That's not my business, now," responded the officer; "the question is 
 who saw this assault. Can you identify this man as the assailant?" 
 
 A half-dozen people gave their names to the officer, and then somebody ex- 
 claimed: " There's another man in the cabinet who did some clubbing; let's 
 have him out!" 
 
 " Break in the door ! " exclaimed one. " Kick it in," cried another. 
 
 " I'll smash any man over the head that breaks into this cabinet," screeched 
 a female voice frem behind the partition. 
 
 " That's the style of a medium she is," exclaimed a bystander. " Break in 
 the door." 
 
 More police officers had by this time arrived, and the police ambulance was 
 in waiting at the street entrance, surrounded by a crowd of curious people. 
 
 Two of the officers tore down some of the boards and a woman and child 
 were found within, but the man seemed to have disappeared. Later it was 
 discovered that he was hiding between the partition and the inside drapery. 
 
 Cowan was taken to the station house and locked up, followed by a crowd 
 of men and boys. He will be arraigned in court today. The other two men 
 who did the slugging made their escape, but are both known. The assaulted 
 party was taken by his friends, after swearing to the assault at the station 
 house, and Dr. Charles A. Burnham of 266 Tremont street was called to dress 
 his wounds. After the melee another black-jack was picked up in the street, 
 where it had evidently been thrown by one of the " heelers " when the officers 
 entered. 
 
 It is said that two young girls who live in Chelsea, and are orphans, have 
 been engaged by the Cowans, one as organist and pianist, and the other as a 
 spirit. There were about 25 persons present who expected to pay $1 each ad- 
 mission fee, but Mr. Cowan was too much excited to take up the usual collec- 
 tion. 
 
 [Frcm Boston Hekald.] 
 
 THAT TRAP DOOR. 
 
 HOW COWAN'S SPOOKS GOT IN AND OUT. —CRAWLING ON HANDS 
 AND KNEES.— THE CABINET SECRETS EXPOSED AT LAST. — CON- 
 FESSIONS OF ONE OF THE CONFEDERATES. —COWAN'S LANDLORD 
 TELLS WHAT HE KNOWS. 
 
 Readers of the Herald cannot fail to recall with considerable interest the 
 exposure, last spring, of Mr. and Mrs. Charles D. Cowan, the so-called mate- 
 rializing mediums, who were unmasked by a party of gentlemen and ladies, 
 some of whom were savagely assaulted by Mr. Cowan, who used a loaded 
 club with considerable energy and effectiveness. It is fair to assume that 
 business fell off somewhat after the exposure, as some three or four weeks 
 
16 MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN- 
 
 thereafter Cowan vacated his apartments on Tremont Street, informing his 
 landlord that he was without funds to pay the rent. Just whither he and his 
 " spooks " had gone was not at first known. 
 
 At the time of the exposure only a cursory examination of the apartments 
 could be made, for obvious reasons. Mrs. Cowan, when the officers entered, 
 occupied the cabinet, and was discovered en dishabille, and was not molested 
 after this fact was ascertained. It was, however, evident that, by some 
 means or other, the confederates, two of whom were found in the cabinet with 
 Mrs. Cowan, gained ingress and egress at the desired moments. It was so 
 dark during the seances that it was possible they might have been smuggled 
 in through the door of the seance room, enveloped in black cloaks, and pass 
 thence into the cabinets by creeping stealthily along and ^under the black cur- 
 tains which covered the front of the cabinet. And as there were confederates 
 in the circle as well as in the cabinet, this might easily be done without 
 attracting notice. During Cowan's occupancy of the apartments it was 
 imposssible to make any full investigation, although the matter was by no 
 means forgotten. Evidently, however, many spiritualists and others contin- 
 ued to pin their faith on the genuineness of Cowan's manifestations. The 
 Banner of Light had, only a few months before,*been lavish in its praise and 
 endorsement of these seances, and, whether intentionally or note advertised 
 them extensively. One of these editorials reads : " People who have attended 
 the seances of Mrs. A. M. Cowan in this city express themselves as being 
 highly pleased with the conditions and the phenomena, informing us that the 
 most skeptical discover no loophole of escape from the conviction that what 
 they witness are veritable emanations from an unseen realm of intelligence, 
 and find themselves forced to inquire, as suggested by Mr. E. A. Brackett, in 
 the title of his excellent treatise upon materialization, ' If not beings from an- 
 other life, what are they? ' " 
 
 Well, indeed, did Cowan and his confederates,guard their secret ; but, in a 
 moment of carelessness, one of the " spooks " let the cat out of the bag. It is 
 said that a woman can't keep a secret; at any rate, the lady to whom this 
 one was confided considered it too good to keep, and, " quite in confidence, 
 you know," mentioned it to a gentleman. The story proved that the Herald 
 was on the right track last spring, and the confession of this confederate — 
 the pretty girl who used to materialize in short skirts as Dr. Whitney's little 
 spirit daughter Ethel — is very significant. Its most interesting feature was 
 the admission that there was a trap through which the confederates crawled 
 into the cabinet from an adjoining room. It remained but to verify this state- 
 ment, which could only be done by a thorough examination of the premises. 
 The consent of the owner of the estate was sought and obtained, and an inves- 
 tigating committee, composed of the owner's agent, a city inspector of build- 
 ings, and several other well-known gentlemen and business men, visited the 
 apartments. They were accompanied by a carpenter with his kit of tools, 
 and had permission to take up floors, if necessary, in the prosecution of their 
 search. 
 
 The first suspicious circumstance noted was the fact that the nails in the floor 
 inside the space originally occupied by the cabinet were nearly new and not at 
 all rusted, as were those in the balance of the floor. They were also of a 
 different pattern. The boards had been cut off at short lengths. This section 
 
MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN. 17 
 
 of flooring was taken up. On the bottom of each board was a letter, and 
 when the boards were laid together in proper order these letters spelled the 
 word SLUMBERING-S-S-S, evidently a private mark, perhaps that which 
 Cowan formerly used in his business as a plumber. A portion of the floor 
 timbers had been sawed off, making a trap door or opening some seventeen or 
 eighteen inches square. In the adjoining room, which Cowan took pains to 
 mention as not being in use by his family, was found a corresponding trap, 
 and these two holes were connected by a cavity in the brick wall, just below 
 the flooring line. The secret of the confederates in the cabinet was thus easily 
 explained, and as the carpet was a thick one, and partially hidden at this point 
 by the black drapery, the temporary fastenings used to keep it in place easily 
 escaped detection. The trap was skilfully made and carefully concealed, 
 paint, mortar, and putty having been deftly used. 
 
 A comprehensive description of this device was reported to the owner by 
 the agent* of the building, as follows: "After Mr. Cowan had ceased to 
 
 * William A. Hayes, Esq., 39 Court Street, Boston. 
 
 occupy his apartments, as it was suggested to me that alterations had been 
 made during his occupancy, 1 made a careful examination of the premises. 
 There were signs that a part of the floor in one of the rooms had been recently 
 disturbed. Upon taking up this part of the floor it was found that the boards 
 of the floor had been sawed, so as easily to be removed, and that a portion of 
 one of the floor timbers had been cut away, and that a hole nearly two feet 
 square had been broken through the brick wall which separated this room 
 from the adjoining one, below the level of the floor. Upon removing the 
 floor, in the adjoining room, directly opposite the hole, it was found that the 
 same operation had been performed ; namely, the floor boards had been sawed, 
 and one of the floor timbers cut off and a new timber inserted, leaving a wider 
 space between the floor timbers than before. All these changes had been done 
 with skill, so as to avoid any weakening of the building. The hole through 
 the wall had been filled in with bricks and mortar, and the bricks and the new 
 mortar had been painted. The floor boards had been restored to their former 
 position, having been lettered so that their places could be more easily found." 
 The agent, in his report, omits to state that the cutting of the traps necessi- 
 tated sawing through three layers of flooring, and that the marks of the tools 
 were freshly made. 
 
 TFrom the Boston Herald.] 
 
 CONFESSION OF A "SPIRIT." 
 
 HOW ALLEGED MEDIUMS DUPE GULLIBLE FOLLOWERS.— A BOSTON 
 GIRL WHO PLAYED "SPOOK" AT MATERIALIZING SEANCES TELLS 
 HOW THE FRAUD IS PRACTISED. — SOME AMUSING INCIDENTS.— 
 WAGES PAID TO GOOD SPIRIT IMPERSONATORS. 
 
 The readers of the Herald will remember a description of the " beautiful 
 spirit with the long, waving hair " always to be seen at the Cowan seances. 
 Investigation showed that she was a girl of good family, and, as far as could 
 be ascertained, in other ways entirely respectable. Repeated efforts to secure 
 from her an account of her cabinet experience have until now proved unsuc- 
 
18 MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN. 
 
 cessful ; but at last a Herald reporter, having learned that the " beautiful 
 spirit " had unbosomed herself to several prominent ladies and gentlemen, has 
 succeeded in gaining possession of an authentic history of systematic decep- 
 tion. In telling her story to the reporter the " spirit " imposed one condition ; 
 namely, that her full name should, for family reasons, be suppressed. " The 
 beautiful spirit," who now devotes her time and talents to affairs and occupa- 
 tions entirely material, thus describes her connection with the colossal hum- 
 bug advertised as " materialization " : 
 
 11 1 was induced to enter this business, having heard about it from a lady 
 friend who had shown me much kindness, and who also knew how dependent 
 I was upon my own exertions for a living. Through this lady Mr. and Mrs. 
 Cowan came to the house where I was living, and, after some conversation 
 about the business, and how easily one could become an expert after being 
 initiated into its mysteries, they went away, remarking that they thought I 
 would be just the person they wanted. 1 called on them several times for 
 instruction and rehearsals previous to being introduced into the cabinet as a 
 "spirit." The salary they offered was in excess of what I could possibly 
 earn in my chosen occupation, and I was induced to take up the business. 
 The position I was to occupy was at that time filled by Mrs. Florence K. Rich, 
 who was a performer of such ability in this line as to make her services in 
 great demand in other cabinets, her salary being double that of others in the 
 same business." 
 
 " Under what circumstances did you make your debut as a spirit ? " queried 
 the reporter. 
 
 " It was at an afternoon seance. Mrs. Rich, in the garb of a spirit, led me 
 from the cabinet as another visitor from the unseen world. I had been in- 
 structed with great care as to the role I should enact. I advanced to where 
 Dr. Whitney and his wife were sitting, and represented myself as their dead 
 daughter Ethel. I had been carefully instructed in the stock phrases of the 
 cabinet, and taught how to locate any desired individual in the circle by count- 
 ing the number of chairs from the cabinet, and thus finding the person speci- 
 fied by the manager. On each trip I was instructed what to say. In a very 
 short time I learned the names of all the regular patrons, and also knew whom 
 they most wished to see from the spirit world.' 
 
 " Tell me, if you know, something about the circumstances under which 
 the Cowans built up their extensive business." 
 
 " I learned from them that they commenced business in the fall of 1886 or 
 1887, I have forgotten which, at 612 Tremont Street. In the parlance of the 
 cabinet, Mrs. Cowan was, after a few lessons, ' developed ' by George T. 
 Albro, at his establishment at No. 55 Rutland Street, where she served in his 
 cabinet as a ' spirit ' for a short time. Two kinds of cabinets were used. 
 One was square in shape, with curtains at the back, reaching to the floor, 
 and tightly drawn underneath and buttoned. After the cabinet was examined 
 by those in the circle who wished to see that all was fair, the lights were 
 lowered and the curtains unbuttoned and raised for the entrance of the ' spir- 
 its.' Immediately in the rear of the cabinet used by the Cowans was a door 
 leading into a room which the ' spirits ' used as their headquarters. This door 
 had been locked with a great show of sincerity, and the key handed to some 
 one in the circle for safe keeping. The Cowans, however, had constructed a 
 
MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN. 19 
 
 clever device, by means of which, with a small stick inserted in the casing, 
 the bolt of the lock could be thrown back by the ' spirits,' who could noise- 
 lessly enter the cabinet, amid the singing of the circle and the noise of the 
 cabinet organ. Each white-robed ' spirit ' was shrouded in black cambric 
 while passing from the room into the cabinet, thus rendering them invisible 
 in the dim light of the seance room. It was about this time that Mr. Cowan 
 made the discovery of a new and admirable location for his cabinet in a bay- 
 window on the street front. To ali appearances this cabinet was fraud-proof, 
 and so successful were the seances that visitors and believers were attracted 
 in great numbers. Mr. Cowan's discovery was accidental. While removing 
 the floor in the bay-window, in order to construct a trap-door by which the 
 * spirits ' might enter from the cellar, he found a space of considerable dimen- 
 sions so peculiarly arranged as to have no visible connection with the cellar, 
 rendering it absolutely safe from discovery. The male ' spirits ' were person- 
 ated by Mr. Cowan's brother Andrew (called Andy for short), while Mrs. 
 Cowan and I played the role of female ' spirits,' each having our signals for 
 entrances and exits. Business went on prosperously." 
 
 " Will you not give a few illustrations of cabinet manifestations with which 
 you were connected? " 
 
 " Well, I remember two ' spirits ' who used to come to Mr. E. A. Brackett, 
 of Winchester. Mr. Brackett is the author of a book on the subject of mater- 
 ialization, entitled 'If Not Spiritual Beings, What Are They?" and has 
 always been looked upon as a high authority on the subject. Mr. John 
 Wetherbee also had the freedom of all the circles. Mr. Brackett was very 
 demonstrative in the seance room, and inclined to overdo his part in announc- 
 ing the remarkable tests which he experienced. I personated his niece Bertha, 
 whom he desired to see on every occasion. I came to him l strong and lively,' 
 in cabinet language, always calling him 'uncle,' and grasping him by the 
 hand and leading him up to the cabinet for whisperings with the ' spirits.' 
 Mr. Brackett would express great delight at seeing me, and would earnestly 
 ask if I had ' been near him all the time since the last appearance.' In order to 
 furnish convincing proof for some of the skeptics, I would materialize fo Mr. 
 Brackett at the back of his chair, or in some remote part of the room. In order 
 to do this, it was necessary for me to creep behind the black curtain that hung 
 around the wall, counting the chairs by feeling as I crept along, until I came to 
 the one occupied by Mr. Brackett. I would then jump up and greet him, ' How 
 do you do, uncle?' and take him by the hand. ' Andy' always personated 
 Mr. Brackett's dead brother George, and we were often greatly amused by 
 his enthusiastic descriptions of our seances in the Banner of Light. Mr. 
 Wetherbee was also very enthusiastic in his descriptions of our manifesta- 
 tions, especially those at 219 A Tremont Street. 
 
 " Mr. John Low, of Chelsea, was another frequent visitor. He was very 
 hard to please. He required many ' spirits,' and was not satisfied unless he 
 saw them all in the same evening. His favorites, outside of his own family 
 circle, were the spirits of Phoebe and Alice Cary, whom he would lead to the 
 centre of the room and introduce to the circle. The famous sisters were always 
 personated by Mrs. Cowan and myself. 
 
 " After a while, Mr. Cowan, desiring more privacy, decided to remove into 
 apartments which should be occupied by his own family exclusively. He 
 
20 MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN. 
 
 located at 219 A Tremont Street, where he constructed another cabinet, intro- 
 ducing the ' spirits ' through a trap-door in the corner, leading under the par- 
 tition into the next room. The hinges of the trap were placed on the under 
 side so as to escape detection while feeling over the carpet with which the 
 floor was covered. Access was had to the ' spirit-room ' through a hole chis- 
 eled out of the brick partition wall between the two floors. It was very easy 
 for us to creep in and out of the cabinet on our hands and knees." 
 
 " Can you explain the sudden appearances of the two white forms at the 
 cabinet opening?" 
 
 "Oh, yes ; that is very simple. When Mrs. Cowan, in her role as medium, 
 would enter the cabinet from the seance room, after having been introduced to 
 the circle, she was already attired in her spirit robe, over which she wore a 
 dark dress, so constructed as to drop off almost instantly. At the same mo- 
 ment I crawled rapidly through the hole from the private room, and thus two- 
 materialized spirits were suddenly revealed, to the great astonishment of the 
 circle." 
 
 " What prominent people do you remember as among your visitors at this 
 latter place?" 
 
 " There was Mr. T. P. Beals, of Portland, who first visited us in company 
 with Mrs. Rich. From her we obtained, on the ' test exchange plan,' points 
 and information by which we were enabled to satisfy him that his wife and 
 sister actually appeared. Mrs. Cowan personated the sister, and I the wife. 
 I can tell you a funny little story about Mr. Beals. It seems that one night 
 when he was attending a seance at Mrs. Rich's, the spirit ' Dew Drop,' her 
 control, suggested that he give ' Medie ' his wife's diamond ring, which he 
 was then wearing on his little finger. To this robbery I, the ' spirit wife,' 
 strenuously objected, when he consulted me about it a few evenings later, and 
 Mr. Beals may thank me for the preservation of his ring. A Mr. Russell, of 
 Cambridgeport, was very anxious to see his ' three darlings,' as he designated 
 his two deceased wives and his intended third. There were only two of us 
 women in the caste. Now, how do you suppose we managed it? It was very 
 simple, I assure you. We merely rigged up ' Andy ' in female apparel, and 
 worked him in as 'the third intended.' Andy was a little shaky, however, 
 having positively refused to sacrifice his mustache ; and so the excuse was 
 invariably offered that the spirit of the ' intended ? was never 'strong' enough 
 to get very far away from the cabinet. We had many a laugh over Andy's 
 nervousness while wearing petticoats. 
 
 " Mr. William D. Brewer often used to come and converse with the spirit of 
 Louisa, his wife. He also had three familiar spirits, of whom he was very- 
 fond. He spoke of them affectionately as 'Faithy,' ' Hopey ' and 'Lovey.' 
 Mrs. Cowan and I alternated in producing these spirits in appropriate dis- 
 guises. Mr. Brewer was so infatuated that he arranged for private seances 
 for once a week, paying at the rate of $10 for each sitting. Mr. Brewer was 
 very fond of playing the organ at these seances while we ' spirits ' joined in the 
 singing. We also furnished him with numerous messages of love and comfort 
 from the spirit world. About this time Mr. Brewer had private seances with 
 Mrs. Rich at her rooms at No. 175 Tremont street, where the same 'spirits' 
 appeared to him, as he declared. At any rate, they were satisfactory, Mrs. 
 Rich being well acquainted with his wants. At one of Mrs. Rich's sittings 
 
MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN. 21 
 
 Mr. Brewer requested to see Mr. Ayer's popular Back Bay Temple ' Queen ' in 
 her illuminated robes. This robe was manufactured especially for this occasion 
 by Mr. Charles H. Bridge, an expert in spirit paraphernalia, and was similar 
 to that in which the ex-medium, Mrs. Hatch, was wont to masquerade. 
 
 " I think the hardest time I ever had was in the role of Little Elsie, a spirit 
 child, supposed to be only 3 years old. My make-up consisted of a short 
 frock, and a veil wound closely around my face, concealing the greater portion 
 of it, and making it appear diminutive. I had cultivated quite a baby vocab- 
 ulary, and had studied up cute little baby speeches. I never failed to keep the 
 circle in good humor. 1 always did this baby act crouching down on my knees 
 .at the cabinet opening, and at that distance was said to be a great success. 
 
 " By all odds the most absurd thing was the ovation to Mrs. Cowan, ten- 
 dered by about 30 believers, who presented her with a purse of $65, for, as the 
 spokesman expressed it, ' her efforts to eliminate from the seance room every 
 suggestion of fraud, and the opportunities she has afforded us for interviews 
 with our angel friends." 
 
 " Were you present when the Herald reporter and a party of friends broke 
 up the Cowan seance and exposed Mrs. Cowan and her confederates? " 
 
 " Yes, that was an exciting night. The room was full, and everything 
 was going along smoothly until Mrs. Cowan was seized by some one in the 
 circle while personating a spirit. A voice cried out, ' Now ! ' and lights sud- 
 denly flashed through the room. We tried to escape, and during the excite- 
 ment that followed succeeded in creeping through the trap-door into the spirit 
 room, while Cowan stood guard. In the confusion I was seized by some one, 
 and only escaped by slipping out of my spirit robe, which the raiders kept as 
 one of their trophies. After this raid the use of this trap-door was aban- 
 doned." 
 
 " Were you spirits not in constant fear of exposure? " 
 
 " Yes, we were always under a great mental strain, and I scarcely ever con- 
 cluded a seance without a severe headache. There was no danger from the 
 believers, so complete was their confidence in whatever we did, no mattter 
 how absurd or apparently impossible." 
 
 " To what extent are ' test exchanges ' carried on ? " 
 
 " All materializing mediums are in league together, and information is ex- 
 changed on application. It is very rarely that a visitor is accorded a sitting 
 ■on the occasion of a first visit. He is pretty thoroughly ' pumped,' however, 
 and the medium is thus enabled to communicate with others in the same line 
 of business, and to ascertain such facts in reference to his family and friends 
 as can be used in producing successful tests. When in the seance room ' tips ' 
 are given to us by the manager, who takes a sharp view of the sitters, whom 
 he has placed about the circle to suit his own convenience. He then commu- 
 nicates to us the names of the spirits it is safe to present, and the location of 
 each believer in the circle ; and, lest memory be treacherous, a record of these 
 i points ' is kept in the spirit room for frequent reference, together with the 
 messages to be delivered to the faithful." 
 
 " What is the usual weekly salary of a ' spirit ' ? " 
 
 " The spirit, when inexperienced, usually receives $1 for each seance. Mrs. 
 Rich was paid $3 a seance, and this is the highest price I ever knew to be paid 
 for a single seance. I should say that $1.50 is a pretty fair price for playing 
 spirit." 
 
22 MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN. 
 
 [From the Religio-Philosophical Journal.] 
 
 THE BOSTON BRAND MATERIALIZATION. 
 
 In the Boston Herald of February 23 there appeared under the caption 
 " Confession of a spirit," the most graphic account of the inside workings of 
 a successful " fraud proof " cabinet that has ever been published. As far as 
 it went the published account was truthful and accurate ; but many choice bits 
 of descriptive did not find their way into type, possibly because the editor failed 
 to comprehend the audacity of the tricksters who manipulate the materializing 
 machine. The proofs of the construction of two of the cabinet traps described 
 in the article still remain in the floor at their respective localities. The 
 identity of the Cowan ''spirit" was known all the time, and can be proved by 
 unimpeachable testimony. The " spirits " this young woman impersonated 
 and the makeups and disguises for them, can be established not only by her 
 victims but by several of her friends who were in the secret, and who were 
 present from time to time as spectators of the show. It is perhaps needless to 
 say that the Cowans enjoyed the unbounded confidence of all their victims 
 when one recalls the oration and presentation of a purse of money by J. W.- 
 Fletcher who, in complimenting Mrs. Cowan, thanked her " for the oppor- 
 tunities afforded for interviews with our angel friends." 
 
 The readers of the T{eUgio-Philosophical Journal will be interested to 
 learn that additional facts have been recently gathered in a more confiden- 
 tial conference with the " beautiful spirit " by which to supplement the Herald 
 confession. A venerable gentleman whose sideshow was the Cowan cabinet 
 for those gifted poets the Cary sisters, but whose devotion to the Albro 
 cabinet never wavers even at captured wigs of the Princess White Thorn, hits 
 off the happy events in his favorite cabinet with child-like innocence. His 
 spirits have become so familiar that they take from his shirt-front gold pins 
 and studs for their own use in the "summer land," explaining the appro- 
 priation of these trinkets by stating that " spirits are just as fond of bright, 
 pretty articles as we mortals are," and are encouraged and strengthened by 
 gifts to " come stronger and stronger." He even went so far in this line as to 
 pass into the cabinet an armful of aesthetic tiles to be dematerialized for 
 " spirit land." The Cowans, having been " developed " by Albro and adver- 
 tised by him as "doing good work in the field," copied this enterprising busi- 
 ness feature from their tutor, and encouraged presents to the spirits of every 
 name and nature. Doctor Whitney, on one harmonious occasion, presented the 
 spirits of the Cowan cabinet with two gold rings. One of these he placed 
 upon the finger of his spirit daughter, Ethel, who ever after wore the ring 
 when materializing for him. Ethel, in her short blue dress and hair 
 flowing over her shoulders, was the star of the cabinet. Mr. Simeon Snow 
 brought roses for his spirit daughter on the assurance of the medium that 
 " roses were very welcome to the spirits in cold weather ;" forgetting, perhaps, 
 the beautiful legends of " the bright land where flowers forever bloom." The 
 title of " Prince of Givers " to the spirits must, however, be awarded to 
 Mr. Wm. D. Brewer, whose presents possessed the charm of novelty and 
 variety as well as plenty. His visits to the seance room were always charac- 
 terized by big bundles containing fruit, confectionery of all kinds, and flowers 
 in profusion. Some would be bestowed upon the spirit of Louisa, his wife, 
 
MRS. AMANDA M. COWAN. 23 
 
 and a large proportion were presented to his favorite spirits, whom he 
 affectionately designated as " Faithy," "Hopey" and "Lovey." Mr. 
 Brewer also lavished choice cigars on the spirit of "White Moccasin," an 
 Indian brave to whom he was greatly attached. Readers of the Journal 
 will not be surprised that the " Big Injun " was personated by Mr. Cowan, 
 decked out in blankets and feathers, he having leisure for this kind of mas- 
 querading at private seances when the arduous duties of manager were not 
 required. The familiar child of the Cowan cabinet, " Little Elsie," was 
 never known to advance into the circle, for the best of reasons. The young 
 woman who personated her was upon her knees, and was attired in a short 
 child's frock, yet so real did she appear to the believers that she was affection- 
 ately remembered by Miss Maria E. Brown who presented her with a large 
 doll, and by a French gentleman who gave her a pretty child's ring. Mr. 
 Pilling, a familiar visitor at the Albro seances, held frequent communion with 
 the spirit of an Indian maiden in short red skirts and black wig. Mr. Pilling 
 was very grateful for these manifestations, and acknowledged the compliment 
 by numerous theatre passes. 
 
 Mr. Brackett, after a successful materialization for him, led his " Bertha " 
 around the circle, inviting all to " handle her hair, and to notice that it was 
 not a wig but a genuine, freshly materialized" article. The spirit of Mr. John 
 Wetherbee's " Gracie " was personated for him by the young woman who 
 makes the confession, while Mrs. Cowan played the role of " Flossie, " who 
 never failed to be recognized as the genuine spirit. Mr. Russell's "three 
 darlings " were sufficiently mentioned in the Herald, as was also the wife of 
 Mr. Beal whom he was sure was his genuine spouse because she called him 
 "hubby." 
 
 In the Cowan cabinet there were but three " spooks," including the medium, 
 save on some special occasion, such as the testimonial, when Ethel secured a 
 confederate to fulfil a promise made to Dr. Whitney that she would bring a 
 warm friend she had in the other life. This she did to the great satisfaction 
 of the doctor, besides taking the remarkable spirit walk before described 
 through rooms and corridors to find the doctor on that evening of financial 
 prosperity for the Cowans. 
 
 The names of the gentlemen above recorded are not given for the purpose of 
 casting reflections on their characters, but because they are proud to be known 
 as witnesses of such astonishing manifestations of "spirit power," and do not 
 hesitate to publish their experience to an unbelieving world. The writer's 
 sole intent is to furnish them with an object lesson and, if possible, benefit oth- 
 er believers in the cabinet. Here we have the story of one young girl who has 
 for a year or more personated their Ethels, Berthas, Gracies, Louisas, wives 
 and daughters innumerable, Indian maidens and child spirits, and have been 
 invariably "recognized" in all these roles by the gentlemen above named, and 
 hosts of others. These recognitions were so vivid and conclusive that they 
 were uniformly acknowledged by a cordial embrace and parting kiss, the 
 caresses in some instances being prolonged to an unseemly extent. And yet 
 there was not one of these deluded victims of cabinet tricks who could not by 
 a "grab" and flash of light have become thoroughly convinced of the out- 
 rageous swindle of materialization, and at the same time learned how thor- 
 oughly they have been deceived. J. C. 
 
24 MRS. HEM AN B. FAY. 
 
 [From Boston Record.] 
 
 ANOTHER MEDIUM PROVED TO BE A FRAUD. 
 
 SHOWN IN TRUE COLORS BY "THE RECORD." A SPIRIT GETS TOO 
 FAMILIAR WITH SKEPTICAL MORTALS, AND LOSES HER BACK HAIR 
 AND REPUTATION TOO. 
 
 Of all the shameless frauds ever perpetrated upon a confiding public, none 
 have been more successful than those practised by so-called " materializing 
 mediums." They are heartless, because they trifle with the tenderest emotions 
 of which the human heart is capable ; and they are sacreligious, too, because 
 they profess to bring comfort to sorrowing hearts under the guise of a certain 
 form of religion — known as spiritualism — while their only real object is to 
 obtain money under false pretences, and to deceive an unsuspecting or half- 
 convinced public. 
 
 "Give us your dollars," say these cheats, frauds, liars and humbugs, 
 " and we will 
 
 ' Summon up your dearest spirits.' " 
 
 The Record, which is steadily engaged in an unrelenting warfare upon dis- 
 honesty, corruption, fraud and humbuggery, and in defending the rights and 
 interests of the people, is now enabled to expose one of these interesting 
 materializing tricksters, and one of the lowest and most despicable in the city. 
 
 MRS. HEMAN B. FAY. 
 SHE LAYS DOWN HER RULES. 
 
 Standing in front of the cabinet Mrs. Fay said : 
 
 " Before commencing my seance, I wish to give my rules for conducting it. 
 Ffrst, I wish that forms which come out of the cabinet sha'n't be molested ; 
 second, no one must move about the room during the seance ; third, if any form 
 do appear, remember that it isn't me ; fourth, keep your feet flat on the floor. 
 (This was so that any too curious investigator couldn't trip up the alleged ma- 
 terialized spirit.) If anyone don't want to do as I say, they can now leave 
 the room before the seance begins. It is my rule to take up the fee before the 
 seance begins." 
 
 All remained in the room. Capt. Dixon and Mrs. Fay passed around the 
 room, collecting, as near as the writer could judge, $25 — $1 per head. The 
 captain then lighted a candle, and an opportunity was given to all who desired 
 to examine the cabinet. The writer and an elderly gentleman were the only 
 ones who availed themselves of the privilege. It was the regulation cabinet, 
 with a door and two windows. The back of it was said by the medium, who 
 entered with the writer, to be a very simple folding door. The writer ac- 
 quiesced, although he was positive in his own mind that it was a door opening 
 into the back room, from which the medium's confederates entered the cabinet. 
 After the examiners had resumed their seats, the medium laughingly said that 
 if anyone wanted to sit in the back room during the seance they might do so ; 
 although a man who had once done so had seen his wife in the mirror, and 
 had been frightened half to death, which she declared to be good enough for 
 him. No one left the main room, however. 
 
MRS. HEMAN B. FAY. 25 
 
 THE EXPOSURE. 
 
 The figure had by this time evidently become convinced that it had a sym- 
 pathetic audience, and ventured far down the room. It appeared as a gipsy 
 girl, with long hair flowing down her back. Advancing boldly down the 
 room it paused in front of the gentleman sitting next to the writer, and confid- 
 ingly stretched forth both hands. Like a flash the man clinched them in a 
 strong grasp and ejaculated " Now ! " Instantly The T{ecord man ignited his 
 bunch of matches and the chandelier was a blaze of light. Other ready hands 
 stripped away the curtains and the sun's rays flooded the room with an addi- 
 tional brilliancy. What a sight met the eyes of the believers and others who 
 were not on the inside I In the centre of the room, directly under the blaze of 
 the chandelier, struggling, fighting, biting, scratching and clinching like a 
 tigress in the grasp of four strong men, who had all they could do to hold her, 
 was that arch fraud and arrant humbug, cheat and imposter, Mrs. Heman 
 Fay. She had said that the form would not be hers, but 
 
 She got there just the same. 
 
 Her flowing hair, a switch about two feet long, had been torn from her head 
 in the melee, as was also her " spirit robe," a piece of cheap cotton gauze, 
 about four yards long and two and a half yards wide. Capt. Dixon, who at- 
 tempted to rescue Mrs. Fay, was grabbed around the neck by another athletic 
 young man. He struggled vigorously and shouted " G — d d— n you, let me 
 go ! " But he was held in a firm clasp. Mrs. Fay's desire was, of course, to 
 get into the cabinet". So she made a show of fainting, and was sprinkled with 
 water by one of her attendants. Her captors, however, were onto her little 
 game, and held her tight. In the meantime one of the writer's friends had 
 made a break for the cabinet, which he found to be closed. But he burst open 
 the door, and there found the "old auntie," a tough old gal who would tip 
 the scales certainly at 200 pounds. She was the confederate who had helped 
 to dress Mrs. Fay. She fought hard, but was ejected by the gentleman, as 
 were also Mrs. Fay's skirt and her shoes. These were ingenious contrivances 
 composed of three pieces of cork nailed together, one on top of the other, and 
 having a strap to fasten them to Mrs. Fay's feet. When she represented the 
 "ancient guide " and other tall figures, she put these on her feet to add to 
 her height. In the pocket of the skirt was a comb and a chamois skin powder- 
 pad for whitening the face. The Dixon girl made her escape in the confusion, 
 .although she was chased by one of the young men, who caught sight of her. 
 
 THE CLOSING SCENES. 
 
 Loud demands for their money were made by the unbelievers, and Capt. 
 Dixon was compelled to shell out $1 to all who demanded it. The lady who 
 had been duped into believing that she had seen her old colored sewing 
 woman said : " Well, gentlemen, I am ashamed of my sex. I have believed 
 in this, but now am undeceived. It is a terrible fraud. I thank you for this 
 expose." Similar sentiments were expressed by other dupes. 
 
26 MRS. HEMAN B. FAY. 
 
 BRIEF HISTORY OF A DUTCH ADVENTURESS WHO IS ENDORSED AND 
 DEFENDED BY THE "OLDEST SPIRITUALIST PAPER ON EARTH." A 
 WOMAN WHO IS A DISGRACE TO HER SEX. 
 
 To the Editor of the Religio-Philosophical Journal: 
 
 As so many inquiries are being made as to the character and antecedents 
 of Mrs. Heman B. Fay, of 62 West Newton St., Boston, the notorious swind- 
 ling materializing medium, I have taken the trouble to extract from the files of 
 the Court here certain sworn testimony of Mrs. Flinn, who was a leading 
 witness in a recent action which was the outcome of Mrs. Fay's disgraceful 
 exposure a year ago, and with the husband of whom, Captain Flinn, a part 
 of Mrs. Fay's life is somewhat conspicuously identified. Mrs. Flinn now 
 resides at Chatham, Mass., and we have been careful to ascertain that she is a 
 highly respectable and reputable lady. Here is her story in substance : 
 
 Mrs. Fay came from Holland, in the mock capacity of stewardess, in a ves- 
 sel commanded by Captain Flinn, the said vessel carrying no passengers, and 
 therefore the position of stewardess being a sinecure, except as subsequently 
 transpired, to minister to the captain's whims during the voyage. Her name 
 was then Bertha Feinsh. On arrival in this country she succeeded in stealing 
 away the captain's affections from his wife, who was a true woman, and 
 unwavering in her fidelity to her husband until the last. Bertha, however,, 
 appropriated her place at table, took his arm in the presence of his wife, and 
 jeering at her before him, boastfully plumed herself on having transferred his 
 affections, and on one occasion threatened the terrified woman with a pistol if 
 she ever got her out to sea. 
 
 Mrs. Flinn, poor soul, remained persistent in her endeavors to recover the 
 fast waning affections of her spouse, but to no avail, for he deserted her for 
 his Bertha, and so this villainous, unprincipled creature succeeded in forever 
 blasting the happiness of the Flinn home, for the captain was not proof 
 against her vulgar fascinations. Bertha now announces herself as Mrs. Flinn, 
 though, mark you, she was never married to him, for his wife was never di- 
 vorced and, as we have seen, is now living at Chatham, Mass. Shortly after 
 this the captain was lost at sea ; and in this connection Bertha made some 
 pretty spiritualistic play, for long after she had received proof that Captain 
 Flinn was drowned, she gave out to a confiding believer (now a resident of 
 Hyde Park, Mass.) that she knew she would never see him again, as he had 
 come to her in spirit form, and strewn her bedquilt with materialized flowers I 
 Thus she claimed the gift of prophecy. 
 
 In the above is the sworn evidence of poor Mrs. Flinn, in its essentialness. 
 We next hear of Mrs. Fay as practicing her swindling wiles at a house at the 
 south end of Boston 
 
 A license was taken out, and she married under the assumed name of Mrs. 
 Flinn, though strangely enough, the most vigorous search fails to bring the 
 register to light in the City Hall Records. 
 
 This woman is of course lost to all sense of shame, for she has been twice 
 publicly exposed within as many years (at the last of which exposures I was 
 present), and her machinations over the weak minded have enabled her to 
 acquire a free title in her own name to the $10,000 house on West Newton 
 Street, where she still continues to swindle her simple-minded adherents. . . . 
 
MRS. HEMAN B. FAY. 27 
 
 DEPOSITION OF MRS. FLINN, WIFE OF CAPT. FLINN, IN 
 THE CASE OF MRS. FAY VS. " BOSTON RECORD." 
 
 Question. — Do you know Mrs. Bertha Fay? 
 
 Answer. — I do. 
 
 Ques. — When and where did you first see her ? 
 
 <Ans. — I saw her on board the barque " Belvidere," in 1872, in Boston. 
 
 Ques. — Please state everything that took place between you at that time* 
 and everything that took place in the interview. 
 
 Ans. — She would not allow him to treat me as his wife. She said I was 
 jealous, and she said I was not the first captain's wife she had made jealous, 
 and she would do so whenever she had an opportunity. Also, she had stolen 
 his affections from me. During this while on board there was some little 
 trouble between the captain and one of his officers that she was concerned in. 
 It seems there was a talk of their having an engagement between her and this 
 officer. The officer and captain and this woman were talking about it. The 
 trouble was about that affair, it seems ; they wanted me to remain in the 
 cabin as a witness. It seems the captain went into his stateroom. I saw 
 him take a pistol and put it in his pocket. The excitement became so great 
 that I left and went into the stateroom and locked the door. 
 
 Ques. — Did you hear anything that took place while you were in this state- 
 room? 
 
 iAns. — Well, there was loud talk and conversation. The officer wanted to 
 get this woman ashore with him, and the captain objected to it. After the 
 excitement was over, the captain came to the door and I unlocked it. He 
 called me into the cabin and laid his pistol down. 
 
 Ques. — Where was Mrs. Fay when you came out of the stateroom ? 
 
 Ans. — In the cabin. 
 
 Ques. — What took place in her presence after you came out of the state- 
 room? 
 
 Ans. — The captain went into the stateroom, and she followed him. I was 
 ordered by the captain into the cabin. She took up the pistol that lay where 
 the captain put it, and she said, " Mrs., if I could get you out at sea, I would 
 put the pluck into you." The captain says, " Bertha, put that up." 
 
 Ques. — What was the next thing that happened in her presence? 
 
 Ans. — She wanted that he should leave me at his brother's. She said that 
 several times. She said that she did not want me on board. 
 
 Ques. — To whom did she say this ? 
 
 <Ans. — To the captain, in my presence. 
 
 Ques. — What was her position on board the ship ? 
 
 Ans. — Apparently stewardess. 
 
 Ques. — Was it a passenger ship? 
 
 Ans. — I should say not. 
 
 Qiies. — Have you been on your husband's ships before 1872, when he was 
 in port? 
 
 Ans. — I have. 
 
 Qiies. — Did he ever before have a stewardess on board, to your knowledge? 
 
 Ans. — No, sir. 
 
28 MRS. HEMAN B. FAY. 
 
 Ques. — Did you take any meals on board your husband's ship while Mrs. 
 Fay was there ? 
 
 Ans. — I did. 
 
 Ques. — What, if anything, did she say or do about your meals there? 
 
 tAns. — Well, she did not give me my place at the table at all; the seat 
 where I should have been, next to the captain, she would take, and make 
 sport of me during meal time. 
 
 Ques. — Did you say anything about your seat at the table, or she to you ? 
 
 Ans. — 1 did. 
 
 Ques. — Please state all. 
 
 *Ans. — I told her she had taken my place from me. She said, Why didn't 
 I take my place? She and the captain wouldn't allow me to. I told her I 
 didn't take my place because she would not let me have it ; she took my seat 
 from me. 
 
 Ques. — What did she do or say during meals to make sport of you? 
 
 Ans. — She made sport of me in this way ; that she had taken my place and 
 stolen his affections from me. 
 
 Ques. — Did you ever hear her say anything to your husband about his 
 giving you money? 
 
 Ans. — I did. 
 
 Ques. — When was it, and where ? 
 
 Ans. — On board his vessel in 1873. 
 
 Ques. — What did she say about that? 
 
 Ans. — He ought not to let me have so much money. I wanted this money 
 to purchase something, and she told him not to let me have it. 
 
 Ques. — Did you and your husband and she ever go away from the vessel 
 together ? 
 
 tAns. — We did. 
 
 Ques. — What, if anything, did she say or, do about your walking with 
 your husband, or taking his arm, in her presence? 
 
 Ans. — She would take his arm and go ahead with him, and leave me in 
 the distance. Sometimes they would leave me alone in the crowd, both in the 
 night and in the daytime. 
 
 Ques.— Did your husband, or not, after 1873, abandon you? 
 
 o4ns. — He deserted me. 
 
 [Fkom the Religio-Philosophical Journal.] 
 
 ABOUT A BOSTON FRAUD'S LIBEL SUIT. 
 
 Possibly the Journal's readers will recall, among the numerous frauds ex- 
 posed in Boston, one known to the public as Mrs. H. B. Fay. For comments 
 on her private character in connection with the exposure, she brought suit 
 against the Evening Record of that city for $50,000. With its customary alac- 
 rity in aiding swindlers to retain their hold upon the public, or to regain it 
 when lost, the Banner of Light published a statement concerning the finale of 
 this suit calculated to mislead the public, and bring a fresh grist to the mill of 
 the unconscionable trickster. In order to set the spiritualistic public right on 
 this matter, Vat Journal re-publishes from the Evening Record its explanation of 
 the matter, and also a letter from a reputable citizen of Boston, which the 
 -Hanner declined to publish. 
 
MRS. HEMAN B. FAY. 29' 
 
 STATEMENT OF THE "EVENING RECORD." 
 
 We have received a number of letters complaining that we ought not to 
 have settled the libel suit brought against the %ecord by a well-known " me- 
 dium " at the South End. We never should have settled any libel suit simply 
 based on our exposure of a "medium." But our reporter, unfortunately, 
 dragged in another charge against the " medium's " character, which was not 
 so easy to prove. We therefore paid on the suit for $50,000, $400 and costs, 
 amounting in all to $445. We never shall settle any libel suits brought for 
 our exposures of spiritualistic seances. 
 
 SUPPRESSED LETTER FROM J. C. 
 
 To the '"Banner of Light : 
 
 In your editorial columns last week (Oct. 20th), under the head of "Mrs. 
 H. B. Fay Vindicated," you state : 
 
 " For a long time there has been in existence in this city a band of bigots, 
 bound, its members said, to put down vi et armis all physical mediums." 
 
 Allow me to say, without any binding force whatever, a number of ladies 
 and gentlemen, many of them well-known spiritualists, having first satisfied 
 themselves that the so-called materializers were deceiving their dupes for 
 money, did invade and expose the rottenness of the whole business in Boston. 
 In discovering confederates, capturing nearly half a hundred disguises, includ- 
 ing samples from every one of them, uncovering holes under floors and in 
 brick walls for " spirits " to creep through to the cabinet, besides other posi- 
 tive proofs of fraud, they were successful, as is admitted on all sides by those 
 disposed to examine the evidences. Mrs. Fay, in her libel suit, did not have 
 the hardihood to attempt a vindication of her materializing seances. The 
 sentence on which the libel rested is as follows: " It is alleged that her (Mrs. 
 Fay's, then known as Bertha Feinsh) relations were such that his wife (Mrs. 
 Flinn) left him." Mrs. Flinn, widow of Capt. Flinn, resides at Chatham, 
 Mass., and is well known as a lady above reproach. In her deposition she 
 testifies that through all her troubles she clung to her husband with the evi- 
 dent purpose to rescue him from an infatuation. It will be plainly seen the 
 reporter's statement was not technically correct. On this turn of affairs the 
 ^Advertiser company deemed it advisable to pay Mrs. Fay the expenses of her 
 suit, which would be much less than the cost and bother of a trial. Mrs. Fay 
 accepted the settlement, through her counsel, though her damages were laid at 
 $50,000. It seems somewhat ignominious that she should descend from so 
 costly a pinnacle of character to one which could be purchased for the small 
 sum of her lawyer's costs. No greater alacrity was shown by the plaintiff 
 than the defendant for a prompt trial. In withdrawing the case no apology 
 was asked for, much less published, as mentioned in your article. J. C. 
 
 [From the Religio-Philosophical Journal.] 
 
 Early in September, 1884, we received a letter from an esteemed friend, Mrs. 
 Lita Barney Sayles, covering a communication for the Journal. The article 
 was an account of her experiences with Mrs. Beste. On the first of October 
 following we wrote Mrs. Sayles, and enclosed with the letter a proposition for 
 Mrs. Beste, copies of which follow : 
 
 COPY OF LETTER TO MRS. SAYLES. 
 
 Chicago, 111., Oct. i, 1884. 
 
 MRS. LITA BARNEY SAYLES, KILLINGLY, CONN. : 
 
 Dear CMrs. Sayles, — In the matter of your article rcounting experiences with 
 Mrs. Beste, I have to say that I am perfectly willing to publish it so far as 1 
 am personally and professionally concerned ; my only hesitation arises from 
 my regard for you. Should I publish it, I shall deem it my duty to refer to 
 
30 MRS. EUGENE BESTE. 
 
 certain matters which seem wholly unfamiliar to you in the history of Mrs. 
 Beste, and to ask about a dozen questions which you will find it much trouble 
 and some expense to be able to answer correctly. 
 
 1 believe tne publication of your communication, with such matter following 
 it as suggested above, will place you in a position which you do not covet. 
 Where the interests of spiritualism and those of the public are at stake it has 
 always been my rule to hold those interests paramount to all considerations 
 of personal friendship. Nevertheless, unless forced thereto, I don't seek to 
 go out of my way to place a friend in an unfortunate plight before the public; 
 hence, out of sincere friendship for you I believe it my duty to tell you of these 
 things, but without advice from me, leaving you free to decide what you shall 
 do in this Beste matter. 
 
 It is plainly apparent from the information in my possession that you have 
 been grossly misled by Mrs. Beste in making up your judgment of her past 
 career ; and, this being so, the inference is irresistible that you have also been 
 misled in much, if not all, of your experiences with her physical manifesta- 
 tions ; though, of course, in this 1 may be wholly in error, and I set up no 
 final judgment thereon. 
 
 Now I have a proposition to make, which I will put upon a separate sheet, 
 and you cannot better advance the interest of spiritualism, as well as of jus- 
 tice, than by securing its acceptance. 
 
 With kind regards, I remain, as ever, 
 
 Fraternally yours, 
 
 JNO. C. BUNDY. 
 
 A few extracts from Mrs. Sayles' account as published are given as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " Mrs. Beste's materialization seances comprise three phases, and are at 
 present held in total darkness 
 
 " A peculiarity of these spirit forms appears in the great illumination of 
 their robes, and sometimes of their faces. This is often very brilliant, and 
 consists of coruscations of light in points and patches and stars and cres- 
 cents, added to the general glow which pervades the whole ' spirit,' and ren- 
 ders it visible. These often change in place while the ' spirit ' stands before 
 one. You cannot tell whether your hand or your handkerchief are any color 
 but black, yet the " spirit ' is plainly seen and all its movements can be well 
 noted. 1 have seen thirty-five or forty spirits, of all sizes, make their appear- 
 ance in an evening, her sittings usually lasting three hours, and often exceed- 
 ing that time 
 
 " The ancient spirits of whom I speak come, it is said, from the oldest civ- 
 ilizations of our globe, both historic and pre-historic, and sometimes from 
 beyond this earth's atmosphere. They are always particularly bright, and 
 often magnificent in brilliancy, and bring strength and power. It is this class 
 of spirits who have been directors in the whole movement of modern spiritual- 
 ism." 
 
 In the August, 1885, number of Facts (?) a monthly magazine published by 
 Mr. L. L. Whitlock, Mrs. Sayles furnishes in the leading article an account 
 of a seance had with Mrs. Beste on the 19th of July. This sitting was given 
 to " ladies only," before whom Mrs. Beste completely disrobed and stood nude 
 while her clothing was removed and a white morning dress brought her by 
 Mrs. Sayles. With this, and her own stockings replaced upon her feet, she, 
 as events proved, was in good working trim. After a while even the morn- 
 ing dress was discarded and tossed out of the cabinet by " Tom." This 
 denudation seems to have stimulated the "power" immensely. We quote 
 one scene from Mrs. Sayles's account : 
 
MRS. EUGENE BESTE. 31 
 
 " Apollonius, who almost always appears, came out with his majestic pro- 
 portions of body and brain, his brawny hand striking his massive chest, his 
 long sleeves drooping to the floor, the lower portion of his body draped, also 
 his head, and all, together with his sleeves, highly illuminated. His voice is 
 very heavy, and is heard out on the bluffs across the boulevard when he 
 speaks. He uses quite good English this year — it was more imperfect last 
 year. Being requested, he placed his hand, large and strong, upon the heads 
 of those present and blessed them with strength and power. 
 
 BESTE'S CRUEL FARCE EXPOSED. 
 
 The Hartford (Conn.) Daily Times for Thursday, the 8th inst, says edito- 
 rially : 
 
 " Some of the spiritualists of Hartford last night effectually exposed a 
 fraudulent materializing medium who is well known in Boston spiritualistic 
 circles as Mrs. Eugene Beste." 
 
 It appears that the circle of twenty persons was largely composed of spiritu- 
 alists, among whom were Mr. Edwin P. Miller, a well-known business man, 
 and Grosvenor Swan, M. D. These two gentlemen are refined, intelligent, 
 experienced, and trustworthy, to our personal knowledge. They join in a 
 letter now before us in vouching for the completeness of the exposure and the 
 truthfulness of the account as published in the Times. It may also be stated 
 that one, or possibly more, of the publishers of the paper are spiritualists. 
 
 The account in the Times was prepared by one of its publishers. After 
 some description of a previous seance, and of Mrs. Beste's personal appear- 
 ance, the account continues as follows : 
 
 "Another seance was announced for Wednesday evening. Two or three 
 ladies agreed to aid in the * exposure.' W. J. Shea, pressman in the Times 
 office, and Patrick Keefe, janitor of the Times building, men of muscular 
 power, who were ready to tackle a ghost or a burglar at the word 'go,' were 
 engaged to seize the medium at a signal on Wednesday evening. Two ladies 
 were stationed to cut the wire in front of the audience, and another was to 
 give the signal to Shea and Keefe at the proper time. The second scene was 
 selected for the grand denouement. There was total darkness. The medium 
 was playing the part of a returned spirit, her phosphorescent muslin, on which 
 were spots of illuminated paint, showing a distinct form in front of the cur- 
 tains. The lady on guard gave the signal to Shea and Keefe. Both of them 
 sprang at a bound, and had the ' spirit ' in their stalwart arms. A shrill 
 shriek pierced the air. Mrs. House quickly brought in a large library lamp, 
 and there was Mrs. Beste, with most of her clothing removed, and covered in 
 a phosphorescent sheet of lace, resting in the arms of Shea and Keefe ! Here 
 was a scene not printed in the bills. The woman tried to sink down on the 
 floor, but the strong arms of her supporters lifted her up and sat her in a chair, 
 where she was the object of derision by the spectators. 
 
 Mrs. Beste, the perspiration running from her very finger-ends, was ques- 
 tioned. She admitted all ; said that she had played this humbug and decep- 
 tion for several years, and that the Boston materializers were also frauds. 
 Sidney E. Clarke, after hearing her confession, embodied it in the following 
 affidavit, which Mrs. Beste readily signed and swore to its truth : 
 
32 MRS. EUGENE BESTE. 
 
 STATE OF CONNECTICUT, ^ 
 COUNTY OF HARTFORD, S SS ' 
 
 I, Eugene Beste, of the city of Washington, D. C, being duly sworn, 
 depose and say that I am the identical person known as Mrs. Beste, the voice 
 medium; that I have given exhibitions in Boston, Mass., Washington D. C, 
 Philadelphia, Pa., and Hartford, Conn., of what has been called materializa- 
 tion of spirits; that I have led people to believe, and have represented, that the 
 forms exhibited at these exhibitions were the spirits of their departed friends. 
 But I now declare that said representations were false in every nature; that the 
 material used for said representations was a combination of thin white lawn 
 or tulle, and luminous paint, and the voices of said pretended spirits were 
 simply representations of my own vocal power. And from this date hence- 
 forth to the end of the world I shall desist from any further exhibitions; and 
 furthermore the deponent saith not. EUGENE BESTE. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me this 7th day of October, A. D., 1885. 
 
 Sidney E. Clarke, Rotary TubUc. 
 
 WITNESSES: 
 Joseph H. Barnum, W. O. Burr, Herbert S. Rankin, F. H. Chapman, 
 James T. McManus. 
 
 On Mrs. Beste's moccasins were her diamond earrings, put there to sparkle 
 in the phosphorescent light. Her four diamond rings she placed in her 
 slippers for safety. All of these and all of her property were returned to her. 
 
 There are hundreds of thousands of spiritualists in this country, and too 
 many of them, anxious to hear from their departed friends, eagerly fall into 
 the traps and contrivances of the frauds who give seances and exhibitions at 
 the rate of a dollar each for admission. These frauds deserve severe punish- 
 ment. Mrs. Beste might have been arrested for her fraudulent practices last 
 evening. But no policeman was present, and she left within an hour for the 
 depot and took the 2.56 train for Washington, Where she has relatives. Her 
 exposure was brought about by the shrewd arrangements of three ladies, 
 who were backed by Mrs. House and a publisher of the Times, who rendered 
 them material aid, and informed them where they could get two ready and 
 stout men to grab the fraud and expose her imposture. 
 
 The $20 paid by the spectators last evening were divided between these two 
 men, by unanimous consent of those who had paid their money, and in the 
 end had got their money's worth,— and even more, — the just exposure of 
 an arrant humbug and impostor. 
 
 Being asked by the Herald representative what followed the exposure, Mrs. 
 McManus is reported to have replied: 
 
 " Great excitement, every one pressing forward and fully recognizing Mrs. 
 Beste, who grew ashen white under her powdered face. It was a pitiful, hu- 
 miliating sight. She had removed her velvet dress, and left it behind the 
 curtain together with her slippers, in one of which she had left her four dia- 
 mond rings. She wore, as ' Nettie,' a long white gauze drapery over her 
 white underwear, as giving better effects than over her dark dress. This 
 gauze was saturated with a chemical preparation which gave it a pale, white, 
 supernatural light. At intervals upon it were small spots of luminous paint, 
 which, in the darkness, resembled pale stars. On the toes of each of the soft 
 moccasins she wore she had placed one of her diamond earrings, which glis- 
 tened in the faint light. The whole effect of the costume in the darkness 
 
MRS. EUGENE BESTE. 33 
 
 of the seance was wierd and beautiful. In the lamplight the costume was 
 tawdry, dingy and ridiculous." 
 
 " Did she confess the fraud?" asked the Herald man. 
 
 " She confessed everything. She said she had done the same tricks when 
 in Boston, and during her season this summer at Onset Bay, and admitted 
 that other materializing mediums in Boston are operating with the same 
 tricks." 
 
 " The gauze drapery," continues the Herald, " in which the woman envel- 
 oped herself, has been divided among the parties at the seance for momentoes. 
 It is strongly scented with sandal wood, whose odor had been noticed during 
 the evening. The chemical composition which illuminated the material was 
 probably phosphorus and ether. A box of this preparation was found behind 
 the curtains where she had arrayed herself. A very material aid in her decep- 
 tion was the wide range of her vocal abilities. In personating the various 
 spirit forms, she sang in tones from mezzo-soprano to a heavy bass with 
 apparent ease." 
 
 A small portion of the "spirit" drapery worn by Mrs. Beste has been sent to 
 the Journal office by Mr. Miller. Looking at it and then at the descriptions 
 given by Wetherbee, Lyman and others, the observer cannot have increased 
 respect for the judgment of these witnesses, however much he may wonder 
 at their stimulated imaginations and brilliant descriptive powers. That this 
 woman could for years pursue her career, involving in her meshes many 
 excellent people and deceiving thousands, is almost incredible. But when it 
 is recalled that she had already been exposed several years ago in Philadelphia, 
 and that many of her dupes, as well as the 'Banner of Light, had the best of 
 evidence that the woman was dishonest, the perverse fatuity of her followers 
 becomes absolutely sickening. 
 
 [From Boston Post.] 
 
 CLOTHING OF SPIRITS. 
 
 A LIVELY TIME AT AN EAST BOSTON SEANCE, GIVEN BY MRS. BLISS. 
 
 There was another alleged spiritual seance Wednesday evening at the 
 residence of Samuel S. Goodwin, ioo Meridian St., East Boston. The faith- 
 ful assembled about 7.30 o'clock, and formed in the magic circle which is 
 alwa *s necessary to bring up the " spirits." Unfortunately, the house was 
 divided against itself ; in other words, there were those present who, although 
 spiritualists in belief, do not believe in the materialization part of the business. 
 Those who were conducting the seance, however, did not know that the little 
 circle contained " wolves in sheep's clothing." The room where the affair 
 took place is on the second floor, and if appearances go for anything it is 
 devoted for that purpose mora than to anything else. A large picture of the 
 great Aztec chief, Montezuma, adorns one side of the room, while a caricature 
 of Marie Antoinette ornaments another wall. The cabinet was situated in one 
 corner of the room, and in another part was a piano, which furnishes the 
 usual quantity of doleful music. The performance of the evening was in ac- 
 cordance with the following advertisement, which appears in the Banner of 
 Light: 
 
 MRS. C. B. BLISS, 
 
 Seances every Wednesday evening at 8 o'clock, at 100 Meridian St., East Boston. 
 
 Permanent residence, 70 Hillman St., New Bedford, Mass. 
 
 Mrs. Bliss is a stout, dark woman. She appears as Montezuma, though she 
 is only about five feet high. This time it was Billy the bootblack's turn to 
 
34 MRS. C. B. BLISS. 
 
 come out, and he did. It was announced that he wished to speak to an 
 elderly gentleman. The gentleman approached and clasped the cold, clammy 
 hand of the bootblack's spirit, but instead of shaking the hand and letting it 
 go, he held it, and, at a signal, the lights were turned up, exposing the form 
 of Mrs. Bliss, who was attired in a thin suit of clothes supposed to be fashion- 
 able with bootblacks. Quite a scuffle followed, and Mrs. Bliss was in a fair 
 way to get the best of the old man when others interfered, and they were 
 separated. A scene of confusion and disorder followed. The wolves in 
 sheep's clothing secured a lot of paraphernalia which had been used by 
 Montezuma, Marie Antoinette and the bootblack. Mr. Goodwin, the landlord, 
 was not to be thus baffled without showing his authority. He accordingly 
 locked the door and refused to let anybody out until the wardrobe of the 
 spirits had been delivered up. The contest had every appearance of being a 
 draw when it was suggested that the police be sent for. Accordingly two 
 officers from station 7 were called, and the confiscated property was turned 
 over to their keeping, as Mr. Goodwin claimed that it did not belong to him, 
 but to the spirits ; as they were not present to assert their rights, the officers 
 took charge of it until their rights could be tried in court. This settled the 
 matter, the doors were unlocked, and the imprisoned party were allowed to 
 march out once more into the open air. 
 
 [Pittsburg Commercial Gazette.] 
 
 MEDIUM BLISS. 
 
 SHE IS THOROUGHLY EXPOSED BY AN INGENIOUS CONTRIVANCE. AN 
 IRON GATE IS EMPLOYED. IT SHOOTS UP FROM THE CELLAR AND 
 UPSETS THE SPIRIT OF MISS ALICE BROOKS AN INDEPENDENT MA- 
 TERIALIZATION—NO SIGHT FOR MORTAL EYES— THE EXPOSE. 
 
 " Stand back ! It is no sight for mortal eyes/' shouted the strong man who 
 guards the cabinet of that spiritualistic wonder, Mrs. Bliss, the medium. The 
 command was addressed to a young man who was forcing his way to where 
 the spirit of Miss Alice Brooks, of Boston, was lying on the floor. The young 
 man threw the guard to one side, and, helping the prostrate spirit to her feet, 
 showed to the astonished audience Mrs. Bliss. She was not arrayed in her 
 usual black silk, but wore white undergarments, and her face and shoulders 
 were heavily powdered. 
 
 The scene occurred at a house on Franklin Street, Allegheny, only a few 
 doors below the place where Mrs. Bliss is accustomed to call from the un- 
 known certain spirits over whom she is supposed to have control. It was 
 Monday night and everything had been made ready for an expose. The lady 
 of the house was to turn on the gas at a certain signal, and at the same time 
 an ingenious arrangement under the floor was to be worked. The two other 
 persons in the scheme were young men who didn't believe in materialization, 
 and had been dared by Mrs. Bliss to expose her if they could. 
 
 INGENIOUS MECHANISM. 
 
 Mrs. Bliss had been given the use of the parlor and dining-room in this 
 house. In the parlor the audience was seated. The dining-room was turned 
 over to the medium, and a few feet from the door opening into the parlor a 
 
MRS. C. B. BLISS. 35 
 
 clothes-horse was placed and covered with shawls. Behind this stood the 
 cabinet in which the wonderful manifestations took place. 
 
 The plan for the expose was an ingenious one. A small place was sawed 
 out of the parlor floor in front of the door opening into the dining-room. It 
 was as long as the door was wide, but only an inch or two in width. Down 
 in the cellar an iron gate had been arranged. It hung on springs, and when 
 the signal was given could be shot up through the opening of the floor, which 
 was seemingly undisturbed. The gate was about three feet high, and the in- 
 tention was to shut off all chance of the spirit escaping to the cabinet again. 
 This gate was to be worked by one of the young men, who remained in the 
 cellar for that purpose. In the parlor, in the corner furthest from the cabinet, 
 the second young man was stationed. He was to give the signal for action 
 just as soon as the spirit stepped across the fatal strip into the parlor. 
 
 THE SEANCE BEGINS. 
 
 The seance began. A great many spirits made their appearance. Spirits 
 of all kinds, big and little, fat and lean, but all possessing that charming 
 Spanish accent which distinguishes Mrs. Bliss from the average non-believing 
 American. " Billy the boot-black " was among the first, and he had no 
 sooner appeared than, peering into the dimly lighted parlor, he asked in spirit 
 tones : 
 
 "Is Mr. there?" 
 
 The young man in the corner, who was to give the signal, answered that he 
 was. 
 
 "I'm sorry you're there then, because you scoff at me." 
 
 "Billy" was followed by "Blue Flower," "Daisy," "Lucille Western" 
 and others of the stock usually displayed on such occasions by the medium. 
 These denizens of an unknown world went through their regulation perform- 
 ances, bringing messages from dead friends and causing some of the faithful 
 who were present to almost weep from joy. 
 
 THE EXPOSE. 
 
 Finally the spirit of Miss Alice Brooks appeared. The conspirators had 
 been waiting for her. She is one of the medium's best materializations. She 
 is, as Mrs. Bliss once said, an independent materialization, or one with which 
 she had no connection. The young man in the corner watched her anxiously. 
 At last she seemed to step across the slip. The signal was given, the iron 
 gate flew up, and the lights were turned on. 
 
 The spirit of Miss Alice Brooks lay on the floor. Instead of being across 
 the slip when the Cord was pulled, she was standing over it. The force of the 
 gate springing up was sufficient to throw her off her feet, and they went sky- 
 ward as she fell to the floor with a noise and shock that proved conclusively 
 that the spirit was flesh and blood. It was then the young man from the cor- 
 ner made the rush, threw the guard out of the way, and raising the spirit of 
 Miss Brooks he introduced Mrs. Bliss. 
 
 Mrs. Bliss did not attempt to defend herself in any way only to denounce it 
 as a dastardly trick. She afterwards called the young man to her cabinet and 
 said: 
 
S6 MRS. C. B. BLISS. 
 
 11 Well, it looks like you were a little ahead." 
 
 The expose was so successful that the believers who were present admitted 
 the fact. 
 
 [From a Correspondent of the Alcyonb.] 
 
 Concerning spirit messages, a new and rather dangerous form of this 
 method of communication has appeared. When A. S. Hayward recently 
 passed to the spirit life, his friends paid him the tribute of high and sincere 
 praise. But it seems that one of your correspondents sent you some ill-natured 
 words of disparagement, insinuation that the eulogies lavished on the departed 
 Hayward were perhaps a little hypo-critical, as " he had a fault or two."* But 
 Hayward's spirit was not content to let his friends rest under such an asper- 
 sion. He therefore " stepped in," as he said, at a 'Banner of Light circle, and 
 told one of his friends to look in your journal to see " the work of a sorehead." 
 It is to be feared that such compliments as these passing and repassing between 
 the dwellers on the earth plane and their friends on the other side, will not 
 conduce to good feeling here or to due progress there. 
 
 But now, more surprising than all, a puzzling problem has been raised, in- 
 volving a startling conflict for the possession of a mighty Indian spirit. The 
 late " Dr." James A. Bliss, so highly honored and eulogized by the Banner of 
 Light, died, claiming the exclusive ownership of the spirit of " Blackfoot." 
 But the u Dr." has hardly begun his development on the other shore when a 
 number of mediums put in claims to the ownership of this same spirit. 
 
 I heard "Dr." Abby K. M. Heath, in her Dwight Hall spiritual meeting, 
 solemnly affirm that Blackfoot appeared to her the morning after Dr. Bliss 
 passed on, and offered himself to her, distinctly pledging himself to assist her 
 exclusively in all healing work. 
 
 Next Mrs. C. B. Bliss rises to say in the Banner of Light that Blackfoot will 
 continue to do his work through her mediumship. This Mrs. Bliss was a 
 close partner with the lamented James A. in materialization. 
 
 A still stronger claim appears in the Banner, put in by Mrs. Cora L. Bliss, 
 who claims to be the " lawful and loved wife, and duly appointed successor of 
 the ' Dr.' with whom he lived harmoniously in the mortal life, and with whom 
 he works in the spirit life." It appears that Blackfoot manufactures magne- 
 tized brown paper, for healing purposes, for both the Blisses ; but it seems 
 that Cora is his favorite, for he allows her to sell it at fifty cents a package, 
 while C. B. cannot afford it at less than $i. 
 
 There is still another Mrs. Bliss, who has not been heard from. If she pre- 
 fers a claim to Blackfoot, that swells the number to four ; and that powerful 
 spirit must be agile enough if he can make himself the exclusive possession of 
 each of these female mediums, and at the same time. 
 
 It is known that each medium has her own special Indian spirit, and no 
 medium has ever before claimed that of another. Can it be possible that 
 Blackfoot is an artful deceiver, and has made his vows to each, making each 
 believe he was " her very own? " 
 
 The following letter from Mrs. Bliss to Mr. Braman is printed verbatim, 
 including spelling. The "old wrech, reprobate, and vagabond's" offence 
 was in shaking hands with her popular spirit, " Billy, the Bootblack," with 
 
 *W. J. Fletcher. 
 
MRS. C. B. BLISS. 37 
 
 his consent, and not letting go until " Billy " was transfigured into the plump 
 form of Mrs. Bliss in a fully lighted room. The result was, " Billy " lost his 
 bosom piece (" rag "), and several of the renowned departed of past ages their 
 " spirit robes." 
 
 [Copy] 
 
 Sunday Evening. 
 MR. BRAMAN: 
 
 it may please you to informe the old reprobate that I, met at your Office, 
 that last evening a party of 23. suprise me with a seance and a purse, and 
 tonight a party of 31 wellcome my guides and Bill, tell the old Vagabond 
 wrech that I, defy him and his corrupt doings, the rag that he show at your 
 office, I, have no doubt that he woret himself and they toket to the seances to 
 Jie afterwards, he the wrech spoke of the Rose's,, tell where he is now " I 
 mean the Vagabond " poor misirable old man he is in his last legs, you son I, 
 am told made one of the party who assaulted a Laddy god in his mercy pity 
 him, what an honor to is country an ornament to sosiety he is an hero to 
 be put in history of is country, in public draging a woman by force from 
 her private apartment and assault her. Oh son of a woman ? ? ? ? ? how 
 she must bless you for your brave deeds, the end of such ends bravely with 
 a rope tell this ornament that the above woman as a father to whom we you 
 and the old wrech will meet before mony day and then he will pay back the 
 compliment in Spanish fashion 
 
 if he not then I, will I, know the old wrech fear me the other day he did not 
 dare to aproch me for heaven only knows where we, I, woud been tonight 
 well I, will sign my self 
 
 Remember even if latter on 
 4i myself " am no coward 
 
 dont forget that - 
 
 W. E. COLEMAN, IN THE "CARRIER DOVE." 
 
 In a letter from Horatio Eddy, dated Chittenden, Vt., July 29, 1873, pub- 
 lished in the Boston Investigator sl short time afterward, he declared Mrs. Hun- 
 toon a thorough fraud. He also spoke of his brother William as " no better 
 than she is, and a thorough exposure of their tricks would be just and right." 
 Mrs. Huntoon was detected in fraudulent materialization at Webster, Mass., 
 by Mrs. Margaret Flint, and also at Lake Pleasant spiritual camp-meeting, 
 August 25, 1878 ; that Horatio Eddy had just written him a letter in which he 
 states that he had never seen a materialized spirit in his whole life. As 
 Horatio was a materialized medium himself, and as he had seen hundreds of 
 purported materialized spirits at his brother William's seances at Chittenden, 
 his assertion is tantamount to saying that all of the phenomena occurring 
 through his alleged mediumship, as described in Olcott's " People from the 
 Other World," were frauds. I have information, also, that on one occasion 
 he palmed off a common " Evangeline " print, touched up a little, as a genu- 
 ine spirit picture of a visitant's daughter. It is a well-known fact that Wil- 
 liam and Mrs. Huntoon traveled together at one time, giving performances 
 exposing spiritualism, and showing how he and Mary had humbugged the 
 people in their so-called spiritual seances. 
 
 [From Boston Investigator.] 
 
 MR. EDITOR :— Some time ago it became my lot to detect Mrs. Huntoon, of 
 Chittenden, (Vt.) in the act of playing a very mean and shabby trick upon us 
 — she pretending to materialize the spirit of my mother. Some twenty of our 
 town's-people gathered at our house to witness the performance, and all but 
 
38 MRS. KUNTOUN. 
 
 four spiritualists were more than convinced that Mrs. Huntoon was fairly 
 caught offering her own hand to me at the opening of the curtain. At 
 Worcester (Mass.), she had just played herself off upon Dr. Kelley as the 
 spirit of his departed wife, but at Webster she was not as successful, which 
 gave great annoyance to the leading spiritualists here. Since her exposure 
 here, there has been no end or limit to the slander and abuse that has been 
 heaped upon my husband and myself in both business and social relations. 
 Now, after sitting under this load of abuse without much hope of better " con- 
 ditions " in the future, I have this day, very unexpectedly, received a letter 
 from Mrs. Huntoon 's brother, Horatio G. Eddy, a man whom I have never 
 seen. 1 here present his letter to you for publication, providing it meets your 
 approval. MARGARET FLINT. 
 
 Webster (Mass.), Aug. 2, 1878. 
 
 Chittenden (Vt.), July 29, 1878. 
 
 MRS. FLINT: 
 
 Although an entire stranger to you, allow me to write you a few lines in re- 
 gard to Mrs. Huntoon, my sister. When she was at your place 1 believed 
 her then to be an honest medium, and the story she told on her arrival of her 
 abuse by you. Then I had some sympathy for her. But since that time I 
 have become fully satisfied she was thoroughly exposed in some of her mean- 
 ness at your place, and when I found all her statements were false concerning 
 you and your family, I informed her of it. Since that time she has tried many 
 plots to ruin me. One in last September. She and her husband, who is one 
 of the biggest scoundrels that ever run, went to the State Attorney and entered 
 a complaint against me for an assault upon them with intent to kill, and the 
 result was, that by her and her false swearing I am bound over to this coming 
 September Court for trial, which is one of the vilest games that could be got 
 up, and all for a revengeful purpose. 
 
 Now she and her husband, I learn, are going to Lake Pleasant Camp meet- 
 ing to defraud the people there, and get money to carry out some of their 
 fiendish plans. If she could be thoroughly exposed there in one of her first 
 seances, and arrested for obtaining money under false pretences, it would put 
 an end to her career in that line, and as you have become aware that she is a 
 fraud, you could do it easier than anyone else. Her brother, Wm. Eddy, may 
 be with her ; if so, he is not better than she is, and a thorough exposure of 
 their tricks would be just and right. She has told many stories in regard to 
 your character which 1 have found to be false, and if I am her brother, I will 
 say to you that she is one of the meanest persons that ever existed, and her hus- 
 band is just as mean as she is — nothing too mean for them to do for a dollar ; 
 and as friend to you for showing them up in the past, I would inquire if there 
 is not some way they can be brought to justice ? I should like to have a long 
 talk with you, but as I am situated I shall have to give it up. Could you 
 send me the letter that was published in the Boston paper by you, where she 
 claimed her arm was broken ? It may be of some use for me in the coming 
 trial— showing she was a liar. Anything you can do to help me in my 
 trouble by her false complaint, wil ? "n the future be made up by me if possible. 
 
 HORATIO G. EDDY. 
 
 I hereby certify that the above is a true copy-attest : sworn to before me, this 
 
 second day of August, 1878. 
 
 WM. H. DAVIS, 
 
 Associate Justice of+he 1st TDistrict Court of Southern Worcester. 
 
 [Fkom the Religio-Philosophical Journal.] 
 
 CHARACTER OF A CAMP MANAGER. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR. — For a dozen years or more the 'Banner of Light has been 
 advertising, endorsing, and commending a person in this city who has figured 
 as a seance manager, developer of mediums, and magnetic healer. It is time 
 
GEORGE T. ALBRO. 39 
 
 the spiritualists should understand that this man is a charlatan ; that George 
 T. Albro is disreputable in character, a trickster in seances, a deceiver in his 
 pretensions, and is destitute of all claims to the respect and confidence of spir- 
 itualists. It is the infirmity of the 'Banner of Light that it always seems ready 
 to countenance and support every imposter that infests spiritualistic circles. 
 I will not attempt to count the number of cheats over whom it has cast its 
 protecting and patronizing wing, who have been driven out by exposure. 
 Last year it was praising a swindler by the name of W. R. Colby ; but a 
 daily paper showed by quoting extensively from the T{eligio-Philosophical Jour- 
 nal what he was, and he was forced to quit the city. Yet the 'Banner never 
 made the slightest apology for attempting to force a convicted scoundrel on 
 the confidence of spiritualists. And now, Mr. Editor, we turn to you, because 
 you have done heroic service in cleaning out frauds, and will not, we hope, 
 fail us in this emergency. 
 
 George T. Albro first set up in the pseudo-spirit show business in partner- 
 ship with the two Berry sisters, holding materializing seances for raising 
 spirits in " full forms." He prospered in this till some naughty newspaper 
 men invaded his seances, and on two or three occasions seized the " spirits " 
 and found them to be full forms of flesh and blood. When these "spirits" 
 broke from the embraces of their captors they left some portion of their vest- 
 ments, which were deposited in the "Museum of Bogus Ghosts' Drapery," 
 where there was already a large collection of similar habiliments, and from 
 which Albro never attempted to reclaim them. Suddenly, last autumn, Albro 
 ceased to advertise his exhibitions in a dark room, of " full forms." Never- 
 theless, it is known that he has continued his dark seances, with the aid of 
 the sickly fraud Hattie Stafford and her mother, as confederates. But these 
 are open only to a select and faithful few, who blindly cling to a fraud so often 
 exposed, and for whose delight he will consent to raise the dead for the 
 meagre consideration of one dollar admission each. 
 
 Albro has also given his attention to the " development of mediumship." 
 He practised this in a dark cabinet, where he manipulated his subjects till they 
 exhibited the requisite "power." His customers were mostly poor women, 
 who were made to believe that he could put them in the way of making an 
 easy living. But the most of these were disappointed. The "power" did 
 not develop, and, declining further instruction, they departed with nothing in 
 return for the money they had paid him, except that they were both wiser and 
 sadder than when they began. Two of his disciples, however, became 
 famous. They were the Cowans, whose subsequent exposure was complete 
 when the confession of their leading confederate was published, and when the 
 trap doors in their house were discovered. By this ingenious contrivance the 
 "spirits" could pass under the floor from an adjoining room, to the cabinet, 
 and back again, without being perceived. It is suspected that for the glory of 
 this achievement they were indebted to a suggestion from Albro. 
 
 This is the way to develop mediumship with Albro's magnetized paper: 
 Sit in a dark room, hold the paper in the hands for twenty minutes, then rub it 
 across the forehead, and lay it on the floor beside your chair. But it would be 
 more convenient if the nascent medium could take the paper to bed with him, 
 hold it in his hands till the approach of sleep, and then lay it on his pillow, 
 so all night long he might be absorbing the " vitalized forces," and hastening 
 
40 GEORGE T. ALBRO. 
 
 his development. This would not try his patience so much as to sit in a dark 
 room for twenty minutes, with nothing to think of, and with nothing but a 
 half-cent's worth of brown paper in his hands. Or, why could not Albro 
 magnetize a little tin rattle? Surely, the searcher for the "essence of life," 
 under the conditions prescribed, must be in that infantile state of mind which 
 would find amusement in a rattle. 
 
 When we turn from Albro's pretensions to his character, the sense of humor 
 gives place to grief and indignation. The records of the divorce court tell a 
 shameful story. A young and artless orphan girl is sought by a man in 
 middle life. Knowing nothing of his previous conduct, she yields to his per- 
 suasions, and is enticed into marrying him. On the wedding day, under the 
 pretence of borrowing, he robs her of her money; not a large amount — a 
 hundred or two dollars — but it was her hard-earned savings, and it was her all. 
 He then begins a system of inhuman abuse. By threats, by insults, by choking 
 her, by dragging her around by the hair, he makes her life a torment. It is 
 impossible for her to endure this, and he drives her away from home to become 
 a mother. Penniless and destitute, an orphan without friends, she is left to 
 confront hertroubles alone. The child dies, and a woman, still young in years, 
 is now struggling for her scanty bread under all the sorrows of a blighted life. 
 The villain, so brutal to his wife, so insensible to the claims of his offspring, 
 is George T. Albro. The wife, who in her great strait repeatedly appealed to 
 him for some portion of the money he had taken from her, but always in vain 
 — the wife who was hurried into marriage only to be alienated by brutal abuse 
 — could find no relief except in divorce. And there stands the record — for 
 " extreme cruelty and neglect." This is the man who deals out the " essences 
 of life" in brown paper. 
 
 Nor is this all. A woman in another city was an earlier victim of this 
 man's villainy. She, too, was driven to seek divorce with a burden of blighted 
 affections, and two of his children to care for and support. And such is Albro, 
 the " well-known Boston spiritualist," as the TBanner delights to call him. 
 He is just now running a camp meeting in Rindge, New Hampshire, which 
 he calls the " Banner Camp," in compliment to the organ which has puffed 
 him so well. 
 
 This man continues to reveal his nature in every appropriate situation. He 
 was at the Onset Camp last August, with female assistants, holding materi- 
 alizing seances. At that camp a young girl and her father, who came from a 
 distant rural town, assisted at certain hours in a large restaurant where Albro 
 and his confederates were in the habit of taking their meals. Albro soon began 
 to pay tender attentions to this young woman, and show great politeness to 
 her father, giving them free admission to his " show," as he termed it. This 
 girl, though inexperienced, was observant, willing to learn, but not to be cap- 
 tivated byfraud. She was astounded, therefore, in going to Albro's seances, 
 to detect in the " spirits " he raised the same beauties who came to the table 
 with eager orders for "roast beef, rare, with all the vegetables." She could 
 not believe that such was the proper diet for spirits. Albro, nevertheless, 
 pressed his suit, and offered to "love and cherish" this innocent country 
 maiden ; but, though he owned to her father that the whole business of mate- 
 rializing the dead was fraudulent, and declared his intention to abandon it, 
 she had the sense to decline the honor of his hand, and thus escaped the pangs 
 of prospective divorce. 
 
GEORGE T. ALBRO. 41 
 
 [From Advertisement in Banner of Light.] 
 
 ALBRO'S 
 MAGNETIZED PAPER, 
 
 Containing vitalized forces for the healing of the sick and the development of 
 mediumship. 
 
 Magnetized Paper is no new method by which the essences of life are conveyed to 
 the people. Still the theory of its conveyance is little understood. 
 
 Thoughts and desires are a substantial entity. 
 
 Vitality, born of Magnetism and Electric Currents, is also an atomized substance. 
 Therefore all these being substances, paper can be thoroughly saturated or imbued 
 with them. 
 
 Having been before the public for many years in the interest of Mediumship, and 
 especially successful in developing mediums into some of its highest phases, he has 
 found it quite impossible to reach the many who wish his personal attention. There- 
 fore he has given the study of magnetizing paper his closest attention, that he might 
 reach the thousands who desire the development of their powers, and he is confident 
 that the best results can be obtained with all who have these hidden forces and use 
 the paper according to directions. 
 
 Mr. Albro's success in the development of mediumship in the past is a sufficient 
 guarantee of the magnetic power contained in his paper. Price of Magnetized Paper 
 is One Dollar per package. Enclose money or postal note. Write your name and 
 address plainly. Address 
 
 G. T. ALBRO, 
 
 55 Rutland Street, Boston, Mass. 
 
 [From Boston Traveller.] 
 THE PROCESS IN DETAIL. 
 
 Contained in the package was the following: 
 
 Directions for Using Albro's Magnetized Paper.— In using this paper for 
 assisting the spirit forces to develop your mediumistic power, you must hold 
 two or three sheets in either hand for 10 or 15 minutes, occasionally passing 
 them across your temple and forehead, after which place the paper on the car- 
 pet or floor near your chair. One of the most important factors to observe is 
 to have your surroundings quiet, and if you can partially darken your room 
 for the first few months of sitting, it will assist you'very much in your devel- 
 opment. 
 
 After a few sittings you will notice small ethereal lights about you, which 
 will increase in size at each sitting ; very slow at first, but more rapidly as 
 your powers increase. At times, instead of lights, you hear slight sounds, as 
 the tapping of fingers on the table, floor or wall. Again you feel the faint 
 touch of spirit fingers. Each of these denote progress in your development. 
 After a time you will be able to converse with them by calling the letters of 
 the alphabet, getting a response when the right letter is spoken. 
 
 At this stage of your development you can generally receive instruction from 
 your guides. Should you wish, however, to consult me, write plainly your 
 wishes, and progress you have made, enclosing two three-cent stamps for 
 reply. Address George T. Albro, No. 55 Rutland Street, Boston, Mass. 
 
 BAD NEWS FROM CINCINNATI. 
 
 Mr. Bario then read a letter sent to the postmaster at Cincinnati, and writ- 
 ten by one W. M. Culshaw of that city, in which the writer informed the 
 
42 GEORGE T. ALBRO. 
 
 postmaster that Albro was " a well-known swindler in Boston," and made 
 other charges against the doctor, the reverse of complimentary. 
 
 On cross-examination Mr. Bario testified that he had not tested the paper, 
 and that for all he knew it might have all the qualities claimed for it. He 
 also admitted that in his conversations with the doctor, the latter gave no indi- 
 cations of disbelieving in his so-called invention. 
 
 Inspector Charles H. Pendleton testified that he accompanied Dr. Bario 
 when the latter called on the doctor, and that the latter said at that interview 
 that he had succeeded very weli in developing mediumistic powers through the 
 use of the paper. 
 
 Frank T. Waterhouse, a paperdealer for 18 years, testified that paper like 
 that sent out by the defendant would be worth at wholesale about 6 cents a 
 pound ; that the sample submitted weighed about two ounces, (weighing it on 
 a pair of scales) ; he did not think the sheets submitted had been manipulated 
 by hand. 
 
 GOOD FOR LA GRIPPE. 
 
 This closed the government's case, and the defence called several witnesses, 
 Mr. Stockbridge saying that he wished to refute " the outrageous and libellous 
 statements in the letter written by the crank in Cincinnati." The commis- 
 sioner said that it was not necessary to do this as the letter had no weight 
 with the court. 
 
 Mrs. Abbie Ripley was then called to testify as one who had been benefited 
 by the magnetized paper. She testified : " I am familiar with the paper ; some 
 time ago I had great trouble with my lungs, after the grip ; I sent to Dr. Albro 
 and got him to magnetize some paper. He sent me some. I put it on my 
 lungs, and experienced immediate relief ; there is a warmth and glow to the' 
 paper and a tingling sensation." 
 
 On cross-examination Mrs. Ripley testified that she lived at 55 Rutland 
 Street ; that she leased of the doctor, and he sometimes boarded with her. She 
 also testified that although not a medium, she had practised the laying on of 
 hands and been successful. She thought, however, that better results were 
 obtained from the use of the paper than from the laying on of hands. The 
 paper after being used was valueless. Mrs. Ripley had great faith in the 
 paper, saying that once when she had been badly injured by falling down- 
 stairs, she found relief in its application. The doctor did not sell much, 
 she said, because it took a. great while to magnetize the paper, and 
 " greatly depleted " the doctor ; ^he knew he did not sell much, " because he 
 said so." 
 
 Mrs. May Wyatt Fisher of Chelsea testified that she had used Dr. Albro 's 
 paper for sciatic rheumatism, and for a cough which followed an attack of the 
 grip ; it worked well; the pain " throbbed away," she said ; she believed it was 
 the paper that did it. 
 
 " I, Mrs. S., of Haverhill, being duly sworn, depose and testify : In the year 
 1886 I had become acquainted with George T. Albro, of Boston, from attend- 
 ing his materializing seances for some eighteen months, and having read his 
 advertisement in the Banner of Light that he developed mediums, I sought an 
 interview with him at 55 Rutland Street, Boston. Mr. Albro told me at that 
 interview that he could tell me in a few sittings whether he could develop me 
 
GEORGE T. ALBRO. 43 
 
 into a medium ; but it must be a business affair, for which I must pay one 
 dollar for each sitting, as soon as it was over. I commenced in November, 1886, 
 with my sittings, and for the first few times Mr. Albro went into the cabinet 
 with me, and lights and raps were frequently produced. At the next sitting a 
 spirit came to me who had come to me many times before, at the materializing 
 seances of the Berry sisters, under the charge of Mr. Albro, where he was 
 called ' Harry.' I sat in the cabinet with this ' Harry ' in the dark, and while 
 sitting so, ' Harry ' told me that he was not wholly made up, and that he 
 had no lower limbs, for the reason that it would draw too much from me. 
 This ' Harry ' took control of the whole business, telling me that I was coming 
 out a wonderful medium, and that I would have no difficulty in getting a 
 handsome living by my mediumship by using my powers for only a few 
 months in the year. I spoke to Mr. Albro about my prospects, and he told me 
 that my progress was wonderful, and that the spirits materialized quicker 
 than they did with the Berry sisters after they had sat for a year. 
 
 " One morning when I went into the cabinet for the sitting ' Harry' mate- 
 rialized immediately, as usual, and told me that I was nervous, and that a 
 spirit doctor was coming to give me treatment. ' Harry' then disappeared, 
 and the promised doctor came very soon after. The doctor began making 
 passes over me, and talking about my wearing corsets when I should give 
 public seances, and during this time he took undue liberties with my person, 
 remarking, 'You don't care, so long as it is necessary.' He put his hand 
 under my clothes, and when I told him that I did not think that was neces- 
 sary, he said, ' Yes, it is ; every part of your person must be magnetized if 
 you wish to come out as a medium.' Believing that I was dealing with a 
 spirit, I thought his conduct strange, and asked him, ' Doctor, are you fully 
 materialized at this moment?' * ...•■. 
 
 " The darkness in the cabinet prevented me from seeing the features 
 of these so-called ' spirits ' ; but from the similarity in the tones of voice and 
 the general actions, 1 have no doubt now that ' Harry ' and the ' Doctor ' 
 were the same person ; i. e., Mr. Dick Johnson, the husband of Gertrude 
 Berry. 
 
 " Having expended about all my ready money, I began to be anxious as to 
 how I should be able to go on with my sittings. ' Harry ' said that it was all 
 right, and that I must not worry ; and asked me if I had not articles that I 
 could turn into money. I told hi.n that I had some silk dress patterns, and 
 afterwards Mr. Albro asked to see uy dress patterns, saying that he could 
 assist me in finding a customer. Before that, ' Harry ' had told me several 
 tfmes in the cabinet that if I could raise the money to take a number of addi- 
 tional sittings, I should be able to come out as a first-class medium. At last 
 he named fifteen dollars as required, and I carried my dress patterns to Mr. 
 Albro, and he said that he would help me as a favor, and he allowed me eight 
 dollars for one pattern, which was about half its cost. Afterwards I carried 
 two more dress patterns to him, and he told me that they were not nice enough, 
 and that he did not care for them. I told him that I had no money left and 
 
 * A considerable portion of this affidavit is omitted as unfit for publication. The victim very 
 naturally objects, after such an experience, to publishing her name. If any one doubts its genuine- 
 ness, they are at liberty to call at the office of Henry W. Holland, Esq., 27 Tremont Row, and 
 inspect for themselves. 
 
44 GEORGE T. ALBRO. 
 
 owed him two dollars and a quarter, and could not take another sitting. Mr. 
 Albro said that as long as I was there, I could go on that day, but that he 
 kept no books. 1 entered the cabinet, and ' Harry ' came in as usual, and said 
 that I must give up another dress pattern for the three dollars and a quarter 
 that I should owe. I said that I did not feel able to sacrifice so much on my 
 dresses, and he said, " What do three or four dollars matter, when you will 
 soon be making so much money? " At last I raised the fifteen dollars, but 
 when that was used up in the sittings, ' Harry ' told me that there were draw- 
 backs, and that I should not be able to be a medium. Then I burst out crying 
 in the cabinet, and Mr. Albro asked me what was the matter, and I told him 
 what Harry had just told me. Mr. Albro seemed indifferent about it, and 
 ' Harry ' advised me to seek a room, and have a cabinet and some one to help 
 me materialize, and go right ahead ; but I did not feel that I could. 
 
 " I have been for many years a spiritualist. My friends have passed away, 
 and the belief that they could return was a great comfort to me. In my blind 
 faith I accepted what was told me for the sacred truth ; but my business was 
 sacrificed and my last money spent on a fraud, and now I feel that it is my 
 duty to acknowledge it to protect others. I have had nothing to do with Mr. 
 Albro and his confederates since my eyes were opened. 
 
 "MRS. S." 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 20th day of March, 1889. 
 
 HENRY W. HOLLAND, 
 
 Justice of the Peace. 
 
 LETTER FROM ONSET TO THE RELIGIO PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL, GIV- 
 ING AN ACCOUNT OF A SEANCE BY THE BERRY SISTERS, WHO WERE 
 DEVELOPED AND MANAGED BY GEO. T. ALBRO. 
 
 Among the mediums upon these grounds at present, are two young ladies 
 from Boston, by name of Berry, with their manager. One of these Misses 
 gives materializing seances, and the other sits for what she terms " physical 
 manifestations," which consist in the ringing of bells and floating and play- 
 ing on musical instruments, writing, supposed to be by spirit hand, on slates 
 and paper, fanning the circle which is gathered around a long table, touching, 
 and patting, and kissing and whispering names and communications to the 
 same, and making lights and purporting to resolve these into faces, though I 
 could see no similitude to a face even when such was several times recognized 
 by members of the circle. 
 
 The "physical " Miss Berry commenced the exercises by placing herself in 
 the middle of one side of the table, at which were present sixteen people, more 
 or less. Her sister was not visible. The gentleman in charge of the affair 
 takes position in an opposite part of the room from her, in order to prove to 
 the circle that they are not in collusion. Sometimes, however, the power 
 seems to extend so far that persons are touched upon his side of the room. 
 All were strangers to me, if I except the lady who accompanied me, a gentle- 
 man from Chelsea, and Mrs. Ross, the materializing medium of Providence, 
 R. I., whom I was very glad to find seated by my side, where she remained. 
 
 Miss Berry sat between two gentlemen, one of whom I understood to be an 
 entire stranger ; the other had sat with her a few times. Touches commenced 
 
THE BERRY SISTERS. 45> 
 
 immediately upon putting out the light, and touching kisses were heard, for 
 which thanks, if no more, were naturally returned by the gentlemen receiving 
 them. The musical instruments performed, communications were written, 
 and 1 think some were given orally ; the light was lit, and the medium changed 
 her seat, passing by two or three to do so. Then darkness, and more of the 
 foregoing manifestations. Ex-Mayor Lowe, the gentleman from Chelsea, 
 was seated at Mrs. Ross' right hand, and she at mine ; as they had previously 
 sat in this circle, Miss Berry passed them by, and came between Mrs. Ross 
 and myself. I should have previously stated that Mr. Lowe was " touched'' 
 when the manager stood with his right hand on Mrs. Ross' right shoulder, 
 and his left on mine, though the medium was across the table — touched upon 
 the side or back of his head. 
 
 The most of the manifestations inclined to me, and to my left, and after the 
 medium had taken her seat by me. We had been told to "keep the circuit 
 of magnetism intact," etc.; " to follow the medium's hands if they were lifted, 
 for she sat in test conditions between two who ought to hold her hands all the 
 time." We were very crowded at our end of the table, which made every- 
 thing that 'occurred very palpable to me. I suggested that the " conditions" 
 would prove much more convenient for her if more space were left between 
 sitters. 
 
 There was hardly room between Mrs. Ross and myself for the little delicate 
 woman who now came in and laid her two hands, like two feathers, on our 
 two hands. She did not allow me to hold her hand nor her little finger even,, 
 but coquettishly kept her little bird-claw dancing on top of my big one, and as 
 soon as the light was out, her hands flitted so quickly and so high, that I 
 could not follow the instructions " to hold on." In the dense darkness their 
 locality was uncertain for a time. She had, however, previous to flitting, 
 brought all four of our hands together in an indiscriminate huddle, and linked 
 Mrs. Ross' little finger in mine, in the orthodox fashion. There was too much 
 difference between the hands for me to be unconscious of what was going 
 on, but there was nothing left for me but to " watch and pray," which I took 
 care to fortify myself by doing thoroughly. 
 
 The little woman arose from my side, moving her chair back a bit toward 
 Mrs. R., and passing behind me. They, of course, responded, thinking them 
 genuine, for they had not followed her whole movements as I had. It would 
 have been wise in me to have also acknowledged that 1 was "touched," but 
 mine chiefly took effect upon my temper, which is not any too good when such 
 bare-faced manifestations are attempted, and I kept quiet for fear I should say 
 something. I kept my finger steadily and firmly around my next neighbor's, 
 and reached back with my right foot covering the space where the little me- 
 dium had just been sitting till I touched the leg of her empty chair, from 
 whence the bird had flown — I had proof of this, both by feeling her arise (she 
 was crowded so near me) and move back of my chair, where 1 could follow 
 every motion of hers — and, by then sweeping my foot around, and finding 
 that she was out of her place. If I could ever affirm anything which 1 have 
 seen take place in the light, I can just as truly affirm this which occurred in 
 the dark. I realized everything just as acutely as if I saw all, and I know of 
 what 1 speak. 
 
 'While standing behind me and the neighbor at my left, the usual lights ap- 
 
46 THE BERRY SISTERS. 
 
 peared, which describe a semi-circle, as if bounding about upon a long elastic 
 whalebone ; though they sometimes sweep horizontally, nothing is done in this 
 line which a whalebone could not be made to perform. The light came down 
 in front of me ; it was like a square block three inches by two and one-half, 
 perhaps, which illuminated itself. There was no smell of phosphorus. One 
 gentleman when it was brought to him, saw " a face so illuminated that he 
 could see the color of her eyes." I lament to say I was not so blest. There 
 was no face with my light, though I should not have been surprised had I 
 seen one ; it is as easy to have a face as a light. 
 
 After she had fooled round enough, she came carefully creeping back to her 
 chair again, seated herself, and then tried to loosen our hands and take mine 
 in her little bird-claw. But it was strange how closely I followed the previous 
 instructions " not to release hold," and she pulled and pulled at my hand, un- 
 til she was obliged to resort to a stratagem, which was really shrewd, in order 
 to get possession. She said, " Why, maybe they want to shake hands with 
 you, and if they do you can let go of my hand." The amazing effrontery, 
 when it was Mrs. R's hand which I held. So I let go, and she, trusting not 
 to be betrayed by my right-hand neighbor, said she would put her hand on 
 my wrist so " they (the spirits) can shake hands with you," (me) and putting 
 her left hand on my right wrist, she shook hands with me with her right, I 
 easily feeling the cramped position of her hand as she sought to make it ap- 
 pear that -the spirit " shaking" was before me. It was a bungling perform- 
 ance all through. 
 
 The usual intention is to have the chairs " comfortably placed," at a little 
 distance from each other, ostensibly that the company may be cool. But my 
 end of the table was very full, and only space between our chairs and the end 
 of the room for a small person to pass, and when my neighbor moved even 
 for this little Berry to come between us, it made the stowage splendid for night 
 observations, because I could feel the medium full length, and know her 
 "ways that were dark and tricks that were vain." It might be hoped that 
 with the Berry-all of this fraudulent troupe, all other miserable imposters 
 might hurry to place themselves in their common grave, and seek a merciful 
 oblivion, hoping for no resurrection, but we seem doomed to be continually on 
 the alert, and are called to exercise our reason on every phenomenon presented, 
 and even at the seaside camping places to be obliged to hunt the bones from 
 our fish before we are safe in swallowing the latter. Truth and untruth are 
 considerably mixed, and must be thoroughly criticised. 
 
 Aug. II, 1883. LITA BARNEY SAYLES. 
 
 [From the Chicago Tribune.] 
 
 CREATING A SPOOK. 
 
 CONFESSION OF ARCHER, WHOM THE "TRIBUNE" EXPOSED. —NAR- 
 ROW ESCAPES FROM SKEPTICS. 
 
 Henry Archer, the materializing medium exposed last Sunday by reporters 
 for the Tribune, has followed up his confession in open court that he is a fraud, 
 by making a clean breast of his career as a spook-producer for the last ten 
 years. Tuesday afternoon he was fined two hundred dollars by Justice 
 Woodman for obtaining money under false pretences, and on condition that 
 
HENRY ARCHER. 47 
 
 he leave town in twenty-four hours the fine was suspended. The next day 
 he took the train for Grand Rapids, Michigan, but before he scraped the 
 mud of Chicago from his feet, spent three hours with the reporter who 
 exposed him, and, without reserve, told the story of his life, how he became a 
 medium, the prominent people who have been humbugged by him, and the 
 dangers he has passed through while personating shades of all ages, sex, and 
 nationalities. 
 
 " I was Dorn in Georgia," said he, "and spent my early life in the Peanut 
 State. When twelve years old I moved with my family to New York, and 
 five years later commenced a theatrical career. I had a good voice then, and 
 was a fair elocutionist. I made my debut on the Bowery, in a company headed 
 by Zoe Gayton, the actress who recently gained some fame by trundling a 
 wheelbarrow from San Francisco to New York. The play was ' Mazeppa,' 
 and I was one of the wild, untamed Arabs of the desert. After a few months 
 as ' supe ' and general utility man, I played the part of the minister in a piece 
 called ' Bertha, the Sewing-Machine Girl.' I put in several years with stock 
 and traveling companies, and finally secured a good ' sit ' at the Leland Opera 
 House, in Albany, N. Y. We had a pretty good stock company, and during 
 my time there I supported Booth, Barrett, McCullough, and a number of the- 
 atrical stars. I did not go by the name of Archer — that is assumed — and as I 
 expect to enter the theatrical business again next year, having the promise of 
 the stage managership of a good company, I prefer not to tell the name I went 
 by then. Ten years ago I went to California with a company that ' busted ' 
 in San Francisco, and, to add trouble to my troubled state, I lost my voice. 
 It was a powerful bass in its halcyon days ; now it is not worth a cent. I 
 blame the man who taught me elocution for that. He taught me to use my 
 throat without reference to the muscles of the chest, and at the outset put me 
 to work on 'The Merchant of Venice,' a piece fraught with more trouble for 
 the budding elocutionist than any other. 
 
 "Well, I was in pretty tough luck when that show went to pieces, and I 
 did not know in what direction to turn. While wandering around the city 
 one day I heard of a camp-meeting of spiritualists. I went out there just to 
 pass the time away, and saw the first seance of my life. Some woman who 
 was giving tests told me that if I sat for development I would make a great 
 medium, and incidentally make a great deal of money. I didn't care about 
 the mediumistic qualities concealed in and about my person, but I did want 
 money ; so I sat for development." 
 
 " Of what does sitting for development consist? Why, the sucker sits in 
 front of the medium, clasps hands, and, Mke Bertie, the Lamb, and his con- 
 freres in the club, ' they sit there, and sit there, and sit there,' until some of 
 the medium's power passes to the sitter." 
 
 " How much does this development cost? " 
 
 Archer smiled a bland-like smile, and answered: 
 
 " It all depends on the size of a man's pile. But it didn't cost me any- 
 thing," he continued. " I was young and pretty fresh those days, and so I 
 got developed for nothing. I first turned my attention to clairvoyancy, and, 
 honest, I had good success with it. You may think I'm lying, but it 's a fact 
 that I have clairvoyant power. I had wonderful results in this line, and my 
 success nearly led to my ruin. I made from ten to twenty-five dollars a day, 
 
48 HENRY ARCHER. 
 
 and spent it nearly all for drink. 1 became a besotted wretch, and one time 
 was so despondent that 1 took morphine with suicidal intent, and came near 
 entering the spirit world in earnest. I firmly believe that evil spirits hover 
 around a man, and try to ruin him. My evil spirit is drink, and my good 
 spirit proved to be my wife, who lifted me from the gutter and made a man of 
 me. During the two years I practised clairvoyancy I was visited by the best 
 people in San Francisco. The work was a little hard — wearing on the brain 
 — and so I quit it. 
 
 " 1 was thrown into contact with a number of materializing mediums, and 
 as they told me there was a mint of money in the business, I made up my 
 mind to enter it." 
 
 " Did you take lessons from the mediums? " 
 
 Again a smile, and the answer : 
 
 "No, it wasn't necessary. I attended several seances, my eyesight was 
 good, and I always had a seat near the cabinet." 
 
 Then Archer smiled once more. 
 
 " At the outset of my materializing career 1 was well acquainted with Mrs. 
 Josie Hoffman, the most notorious spook priestess of that time. Josie's glory 
 was at its zenith when I attended her seances, and spirits were shy when she 
 did not produce three or four at one and the same time. And they were all 
 good-looking females, too. But when Josie thought her greatness was a-ri- 
 pening, there came a chilling frost in the shape of skeptics, who grabbed 
 three entrancing shades one evening, and found them to be flesh and blood. 
 They also found a trap-door in the cabinet. That made me a little careful,, 
 and I journeyed around the State until the excitement died down a little in San 
 Francisco." 
 
 " Does it cost much to equip a ' spook factory ' with a full supply of wigs, 
 whiskers, and other ghostly paraphernalia? " 
 
 " Not very much. But we did the business differently in California. If 
 you had grabbed your sister ' Alice ' there, you would not have pulled her hair 
 and bangs off, as you did from me. It was the genuine article. If you had 
 only waited a week longer, you would have had a much better story, and you 
 would have had a female for your sister, instead of this unfortunate fellow 
 who is talking to you. I had all arrangements made to produce any given 
 number of spirits at the same moment, when you ' busted my game.' 
 
 "How do we do this without the aid of a trap-door? Why, it's just as 
 easy to fix a dummy in a chair as it is to fix one in the cabinet. You can do 
 lots of things close to the cabinet curtains when the lights are dim and low ; 
 and then, ninety per cent, of the sitters see the spirits just as the medium 
 wants them to. For instance, suppose an assistant says, ' This is a very tail 
 spirit,' and even if the form is in reality no larger than the one that immedi- 
 ately preceded it, the chances are that a chorus of ' isn't it ! ' will come from 
 the guileless spectators. Of course, I have to do a good deal of contortion, 
 but when I am in an uncomfortable position I do not stay out long. When 
 the circle is composed almost entirely of spiritualists I am not afraid of being 
 detected. They respect the phenomena ; but the ' grabbing skeptic ' is the 
 individual of whom I always want to fight shy. I 've been grabbed lots of 
 times, but was never caught ' dead to rights ' till Sunday. 
 
 " I suppose you have heard of the spiritualist camp-meeting at Onset Bay, 
 
HENRY ARCHER. 49 
 
 Mass., every summer. Well, that is the medium's harvest. Every year I 
 have made more during the month I was in camp than during the other eleven 
 months. But you have to be careful — very careful — there. Last summer I 
 had a couple of distinguished visitors at my cottage. One was Joe Jefferson, 
 the old man, — and that was his first or second visit, by the way, — and an 
 athletic, hunting ex-president who has a cottage not very far from there. 
 Who was he? Well you ought to know. It was Grover." 
 
 " Did you materialize a sister for Grover? " 
 
 " No," and here Archer indulged in a hearty laugh ; " it was somathing 
 more than that." 
 
 " Did he express any pleasure at the manifestation, or recognize the spirit 
 you conjured up for him ? " 
 
 " Well, they paid their money, laughed, and drove away, saying they would 
 come again. You know spiritualists say that Mrs. Folsom, Grover's mother- 
 in-law, is a believer in the science, and I know that Mr. Jefferson, Sr., is. I 
 also gave a sitting to young Joe and his wife. Lord, how I did coin money 
 there ! 
 
 " But to return to California. I had a fairly easy time there. Of course, 
 I was going through the mill, as we call it. I mean by that, the newspapers 
 got after me, called me a fraud, printed lots of stuff about my seances, but I 
 never had any serious trouble. I thought I had gotten into a hole once, and 
 had occasion to consult attorneys. I used to claim that 1 produced genuine 
 spirits, but on the advice of my attorneys 1 quit that. I now make a little 
 speech, which you have heard, and I have every word of it down pat. Here 
 it is, and if you study it closely you will see how nicely it avoids any specific 
 claims: 
 
 " ' There are three phases of these phenomena presented through me. 
 First, the genuine materialization, when the form appears entirely indepen- 
 dent of the medium ; second, etherealization, when the spirit is more like a 
 vapor or cloud, with no substance to it ; and, third, a transfiguration, when 
 the body of the medium is used and clothed with white drapery, and brought 
 out on the floor by the spirits.' 
 
 " Whenever I think there are people present who will make trouble, I 
 make the announcement that I am well defended and prepared for anything 
 that may turn up. The bluff has worked well several times, but I made up 
 my mind that if ever I got in a tight place I would not show fight. When a 
 fellow 's caught ' dead to rights ' he might as well give in. 
 
 "Three years ago I left California and went to Colorado Springs, then to 
 Salt Lake City, and then I came to Chicago. I only stayed here a iew days, 
 visiting friends, and then went to New York. 1 opened an office at No. 193 
 Sixth Avenue, and paid more attention to palmistry than materialization. I 
 had a great big hand for a sign, and my shop was known as ' The Big 
 Hand.' I soon became acquainted with lots of the newspaper boys, and they 
 were regular visitors at my seances. They would write lots of stuff describ- 
 ing the ghosts' parade, but never attempted to expose me by violent means. 
 Nellie Bly was a pretty good friend of mine, and I think I was the only medium 
 she did not ' roast ' or attempt to expose. Say, but she gave Zoda, the Per- 
 sian beauty, an awful dressing down. 
 
 " 1 did pretty well at palmistry, but the medium business did not pay. 
 
50 HENRY ARCHER. 
 
 Why? Oh, mediumship is not appreciated as well in the East as in the 
 West, generally speaking." 
 
 " Where is the centre of spiritualism? " 
 
 " Boston ! Boston ! It's the home of it and the hotbed of mediumship." 
 
 " How about Chicago ? " 
 
 " Can't get 'em here. The average medium is scared to death of the town, 
 and would sooner go five hundred miles than go near it." 
 
 " What are they afraid of ? " 
 
 " Bundy. Why, when I came here it was on the solicitation of Dr. Alma, 
 who assured me that there was a good thing in it for me, and that I should 
 be well protected. Looks as if I was protected, doesn't it? " 
 
 Just at this point the conversation wandered from the spook business, and 
 the date of the expose, February 20, was mentioned. 
 
 "There's a curious coincidence," said Archer. "Just a year ago to the 
 day the Luther R. Marsh Diss De Bar trouble happened in New York. I 
 believe February 20 is my unlucky day, and I shall watch myself closely that 
 day each succeeding year. Yes, I knew Marsh well, and I think he is one of 
 the smartest, brainiest men in the country. He came to one of my seances in 
 New York during the winter before this, and seemed to be more than satisfied 
 with my tests and manifestations. In fact, he was so well pleased that he 
 asked me to go to his place at Middleton, N. Y., and spend the holidays with 
 him. There I met Mrs. Huyler, Marsh's own medium, and we got along well 
 until February, when we had trouble, and my wife and I were kicked out 
 without a cent, on one of the coldest nights of that cold winter. Mrs. Huyler 
 is a woman of wonderful hypnotic power, and had a strong hold on Marsh. 
 While at her house we gave a number of seances, but the Middleton papers 
 made it hot for us. It was while at Middleton that I got into a row with Diss 
 De Bar. She was jealous because I had Marsh, and said I was a 'fake' 
 because I had declared she was a fraud." 
 
 Here Archer smote the desk with his fist, and declared : 
 
 " A medium's worst enemy is a medium ; there's no honor among 'em." 
 
 " You think there should be honor among thieves, then ? " was suggested. 
 
 "Well, there's none among mediums. Why one of them skipped town 
 last night with eight hundred dollars in her pocket, and did not so much as 
 come near me and offer me aid. No two mediums can work together, and 
 they always try to cut each other's throats. Now, every medium in the coun- 
 try will take a great delight in spreading the report of my trouble, saying that 
 they always knew I was a ' fake.' 
 
 " You want to know if I have ever made 'hits,' so to speak — have pro- 
 duced the spirits visitors wanted. Yes, lots and lots of times ; so many, in 
 fact, that I really pay no attention to it now. If it hadn't been for your 
 intense longing to see your sister I wouldn't have been captured Sunday 
 night. There were so many strangers in the circle that I almost made up my 
 mind not to give the seance ; but I was broke and needed the money, so I let 
 her go, making up my mind, however, to cut it short. I was going to close 
 when I remembered how anxious you were to clasp your sister by the hand. 
 So I said to myself, ' I '11 give that poor fellow his sister, and wind up the 
 show.' Your sister wound up the show, but in a manner totally unex- 
 pected. Perhaps, however, this whole thing is for the best. I'm tired of the 
 
HENRY ARCHER. 51 
 
 business. If my wife hadn't been sick I '<$! have quit it long ago. What 
 I 've told you kills me as a medium, so you see I 'm honest in the statement 
 that no more will I produce spooks to order. 1 'm through." 
 
 And then Archer, who had read the above story as it was written in con- 
 densed form, cheerfully agreed to sign it, which he did in a somewhat crude 
 but perfectly legible hand. 
 
 [The Chicago Tribune.] 
 
 'CABINET" EXCHANGED FOR CELL. 
 
 MRS. SAWYER, MEDIUM— BOUNCER BURK— MISS RAINGER, "SPOOK"— 
 THE FRUIT OF SIX WEEKS OF PLANNING. 
 
 Miss Kittie Rainger, a "spirit from the other world," Mrs. Carrie M. 
 Sawyer, medium, and Frank Burk, manager, "bouncer," and " magnetist," 
 were exposed by Tribune reporters in the midst of a seance at No. 30 Ogden 
 Avenue last night. The circumstances of the exposure were dramatic in the 
 extreme, and were brought to a fitting climax by the clang of the patrol wagon. 
 The captured spirit and those who had invoked her were carted off to the 
 Harrison Street Station, locked up for the night, and will be brought before 
 Justice Prindiville this morning to answer a charge of obtaining money under 
 false pretenses. George Burk, the " bouncer's " son, was arrested for assault 
 and battery in attempting to rescue the "spirit "from her captors, but was 
 permitted to remain overnight in the house to care for Miss Delia Burk, the 
 medium's daughter, who is seriously ill. 
 
 The capture and arrest form the final chapter in a remarkable story. Mrs. 
 Sawyer, whose fame as a medium is as wide as the continent, has been giving 
 nightly and daily seances in Chicago for six months. Such has been her suc- 
 cess that Mr. Burk, her manager, recently took a lease on the house for a year 
 from May 1. 
 
 Last night there were nineteen persons, men and women, in her front parlor. 
 Fourteen were ardent believers in her power. Three were Tribune reporters, 
 supposed from their frequent attendance to be believers also. One was a de- 
 tective in league with the reporters. Another proved to be a skeptic, who 
 came to the aid of the newspaper men and detective in the dramatic scene 
 which closed the seance. Each paid one dollar admission. It was what 
 Manager Burk before the denouement called a select seance — there was nine- 
 teen dollars in it. 
 
 The lights had been turned down to a ghostly dimness. A portly woman 
 took a seat at the piano in place of Miss Delia Sawyer, who, but for her sick- 
 ness, would have furnished the music. To her accompaniment the circle sang 
 " Nearer, My God, to Thee." Spirits, at first evanescent, began to appear, 
 while the musical voice of " Little Maudie," the medium's cabinet spirit, came 
 from the box-like inclosure in which Mrs. Sawyer had been confined. A pleas- 
 ant excitation thrilled the believers. A feeling of expectancy ran through the 
 others. 
 
 THE CLIMAX. 
 
 Then the spirits became stronger in their materialization. They emerged 
 from the soft folds of the heavy curtains in front of the cabinet and entered the 
 
52 CARRIE M. SAWYER. 
 
 parlor. Courtney H. Horine's hvo daughters, Gertie and Jessie, whom he 
 buried years ago, revisited him and held up their spiritual mouths for his 
 kisses as they had once done their material lips. A Mr. Greerson's father 
 and mother came to see him and consoled him for his childish disobedience. 
 A Mr. Dedham's dead wife assured him of her undying love despite their 
 bodily separation. Others received visitations — a dozen or more. Then one 
 of the reporters, who had been flirting for weeks with the spook of a lost 
 sweetheart, " Susie," was called to the curtains by Burk. 
 
 " Mr. Oldham," said Mr. Burk, using one of the reporter's nom de spirite, 
 '* your Susie is here." Mr. Burk was sitting near the curtains on the right of 
 the room, where he could catch the whispered announcements of the spiritual 
 visitors and make them known. 
 
 " Susie, do you love me still? " asked the reporter, as he met the fair ghost 
 near the cabinet. 
 
 "Yes," she whispered, tapping his arm with a light spiritual love-tap. 
 
 No sooner had she answered than the reporter put his arm around her waist 
 and cried : 
 
 "Light!" 
 
 The scene which followed was like an act from a melodrama. As a flash- 
 light, struck on the instant by another reporter, pierced the darkness " Susie " 
 shrieked. It was a shriek that would have done credit to any ghost that ever 
 waked the shadows of a grave-yard. It brought Mr. Burk to her help in an 
 instant. It brought the whole circle to its feet in wild confusion. But the 
 detective, John Broderick of the Central Detail, laid a hand on Mr. Burk. 
 That not sufficing he whipped his elastic billy a few times over his arms. 
 
 But the scene was not yet finished. The reporter who struck the light was 
 making his way to the front door to signal Detective Ben Williams outside 
 and call the patrol wagon. As he opened the parlor door leading into the hall- 
 way young George Burk rushed in, his coat off, his fists before him — the 
 picture of a rescuing hero. He played his part well. He had not acted the 
 part of the Craven in "Woman Against Woman " to no purpose. But his 
 headlong entrance was cut short by the third reporter, an old Princeton Col- 
 lege football man, who grappled with him and silenced him. 
 
 The signal to Williams had by this time had its effect. He entered with 
 two brawny officers in uniform, and the thing was done. 
 
 " SUSIE " MAKES TEARFUL CONFESSION. 
 
 In the meantime the struggles and cries of the spirit " Susie " in the arms 
 of her captor were piteous. She sought to escape until she became hysterical. 
 
 " O let me go," she pleaded. " Mrs. Sawyer got me into this. I came to 
 nurse Delia, who used to act my part herself. I've only done it for three 
 weeks. I will never do it again. I know its wicked. O let me go ! " 
 
 Again and again she tried to break away. When her beautiful blonde 
 spirit-wig was torn off and her glossy brown hair exposed she burst into a 
 flood of tears and drew the white, filmy covering with which she was clothed 
 about her face to prevent that from being seen. When this was taken off she 
 cried again at the thought of being exposed in a bifurcated skirt. 
 
 " Mrs. Sawyer is the one to blame," she cried in her shame. " She told me 
 it would be fun to hoodwink people, and I thought so till tonight. I see how 
 
CARRIE M. SAWYER. 53 
 
 wrong it is now. Don't take me to the station. I've never been in a station. 
 O let me go ! " 
 
 Her dress, the dress she wears as a real girl, was brought down from the 
 third story by one of the officers. While she was donning it in the rear parlor, 
 she said, through her tears : 
 
 " Mrs. Sawyer is the guilty one. She's been acting the male ghost. I will 
 tell everything, if you let me go. O let me go ! " 
 
 Mrs. Sawyer had skipped out of the cabinet at the first breeze of the squall, 
 slipped through the rear parlor door into the hallway, and made her way up- 
 stairs. But in the cabinet she had left abundant evidence that her confederate 
 was truthful in the statement that the medium had personated ghosts. Her 
 shoes were there on the floor. She had removed them to imitate the noiseless 
 tread of spirits. Her confederate's feet had been incased in soft knit slippers. 
 A lot of toggery was there, too. She had used it for various unearthly char- 
 acters she represented. It was dumped in the patrol wagon along with the 
 blonde wig, the white wrapping, and the slippers of the girl. 
 
 Among the witnesses not already named whose nerves were jostled by the 
 unexpected outcome of the seance were Andrew Helberg, No. 6720 Wentworth 
 Avenue; C. H. Millspaugh, Englewood; E. W. Grawfly and wife, Halsted 
 and Twelfth Street; F. N. Foster, No. 29 Sheldon Street; and Francis Whit- 
 ney, No. 11 Park Avenue, the skeptic who gave aid in the events succeeding 
 the exposure. The people who have been paying their money to be duped 
 were told by Detective Williams to go home and reflect before putting them- 
 selves in so ridiculous a plight again. 
 
 TAKEN TO THE STATION. 
 
 Finally, the ghost having been properly dressed, Mrs. Sawyer having put 
 on a stylish wrap and stunning bonnet, Mr. Burk having thrown an elegant 
 overcoat over his shoulders, the party, captured and captors, filed out of the 
 house. Young George Burk was left behind on parole to attend Miss 
 Sawyer. 
 
 A crowd had gathered on the sidewalk. It was made up of neighbors who 
 had long marveled at Mrs. Sawyer's power over the other world, street boys 
 who grinned as the ghost passed through them, and lingering members of the 
 circle which had witnessed the catastrophe to their faith in spooks. 
 
 "Gelang! " called the driver of the patrol-wagon to his horses, and they 
 bounded away to the Harrison Street Station. It was as odd a lot of arrests 
 as a patrol-wagon ever carried. 
 
 " How we have been cheated ! " said one of the former enthusiasts, as the 
 wagon rumbled around the corner. But the other believers who still stood 
 around looked dazed as men and women do when they are suddenly confronted 
 with a crisis in their belief. 
 
 At the Harrison Street Station Mr. Horine made strenuous efforts to have 
 the arrested spiritualists released, but failed. In the trumpery displayed at the 
 station were a pillow-case, a small linen bag much the worse for want of 
 washing, and a pile of gauze, crepe, mosquito netting, shoes, slippers, wigs, 
 and false hair. 
 
 A plain pasteboard cross daubed with luminous paint, which had served to 
 give immortal light in the parlor, capped the heap. The cross was about six 
 
54 CARP IE M. SAWYER. 
 
 inches high and four inches wide. The arms were about an inch in width. 
 The false hair captured included a set of coarse, black, long chin whiskers, and 
 a wig of tow-colored curls. A loose gauze gown was daubed in lines and spots 
 with luminous paint. Otherwise it was muddy-brown with dirt. Two white 
 crepe veils were crumpled into a long string, but easily unrolled. A white cheese- 
 cloth shawl about six feet long was wrapped around a pair of blue knit slip- 
 pers, with felt soles. The foot that squeezed into one of them was a No. 4i, 
 D. A pair of corsets marked " G," and a green cloth bodice trimmed with 
 black velvet, made up the bundle of captured paraphernalia. 
 The bail of each was fixed at $300. 
 
 [From the Boston Herald.] 
 
 LEAVES FROM-THE LIFE OF A SPIRITUALIST. 
 
 BAPTIST MINISTER, MAIL ROBBER, AND MEDIUM.— DRIVEN FROM CITY 
 TO CITY BY A BAD RECORD.— IDENTITY OF PARSON RAINS AND W. 
 R. COLBY.— DETECTED IN FRAUD BY A "HERALD" REPORTER. 
 
 Attached to the stone pilaster at the left of the doorway of the three-story 
 brick house at No. 443 Shawmut Avenue, just above Blackstone Square, is a 
 good-sized japanned tin sign, bearing, in large, gold letters, the inscription, 
 " W. R. Colby." Above it is a more modest one, reading, " W. E. Wheelock, 
 M. D.," and under the first story window is another, marked, " Dr. D. J. 
 Stansbury." 
 
 But the first mentioned sign has a position that makes it prominent among 
 its fellows, and it is still more conspicuous in that it gives no inkling of the. 
 profession or occupation of the man whose name it bears. Doubt on this point 
 may be dissolved, however, by anyone who will take the pains to ring the 
 bell and ask for a card. If there is nothing about him to excite suspicion, he 
 will be cordially greeted by whoever chances to come to the door, and he will 
 receive a bit of pasteboard, on which is printed : 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIUMSHIP. 
 W. R. COLBY, 
 
 Independent Slate-Writer 
 
 and 
 
 Test Medium. 
 
 Lectures and Platform Tests. 
 
 Will Answer Calls for Funerals. 
 
 443 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, Mass. 
 
 This W. R. Colby is a man whose attainments have made his name famil- 
 iar in spiritualistic circles in Boston and its vicinity within the past few 
 months, and believers will tell you that he is one of the most phenomenal 
 mediums that has ever given manifestations of his abnormal power in this 
 section of the country. 
 
 Colby first brought himself prominently before the spiritualists of New 
 England at the Onset Bay camp last summer. Who he was or where he 
 carfTe from no one seemed to know, and few cared. It was enough for them 
 that he could, with the aid of his " spirit control," produce slate-written mes- 
 sages from dead friends ad libitum. 
 
PARSON RAINS, ALIAS W. R. COLBY. 55 
 
 His almost invariable success in procuring communications from the " world 
 unseen " made him immensely popular in this confiding community, notwith- 
 standing that his methods of serving his clients were palpably those that have 
 been so often exposed and explained. He spoke frequently at the meetings, 
 and on one occasion gave what he was pleased to term a " platform test." It 
 consisted in producing upon one of two slates, placed face to face, a drawing 
 of a bird on a twig, and a list of names of several so-called mediums who had 
 died. 
 
 While at Onset Colby committed an indiscretion that has finally led to the 
 upturning of a portion of his record that he would probably prefer not to have 
 generally known, and which stamps him as a rather undesirable man to have 
 in any community, unless he shows a disposition to be upright and to desist 
 altogether from fraudulent practices. It came to his ears that Mr. John Curtis, 
 who was spending the summer at the bay, had intimated that he had led a 
 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sort of career down in Texas some years ago. This 
 turned out to be a point on which Colby was peculiarly sensitive, and, meet- 
 ing Mr. Curtis on the street one day last July, he asked him if he was the 
 author of said intimation. Mr. Curtis replied in the affirmative, and Colby 
 struck him in the face. He was promptly arrested, and was tried and con- 
 victed in the court at Wareham of assault. 
 
 At the trial, while Mr. Curtis was on the stand, Colby asked him if he had 
 ever known of him by any other name. 
 
 " Yes," was the prompt reply. " I know of you as W. J. Rains, a Baptist 
 minister, of Hearne, Texas, convicted of robbing the United States mails, and 
 sentenced to prison for a term of five years." 
 
 Colby's face blanched, and he took his seat. That one question had been 
 sufficient for him. 
 
 The answer was a bold one, and the charges it implied created a sensation. 
 They led to an investigation of this wonderful slate-writer's record, and estab- 
 lished the fact that his doubtful practices have made residence in several local- 
 ities in this broad country disagreeable for him. 
 
 THE DUPER DUPED.— TRAPPED BY A NEWSPAPER MAN WHO WORKED 
 THE MIRROR TRICK ON HIM. 
 
 Among the many callers at the Colby residence yesterday was one who 
 came to do the duping himself, and not to be duped. He had all the appear- 
 ance of being a very innocent countryman, but he had been upon such 
 missions before, and it was not his first visit there. He had shadowed the 
 house for several days, and had thoroughly sized up the "medium." The 
 details of this visit will be read with interest by many who undoubtedly have 
 been mystified by what appeared to be wonderful demonstrations of spirit 
 influence. 
 
 The point that the writer wished to settle was this. Is Colby a medium, or 
 is he a fraud ? 
 
 He is undoubtedly a fraud if he makes claim that spirits either instigate or 
 perform his slate-writings. 
 
 From the procession of dupes who during the past few days have held com- 
 munion with spooks of the supernal world, one individual was singled out 
 
56 PARSON RAINS, ALIAS W. R. COLBY. 
 
 who was found to be in touch with the plans to strip this ghostly deceit of its 
 mask. He gave the writer an explanation of the hocus-pocus which Mr. 
 Colby went through, and this explanation afforded the means of divining the 
 manner of securing the " attention " and " assistance " of the spirit servants. 
 
 Wednesday afternoon Mr. Colby was called upon by the writer for the 
 purpose of having him call up the dead and giving them a little interview. 
 But the " conditions were not favorable for a successful seance," and there- 
 fore the " sitting " was set for Thursday afternoon. 
 
 Thursday came, and with it the scribe. Dr. Colby had measured his caller, 
 but had sized him up short. By the way, everybody calls him " doctor," but 
 he dislikes to be so designated. " Plain Mr. Colby is good enough for me," 
 said he to his new victim, the reporter, as he ushered him into his rear room, 
 a well-lighted apartment, wherein his graveyard subjects are supposed to hold 
 social converse with the living, and toy with their hopes and feelings. 
 
 The first thing that the spook usher did was to write upon a slip of paper, 
 " Dick Booth, please help us." This slip, with a number of blanks of similar 
 size, he pushed over to the writer. Both sat at a small table, one opposite the 
 other 
 
 " You may write upon these blanks the names of friends or relatives in 
 the spirit land, and beneath the names write any question you please, After 
 you have filled what blanks you please, fold them up and call for me." 
 
 His directions were followed, and five slips were filled out, thus : 
 
 " Will Annie please tell me what best to do with Paul? " 
 
 " Dollie Hickelberger — Ought I to change my business to another locality?" 
 
 " Dear friend, Peter Hughes — Will my venture prove successful? " 
 
 '• Edward McCluney— Can you tell me anything about my chances of suc- 
 cess or failure in the patent line? " 
 
 " , Can you suggest which is best for me — to stay East or go 
 
 West?" 
 
 Now, Annie is the name of the wife of the spook interviewer, and she was 
 at home, probably administering the sole of a slipper to Master Paul. Dollie 
 Hickelberger was an imaginary person. Peter Hughes, at the time, was mas- 
 ticating a tenderloin steak at the Langham Cafe, and making a void in a cut- 
 glass jug of Guinness and Bass mixed, and waiting to hear the result of the 
 writing excursion into spirit-land. Edward McCluney was another " fake " 
 name that had its origin in the brain of the writer. 
 
 The last slip was written for a purpose. The blank lines represent the 
 name of a departed friend. It was offered with this purpose in view. There 
 are those who sincerely believe in the mysteries of spiritualism, and if Mr. 
 Colby was a true medium, he should have the opportunity to demonstrate the 
 fact. The scribe who was there to detect him in any crooked movement was 
 also ready to credit him with any wonderful performance or manifestation. 
 If a genuine medium, the questions to bogus spirits would not trouble him ; at 
 least, so say spiritualists who claim to know. 
 
 A proper question to one really in spirit-land was furnished, so as to make 
 the test complete. The name in the latter instance is withheld for obvious 
 reasons. 
 
 When Mr. Colby returned to the spook chamber he took up one of the 
 folded bits and placed it under the writer's left hand, and then placed his right 
 
PARSON RAINS, ALIAS W. R. COLBY. 57 
 
 hand upon the sitter's left. After a few moments Colby took up one of the 
 slips from the table, and applied it to his forehead. The slips were kept 
 folded. 
 
 He appealingly asked his controlling spirit, Dick Booth, to tell him what 
 was in the paper, and suddenly he thought a spirit had flitted near by him, 
 and began to question it for its name. " Come, now, give us your name. 
 We can't proceed without your name." So earnestly did he plead that he 
 forgot to keep the slip pressed to his forehead, and by degrees it went down 
 below the table. Then he began to look down, as if looking at the spirit, and 
 begging it to tell its name. 
 
 "Oh, no, that won't do," said he, and then, requesting the writer to take 
 another folded slip, he laid aside the one he had been holding to his head. 
 This kind of business was continued until he had pressed several pieces of the 
 paper to his head and then passed them down under the table, and had nearly 
 all of them under his hands. During these manipulations he finally secured 
 the one he wanted, and, after pressing it to his forehead, returned it to the 
 table, and then, as if carelessly done, passed it to the writer to put under his 
 left hand, saying : 
 
 " We ought to get some manifestations by this time. You seem to be a 
 good subject ; the spirits are all around us, and appear eager to talk to you, 
 but I won't open the way to them until they tell me just what are their 
 names." 
 
 During this talk he had picked up another slip, and, putting it to his head, 
 he began to tremble as if in a slight convulsion. This is a common trick with 
 fake mediums. Suddenly he exclaimed, " Ah ! do you want to talk ? You 
 prefer to write ! Well, tell me your name!" Then he began to coax the 
 supposed spirit to identify itself, and in doing this he dropped the hand hold- 
 ing the slip to his brow until it was below the table top, and then he looked 
 down benignly and beseechingly upon the spirit that might have been at his 
 knees. All this time he knew what was in the slip under the joined hands, 
 and he was only learning what was in the slip in his own free hand — his 
 left. 
 
 How does the writer know this ? you ask. 
 
 Well, this is how. When Mr. Colby went into another room at the time 
 he gave the writer the slips to make out, preparations were made for an expo- 
 sure of the medium's trick. It was found that the cloth upon the table hung 
 too low for a chance to see underneath the table from one side to the other, so 
 it was drawn over to the side upon which the scribe sat, and the loose portion 
 folded up on his knee. This arrangement gave the writer an opportunity to 
 operate a small hand-mirror under the table, so that from his side he could see 
 all that was going on under the table on the other. It is a very simple thing 
 to do, but is unfailing in its results. 
 
 After the medium had coaxed his spirit sufficiently, he apparently felt sat- 
 isfied that it would write out its name. He took a slate — an ordinary, cheap 
 article, which be buys by the crate — aud upon it he wrote the name "Annie." 
 
 " That won't do," said he, with an assumed air of impatience ; " you must 
 give the whole name ; that is only half of it." 
 
 Well, now things became interesting, for the writer had at no time ever 
 mentioned his last or first, or any other name to Colby, and upon none of the 
 
58 PARSON RAINS, ALIAS W. R. COLBY. 
 
 s4ips did his name appear. If he could announce Annie's last name he would 
 be doing something wonderful. But what did he do ? 
 
 Like all the fakirs of his class, he took bold and desperate chances. He 
 concluded that the name Edward McCluney was that of a brother, and down 
 went the second part of the spirit's cognomen, which made it "Annie 
 McCluney." 
 
 " This is your wife ? " asked the spook doctor. 
 
 " Yes," unblushingly replied the scribe. 
 
 The question was a natural one for him. The reference to "Paul " gave 
 him the cue to suppose that " Annie " was the spirit of a wife. 
 
 The name having been built to suit the occasion, the spirit's reply came 
 rapidly. Mr. Colby wrote as follows upon the slate. Of course, it was sup- 
 posed to be the spirit that did the writing through his hands : 
 
 "MY DEAR HUSBAND:— You will necessarily have to be away a great 
 deal as you perfect your work, and I cannot help but feel that it would be wise 
 for you to put Paul in a good home, and you can watch over him. Kiss him 
 for me. ANNIE MCCLUNEY." 
 
 The first question and the answer to it having been disposed of, Colby took 
 up another slate, and proceeded as before. He, with apparent carelessness, 
 picked up a slip which he previously had had to his brow, and which he had 
 also held under the table to, examine, and gave it to the writer to cover with 
 his left hand while he picked up another slip and passed it to his brow. Had 
 he compelled the writer to lay both his hands upon the slip, he would not have 
 been detected in his trick ; but the writer's right hand was free to act. It 
 went down into the depths of a side pocket in his overcoat, which he wore 
 during the "test," and drew forth a little hand-mirror that had done duty 
 before in a similar cause. The writer could not stoop so as to look under the 
 table, but the little reflector, held at a proper angle, brought the " medium's " 
 hands and fingers into view. He was distinctly seen to open the folded slips 
 when he got them down, as he thought, out of sight of his patron. 
 
 By this means he learned all the names, and the name of the one dead man 
 that was used ; the names of the living and of the imaginary beings all came 
 to his net as spooks, and he manufactured the replies to suit the character of 
 the questions. The other answers, upon other slates, were as follows : 
 
 " There is no question in my mind but what you are sure to succeed with it, 
 and realize a considerable amount of money from it. But hold on to it. While 
 it may be slow, yet success will surely come. 
 
 "EDWARD MCCLUNEY." 
 
 " Go West by all means. — ." 
 
 " Bound to be a success, but I advise going West with it bv all means. 
 
 " PETER HUGHES." 
 
 The fifth answer was written between closed slates — a neat trick when 
 cleverly done, and Colby does it excellently. The answer and name are first 
 written upon the slate, but are invisible until after the writing is dampened 
 with an acidulated preparation, which is in a sponge on the table. After he 
 writes the message, which he does while pretending to be waiting for some 
 coy or reluctant spirit, he picks up another slate pencil, and finally succeeds in 
 writing the name sought in the ordinary white lines of the slate pencil. 
 
 " Is this the name ? " he asks, and upon the acknowledgment that it is, he 
 
PARSON RAINS, ALIAS W. R. COLBY. 59 
 
 wipes it out with the sponge, thus applying the acid to his previous writing, 
 which was not visible. He immediately slaps another slate to the one bear- 
 ing the message, holds them up, goes through some contortions, as if in pain, 
 and then reveals the reply, written in red. The message delivered to the 
 writer in this way, from an imaginary spook, read as follows : 
 
 " By all means change. Go West. 
 
 "DOLLIE HICKELBERGER." 
 
 This completed the seance, and, of course, the medium was complimented 
 on his great success in getting messages from spirits who were not in spirit- 
 land, and for converting at will imaginary beings into obliging and well- 
 behaved ghosts. Two dollars was Mr. Colby's price for this bit of fraud, 
 and the writer paid him ten cents each additional for the five slates upon which 
 the trashy writing appeared. 
 
 [From Boston Herald.] 
 
 HIGH PRIEST OF SPOOKDOM. 
 
 THE PRINCE IMPERIAL OF THE ONSET BAY CHARLATANS.— CREATOR OF 
 THE ONCE MARVELOUS " ANGEL ANTHEMS " AND " SPIRIT PICTURES " 
 DETECTED IN HIS GAME OF FRAUD — HOW THE EXPERT WAS TRAPPED 
 AND HIS METHODS FULLY EXPOSED. 
 
 The latest spiritualistic humbug who has been detected at his tricks is that 
 high priest of spookdom, " Dr." D. J. Stansbury, formerly of San Francisco, 
 late of Boston and now of Onset Bay. This is the alleged medium whose 
 spirit pictures and angel voices singing in the air once caused the faithful to 
 marvel, made the skeptical speculate, and kept the scientific at work thinking. 
 
 For the purpose of showing collusion between the spiritualistic humbugs, 
 and to better expose the tissue quality of their powers, it was necessary to also 
 unmask one of the " doctors " agents, Mrs. Bliss, the alleged materializer of 
 "full forms." 
 
 Several weeks ago " Dr." Stansbury had his shingle hung out at No. 443 
 Shawmut Avenue. It was here that the notorious fraud and ex-convict W. 
 R. Colby was caught at his methods of deception by a Herald reporter, and 
 driven out of the city by the exposure. 
 
 "Dr." Stansbury, the dispenser of "spirit medicines, prepared under the 
 control of an ancient band," advertised himself as a slate medium of extraor- 
 dinary power. Through those whom he had duped he posed as a spirit writer 
 of wonderful ability, and a Herald reporter, a lady, was sent to test his prow- 
 ess in this field. 
 
 The lady is married, her husband is living, and she is without children. She 
 played her part well. She never once said to the medium that she was 
 wedded, or that she had children living ; nor did she represent herself as a 
 widow, or pretend that she had any children in the spirit land ; but she wrote 
 out certain sentences upon slips of paper, which it was supposed that the 
 spirits only would read. In some manner "Dr." Stansbury became ac- 
 quainted with the contents of the slips of paper, and he at once set down his 
 visitor as a credulous widow, who wanted to iearn what was best to do with 
 
GO 
 
 her children, and to see the materialized form of her dead husband. The man- 
 ner in which the medium learned these things is best told in the language of 
 the lady who made the test. 
 
 After a couple of visits at No. 443 Shawmut Avenue, I managed to see the 
 "doctor," and I told him I wanted some slate writing. I showed my money 
 and he was eager to possess it. I was asked my name and place of residence, 
 which I unhesitatingly gave as Mrs. Smith of Waltham. 
 
 The room in which the test was to take place was nicely furnished. Lace 
 draperies adorned the windows and permitted plenty of light to enter the room. 
 An ordinary slate that I noted had one corner broken out, and in the aperture 
 was set a dog's head in brass. In the centre of the room stood a round black 
 walnut table. It was here that the doctor performed his slate writing and his 
 professed manifestations of spirit power. The person desiring to communicate 
 with the spirits had to sit directly opposite him. On the table immediately in 
 front of him was a small tidy of crazy patch-work upon which was a black 
 box with a lid. This box was eleven inches long, seven inches wide and 
 probably four inches high. Its hinges were on the side. When the lid was 
 raised the open box faced the medium, and the visitor could only see the top of 
 the cover. Only the medium could see into the box. To the left of the box — 
 from where the medium sat — was one of Dr. Gassau's dry batteries and an 
 ordinary telegraphic ticker. 
 
 "Dr." Stansbury was in the room when I entered it. His dark, searching 
 eyes kept up a constant inspection of the subject before him. He wore a lady's 
 India shawl, and his long gray locks were pushed back from his forehead 
 under a small round black cap. He seated me down to the table directly oppo- 
 site him, and proceeded to communicate with the spirits in my behalf. He com- 
 menced by saying : " I use this little machine," pointing to the battery and 
 ticker, " as a means to get my messages from spirit land. You will please 
 write out any questions you want answered by the spirits, fold them and pass 
 them to me." 
 
 I told him that I had already written them out, and I passed over to him the 
 questions my husband had written the night before. They were as follows : 
 
 Slip 1 — Will the control please communicate with John and advise me what 
 to do with the children ? 
 
 Slip 2 — Shall I accept the position of governess? 
 
 Slip 3 — Shall I sell or improve what property is left? 
 
 Slip 4 — Will the control please tell me through what medium will John ma- 
 terialize with the most ease and comfort ? 
 
 The fitness of these questions will be appreciated when it is known that I 
 have had only one husband, who lives ; I have no children ; I wish for no po- 
 sition such as governess, nor have I any property to sell or improve. 
 
 When I handed the doctor the folded slips I observed that he watched me 
 closely. He remarked, as he took the folded bits of paper and laid them in 
 the box : 
 
 " You have a penetrating eye and the color shows intelligence. With your 
 eyes you could see through anything." 
 
 All this time he had the lid of the box up and one of his hands was inside 
 of it, while his eyes shot back and forth between me and the interior of the 
 box. It required no cunning to detect his method, for he deliberately opened 
 
"DR." D. J. STANSBURY. 61 
 
 one of the folded bits of paper and read the question upon it while passing the 
 compliment on my perspicuity of sight. Having read one or more of the slips 
 he quickly refolded the paper, withdrew it from the box, dropping the lid there- 
 of, and placed it under the ticker. Then followed his pretended confab with 
 the spirits. 
 
 "Will you speak to us? " he said very softly, addressing some imaginary 
 spook. " Come now, please do talk to us. Ah ! Is that you, Jennie? No? 
 Well, whoever you are, please speak." Then turning to me, he said dream- 
 ily : " I guess we can get them to talk." Returning to the spooks about him,, 
 he said in a pleading tone : " Haven't you got something you wish to communi- 
 cate ? " A pause — and then the ticker began to hammer out its little dots and 
 dashes of sound, which the doctor, who is an expert telegrapher, proceeded to 
 read. 
 
 For the purpose of drawing my attention away from the box, he said, as he 
 reached me some paper and a pencil : " I always want people to write down what 
 the spirits say. The spirits desire it, and it helps me along in the work." 
 
 I did as directed. As I wrote out the messages, he took advantage of my 
 head being bowed over my writing and opened the box every now and then to 
 read the slips. His first reply from spirit land was about the children, and 
 after each answer he took out a fresh slip and placed it folded under the ticker. 
 
 The answers that he gave me were as follows, and I wrote them out : 
 
 In regard to the children, I will be satisfied with whatever disposition you 
 can make of them. They have been a burden. 
 
 In regard to the property. I think it best not to improve it. You had better 
 sell, and invest in bonds to have a steady income. John says you need not 
 worry about it; all will be right. 
 
 In regard to the change, we think it would be best for you to accept the posi- 
 tion that has been offered you for the present. It will lead to something 
 higher and better. 
 
 You have all the elements of a true medium, and receive impressions very 
 readily, and are usually very correct. We are not able just now to get direct 
 communication with your husband. We have sent for him and expect him 
 later. We think Mrs. Bliss the best one you can see to materialize him. 
 
 I suggested to the " doctor " that I should like some slate writing and that I 
 should want the slates. When I made this suggestion I was fully aware that 
 since the Herald's exposure of Colby slate mediums were averse to 'letting 
 strangers carry away with them these tangible proofs of fraud. He attempted 
 to make me believe that the conditions were unfavorable for the slate test, but 
 I was persistent and told him of friends who had slates to show and I wanted 
 one, too. 
 
 At one side of the tab.e stood a pile of slates, about a dozen in number. 
 Two of these he drew out. While he was very careful to let me see both sides 
 of one slate, I carefully observed that he showed me but one side of the other, 
 which he held in his left hand. By a quick movement the two slates were 
 brought together, and the unseen side of the left hand one faced the other. 
 •The medium then held one end of the double slates and the other end he 
 reached over to me to take hold of with both hands. 
 
 I knew what was coming. I took hold of the slates as directed, and shortly 
 after came the usual "silence and contortions on the part of the medium, and 
 then the sounds of the writing — the alleged movement of the spirit pencil. 
 Do you wonder how the sounds are produced ? 
 
62 "dr" d. j. stansbuuy. 
 
 While holding the slates the middle finger of my left hand suddenly slipped, 
 as if by accident, down the side of the slate and touched the index finger of the 
 doctor's right hand, as it was scraping with the nail on the under surface of 
 the under slate. The writing stopped instantly. He looked me in the eye 
 savagely. 1 did not quail and looked innocent, as if I had not observed what 
 had happened. He separated the slates. Upon the surface of the slate which 
 he had held in his left hand and on the side which he had failed to show me 
 was this communication, written in chalk : 
 
 You are one of the grandest mediums, and have a noble mission, in which 
 you will bring light and joy to the sorrowing ones of earth. Many high ones 
 come to you and will assist you. ALICE CARY. 
 
 This communication was one of the " property sort, which are kept in stock 
 to fit anybody who comes along. The doctor tried another slate in a different 
 manner. He passed it under the table. When he drew it forth, of course it 
 contained a "spirit" message. There was no display of ingenuity; a child 
 could have done it. He put the slate beneath the table, holding it with one 
 hand while he wrote with the other. 
 
 This is what he produced from my imaginary husband in ghostland : 
 
 We are all here today and come to bless you. You will have good luck this 
 year, for you will be able to accomplish all. Will come again soon. 
 
 JOHN. 
 
 This closed the sitting. Dr. Stansbury told me that he was unknown to 
 the spiritualists of Boston, but he had learned that a Mrs. Bliss and a Mrs. 
 Stafford were materializing mediums. The former, he said, had mostly men 
 come to her, while the latter materialized chiefly women, and as I wanted to 
 materialize my husband I would have to consult Mrs. Bliss. Thanking him 
 for his information I picked up my slates and departed. 
 
 Several days after I called again. The sitting he gave me was a very brief 
 one. 
 
 After we had taken our places at the table, as on the previous occasion, the 
 doctor passed me some blank paper and a pencil, and requested me to write out 
 my questions. The paper which he had on hand for his clients' use was soft 
 and white, in the form of blocks, and can be turned, twisted and rumpled with- 
 out producing any sound. 
 
 This noiseless paper was just what I had no use for. I had brought my 
 slips, as before, all prepared. There were just five questions written in black 
 ink, in a large, bold hand, on very brittle, Belfast linen paper, which cracked 
 and rattled noisily as it was manipulated. The slips measured 4^x2 inches, 
 and each was folded four times. 
 
 He accepted them with much grace, while a triumphant smile curled about 
 his lips and lit up his face. 
 
 He opened the lid of the box and bade me take up one of his writing blocks 
 and proceed to write the communication. As I turned my attention to the 
 writing pad, he glanced into the open box. 
 
 There was a rattling and a snapping of paper. The cause of the sounds 
 was painfully apparent, and I could hardly suppress a smile. The doctor at 
 once began to thump the telegraph ticker, and began to talk to me about my 
 health and the state of the weather. 
 
"DR." D. J. STANSBURY. 63 
 
 It was apparent that he could not work the slips in the telegraph box as he 
 had done before, and so he proceeded to abstract them one by one. His 
 method was that used by Colby, which was shown up in the Herald recently. 
 He would take a slip from the box, hold it with one hand below the edge of 
 the table to read it, while he rattled his telegraphic instrument to drown the 
 sound made by the paper. Turning his eyes spasmodically, now up toward 
 the ceiling and then downward to the carpet, as if invoking spiritual aid, he 
 had all the opportunity required to read the slips, which he opened upon his 
 knee and folded again. 
 
 On this occasion, as on the first, my questions were merely "faked" for 
 the purpose of detection. Some of them were not material, but were put in to 
 throw the wily trickster off his guard. 
 
 One question I addressed to John, asking him if there was anything I could 
 do here for his comfort in the other world, and to this came the reply : " I am 
 really most happy when talking with you through some medium whom I can 
 control." 
 
 This was where Stansbury exhibited his finesse as a diplomat. 
 
 He was endeavoring to impress me with the idea that the best way to make 
 poor, dear " John " happy was to come often, and leave each time a crisp two 
 dollar certificate. 
 
 Another question was: "Will the enterprise I am now engaged in prove 
 successful, and can you advise me how to make it a success? " Now the only 
 enterprise that I was engaged in then was that of exposing " Dr." Stansbury. 
 The reply was : " What you are trying to do will meet with the greatest suc- 
 cess if you only push things," and I have done just what the " spirits " ad- 
 vised. 
 
 The medium was about to close his seance with me when I called his atten- 
 tion to the fact that I had given him five slips and he had answered only four. 
 
 As I pressed him for an answer he passed all the slips over to me for me to 
 pick out the one in question. I found the question, refolded it and passed it 
 to him. He put it to his forehead, went through the usual contortions, and 
 then held it down below the edge of the table as he did the other. As I had 
 no writing to do at the time, I could not escape watching his movements. I 
 heard the rattling of the slip as he opened it upon his knee, and he saw that I 
 heard it, and to divert my attention he began talking and at the same time 
 struck up a great sounding of the telegraphic instrument. 
 
 I distinctly heard the crackling of the paper as he opened each one of the 
 four folds, and I detected every glance he threw downward as he read the 
 lines. 
 
 The question was : " I should like to have John come to me if only to say a 
 word. Will he come if I go where he can come? " 
 
 The answer was : " I will meet you at Mrs. Bliss'. Go there ; I will mate- 
 rialize through her. I wish to impress this upon you, for it will make me 
 happy. I want you to be sure and sit once a week with this medium until I 
 can get control." 
 
 1 paid my second two dollars, and retired well satisfied. 
 
04- "dr." d. j. stansbury. 
 
 THE DARK ROOM SEANCE. 
 MRS. BLISS APPEARS AS " JOHN."— CIRCLE BREAKS IN CONFUSION. 
 
 Several days later I visited Mme. Bliss at No. 12 Pembroke Street. She 
 was to have a dark room seance the following evening, and she invited me to 
 come to her performance. 
 
 I was there. Several forms appeared to the dozen or so of persons present. 
 1 was the last person called. The voice of the manager, who sat near the cab- 
 inet, announced just as it came my turn : "that is a male spirit that is coming. 
 I know it by the way it approaches, and by its raps ! " All the other forms 
 had been women and children. 
 
 The words were a cue for those behind the curtains to get a male spirit in 
 readiness. 
 
 When 1 was called I walked over to the cabinet, and my face almost touched 
 the draperies. They opened, and before me stood the form of a — woman. It 
 was not Mrs. Bliss. To aid the spirits I thought I would give them a cue, 
 and I said gently : 
 
 "Is it 'John?' 'John!'" 
 
 These words acted like magic, and the curtains came together as if they had 
 springs attached to them. Upon the disappearance of the female figure there 
 was the greatest confusion of voices within the cabinet, and Mrs. Bliss said 
 something angrily in 'Cuban French. It was evident to me that " John " was 
 being made up very hurriedly. 
 
 The manager undoubtedly sized up things as I did, and he said to Mrs. 
 Bliss : " What's the matter? Is the lady too near the cabinet? " 
 
 Mrs. Bliss replied in her broken Spanish : " Yes. Why, Mr. West, what 
 are you thinking about? " 
 
 " Please move from the cabinet," said the manager, and I obeyed. " The 
 lady has stepped away," he said, addressing the medium. 
 
 The curtains parted again, and there appeared between the folds the form of 
 a stout looking person that had all the appearance of a man from the waist 
 up. The lower portion of the body was invisible. 
 
 This was " John " — the " John " that the medium had guessed at. The 
 face of it was not that of Mrs. Bliss ; it looked enough like it to be that of a 
 twin. A false mustache of blackest hue gave a piratical cast to the whitened 
 visage. A smile that was ghastly flitted over the " spirit's " face. 
 
 The figure uttered not a word. It was there but a moment, and as it saw 
 that I made no demonstrations, it vanished. 
 
 The process of vanishing I distinctly saw. The medium suddenly dropped 
 down upon her knees into the darkness. I could just perceive the outlines of 
 the black mass as it crouched down at my feet, a few steps in advance of me. 
 The curtains had not closed tightly together, and I could see the object 
 plainly. 
 
 I mistook this for a part of the manifestation. I had no idea that the 
 " spirit" was supposed to have disappeared, or 1 should not have made the 
 blunder that I did. 
 
 Pointing to where she was on her knees, I said to the manager: "Shall 1 
 stoop down where she is? " 
 
"DR." D. J. STANSBURY. 65 
 
 The manager replied " No " in a very decided tone, and he ordered me to my 
 seat, saying : " The spirit has dematerialized." 
 
 If they had produced any kind of a likely looking " John," I would have 
 assisted in carrying out the illusion. 
 
 I had hardly been in my seat a full minute, when the curtains of the cabinet 
 again parted, and the form of the supposed " John " once more appeared and 
 remained about fifteen seconds. 
 
 After "John's " disappearance there was a lively commotion back of the 
 draperies in the cabinet. Mrs. Bliss was mad clean through. The manager 
 struck up a music box to drown the quarrel going on inside. The box ground 
 out the unsanctified melody of " Mme. Angot's Daughter," then " Way Down 
 in Dixey." 
 
 When the last bar of " Dixey " died out, Mrs. Bliss stepped out and said in 
 a very angry manner : " This seance has come to a close. As the guides 
 have refused to act, nothing more can be done." 
 
 As I left I felt satisfied that there had been collusion, between the slate-writer 
 and the materializer of " John." 
 
 [From "The Light," London.] ' 
 
 We have received from the Hon. Alex. Aksakoff the subjoined correspond- 
 ence, to which he requests us to give publicity. We do not usually give space 
 to the evolution of a fraud unless it is near to us. We expect to find them, 
 and are not surprised when we do. But M. Aksakoff 's request is a command. 
 
 M. Aksakoff tells us that he published in his paper, " Psychische Studien," 
 in 1889, an article on a recognized photograph of a materialized figure obtained 
 through the alleged mediumship of this " Dr." Stansbury. We never heard 
 of him and, therefore, know nothing about him; but M. Aksakoff has been in 
 communication with Mr. W. Emmette Coleman, a well known writer on 
 subjects spiritualistic, who has preserved his scepticism in spite of, or (should 
 one say) at the expense of, his spiritualism. It seems from this correspond- 
 ence, a portion of which is appended, that there is one more to be added to the 
 list of those who have found spiritualism pay. That is all. If M. Aksakoff 
 had not given publicity to the case in Europe, we should have regarded it as 
 quite unimportant. Tom Tiddler's ground is being recognized. 
 
 This is the letter that we are asked to give publicity to. It is printed as we 
 received it: 
 
 Chief Quartermaster's Office, 
 San Francisco, California, U. S. A., May, 1890. 
 
 HERR ALEXANDER AKSAKOFF. 
 
 Dear Sir,— Your kind favor of April 21st, 1890, duly received. I have col- 
 lected various points of information in re Dr. Stansbury's materializations and 
 photography, which I shall embody in this letter. From the first I was 
 confident that he was a fraud. I attended an exhibition of slate-writing 
 given by hjm in the Metropolitan Temple in this city, soon after his arrival 
 here. The fraud was transparent to me all through, and the chairman, Mr. 
 C. H. Wadsworth, detected him in fraud, and so announced to the audience. 
 Friends of mine who had sittings with him told me that they caught him in 
 fraud in his slate-writing. Dr. Stansbury belonged to a ring of fraudulent 
 
 LX 
 
6(i "DR." D. J. STANSBURY. 
 
 mediums in this city, the members of which kept books containing names of 
 sitters and other persons, with lists of so-called "tests." These tests and all 
 other information that could be picked up about any and everybody by any 
 of the so-called "mediums" were furnished to the other "mediums" of 
 the ring. They assisted each other in giving spurious tests, and each of the 
 "frauds" would send their sitters to one or more of the other "frauds," in 
 order that the victim might be further swindled. For example, Mrs. J. J. 
 Whitney would, while pretending to be under control, tell the sitters to go to 
 Dr. Stansbury to get further communications or to have a spirit-picture taken, 
 while Stansbury would advise his sitters to visit Mrs. Whitney, W. R. Colby, 
 Fred Evans, Mrs. Beste Pettibone (slate-writer), and Rogers (the spirit-artist). 
 I have had information concerning this ring and their frauds during two or 
 three years. 
 
 I have seen a number of Stansbury's photographs, and 1 recognized them as 
 reversed copies of other photographs, plates, &c. They were palpable frauds, 
 simply copies of other pictures. The so-called "spirit" faces are copied on 
 the negative first, and in such a manner (known to photographers) as to be 
 invisible on the plates. The sitter is then photographed, and the plate is 
 developed, bringing out both the sitter and the " spirit " form already on the 
 plate. 
 
 The materializations and the photography of Dr. Stansbury took place in 
 his residence in this city. One of Stan.sbury's sons married a Miss Dagmar. 
 The young couple lived for a time with the doctor, while the manifestations 
 were going on. The son supposed his father an honest man. One day his 
 wife {nee Miss Dagmar) discovered in the bathroom, which adjoined the seance 
 room, a secret panel in the door leading to the seance room, the opening 
 through which the confederates entered the cabinet and played "spirits." 
 She told her husband, and he, finding it true, was so hurt and disgusted to 
 find his father such an imposter and cheat, that he immediately moved away 
 from his father's house, and since then he never wants to hear the name of 
 spiritualism mentioned. The authority for this is Mrs. Brown, the mother of 
 young Mrs. Stansbury {nee Dagmar). 
 
 Over a year ago a few spiritualists of this city went to work systematically 
 to find out the modus operandi of the materializing frauds and expose them. 
 They succeeded in so doing, and under threat of arrest everyone of them either 
 left the city or stopped materializing, Dr. Stansbury included. In order to 
 find out the trick, Mr. Joseph W. Maguire, an active spiritualist of this city, 
 joined the "frauds " and worked with them as an assistant. To find out all 
 about it, he played " spirit " with them at different places. He secured their 
 confidence, fell in with them in their tricks, and found out the entire 
 workings of the system. He then publicly exposed them, both by speeches to 
 the spiritualists and in articles in the Daily Chronicle of this city, Dr. Stans- 
 bury's manifestations included. He has given me an account of the manner 
 in which the Stansbury " marvels" were performed, including the "Jeanette" 
 photographs. The three principal confederates of Dr. Stansbury who person- 
 ated spirits were, Ida Colby, daughter of W. R. Colby, alias Raines (the mail- 
 robber and convict that Colonel Bundy exposed in the Religio-Philosophical 
 Journal a year or two ago), and Birdie and Maud Patterson. At times various 
 others wouid assist in playing spirits, mostly young people, third-rate actors, 
 
"DR." D. J. STANSBURY. 67 
 
 not engaged professionally, but Ida, Birdie, and Maud were the principal 
 " spook-players," as they are called here. Mrs. Patterson, mother of Birdie 
 and Maud, conducted a notorious fraudulent materializing show at her resi- 
 dence in this city, for some time, and her daughters were the principal spirit- 
 players theie. Dr. Stansbury employed them to play spirits for him also, his 
 seances being held on different nights from those at the Pattersons' house, so 
 as to allow the girls to play spirit at both places. 
 
 Jeanette, the dead wife of Dr. Stansbury, was impersonated at Stansbury's 
 seances by Maud Patterson. The way the Jeanette photographs were manu- 
 factured was this: Maud came out as Jeanette, a flash-light (magnesium) 
 lasting scarcely a moment was produced, during which Dr. Stansbury 
 photographed the form (Maud). From the developed picture of Maud the head 
 was cut off, and a copy of a picture of Jeanette's head was put in its place. 
 The place on the throat, where the juncture of Maud and Jeanette was 
 made, was fixed up, covered over by some lace, so as to conceal the place of 
 union. A band and star had been added to Jeanette's pictures to correspond 
 with the band and star on Maud when she was photographed as Jeanette. 
 Copies of this manufactured spirit-picture were then made, and exhibited and 
 sold as the Jeanette picture. This picture really consists of the body of Maud 
 Patterson and the head of Jeanette Stansbury. I am positively assured by 
 Mr. Maguire, who was behind the scenes with the "frauds," and who played 
 spirit along with Maud, Birdie, and Ida a number of times, that this is 
 certainly the way this picture was fabricated, and I am convinced that it is 
 true. He tells me that Maud used to appear as Jeanette at the Patterson 
 materializations also; that is, she would play Jeanette one night at Stansbury's 
 and the next night at her own home ; and that parties, seeing her at the 
 Patterson "show," would ask her to speak to Dr. Stansbury and get his per- 
 mission to allow them to attend the manifestations. The charge for admission 
 at Stansbury's was three dollars, while at the Patterson's it was only fifty 
 cents. 
 
 There is a man in this city,, named M. L. Wawyer, who is called the "spook 
 carpenter," as he makes the panel doors, trick cabinets, &c, for materializing 
 "frauds." He it was who usually accompanied Maud and Birdie Patterson 
 from their home to Dr. Stansbury's residence upon the evenings when they 
 went there to impersonate spirits. 
 
 At some of Mrs. J. J. Whitney's meetings here, Sunday evenings, what 
 were called " spirit-voices " were heard. Mr. Maguire, who was chairman 
 for Mrs. Whitney at the time, tells me that the. voices were made by Dr. Stans- 
 bury, the present Mrs. Stansbury, and W. R. Colby, who were all three 
 behind the scenes. 
 
 Hearing that J.J. Owen, editor of the Golden Gate, who at onetime strong- 
 ly endorsed Dr. Stansbury, had found out that he was a fraud, I called on 
 him and told him of your letter to me. He said to me, " Tell M. Aksakoff 
 that Stansbury is a scoundrel, and it has been discovered that the ' Jeanette ' 
 picture is a ' fraud.' " He then gave me a printed proof of an editorial, which 
 he had written to insert in the Golden Gate, about Stansbury's frauds. Stans- 
 bury, he said, came to him and implored nim almost on h's knees not to pub- 
 lish it for the sake of his wife, "and," said Mr. Ov/en, "'' 1 agreed not to 
 publish it if Stansbury would promise never to do such things again, which he 
 
68 "dr." d. j. stansbury. 
 
 did," and so it was never published. I enclose a copy of this editorial, which 
 was never published. 
 
 You can rely upon the truth of all I have herein written. Should you publish 
 anything about the matter in the Psychische Studien, please favor me with a 
 copy. Very truly, (Signed) 
 
 WILLIAM EMMETTE COLEMAN. 
 
 And this is Mr. Owen's unpublished editorial. " Frauds " should meet 
 with scant mercy. It is not our habit to concern ourselves with garbage : but 
 now and again it is well to point out that these ghouls who prey on what 
 better people would respect — the tenderest instincts of humanity — are usually 
 caught, exposed, and throttled by spiritualists : 
 
 SUPPRESSED EDITORIAL. 
 
 Some surprise has been expressed at our silence concerning one whose name 
 formerly appeared frequently in this journal —7 we refer to Dr. D. J. Stansbury. 
 That this silence may not be misconstrued by any, we deem it best, in justice 
 to ourselves, that we make a brief explanation. Some eight or ten months 
 ago, as our readers will remember, there were several alleged mediums for 
 form manifestations holding seances in this city, Dr. Stansbury among the 
 number. At some of these seances, at times not less than eight solid material 
 forms would appear at once, exciting suspicion in the minds of many good 
 spiritualists that all was not right. Although knowing the materialization of 
 the psychic form to be a grand truth, we nevertheless placed but little reliance 
 upon the genuineness of most of these manifestations. We attended but very 
 few of the seances, notably two given at the residence of Dr. Stansbury, both 
 complimentary seances, where no test conditions were proposed by Dr. Stans- 
 bury or exacted by his guests. Trusting in the honesty of the man, whom we 
 had known for several years, and had upheld many times in the Golden. 
 Gate, we were disposed to accept the manifestations we witnessed there as 
 genuine, and we wrote up a favorable account of the same for our columns. 
 
 It was subsequently proven, conclusively to our mind, that the forms which 
 appeared there in such solid shape were none other than those of professional 
 confederates who "played" in various characters at various other alleged 
 materializing seances in this city. 
 
 Once satisfied of this fact, we removed Dr. Stansbury's advertisement from 
 our columns, and dropped his name from all reports referring to him. 
 
 These letters were sent to the 'Banner of Light, and publication refused. Mr. 
 A. is a well-known writer for spiritualistic journals : 
 
 Onset, Mass., July 29, 1891. 
 FRIEND AINSWORTH: 
 
 I was yesterday influenced to hold your slates again, and, to my surprise, 
 I heard the writing. I send them to you in the hope that something good is 
 written. The guide says they had some difficulty in getting under the paper, 
 which you had fastened in the corner of the slate — you will understand what 
 they mean. In moving down here from Boston one corner of the slate got 
 broken ; at least, I noticed a crack, and suppose that was the cause. The 
 guides say they have done the best they could at the present time. My health 
 is improving. 
 
 Yours as ever, D. J. STANSBURY. 
 
"DR." D. J. STANSBURY. 69 
 
 [Copy of Letter.] 
 
 F. P. Ainsworth, Postmaster, \ 
 North Amherst, Mass., July 31, 1891. J 
 DR. D. J. STANSBURY: 
 
 My Dear Sir, — I am in receipt of yours of the 29th, and the slates by 
 express. I do not know how properly to express my feelings under all the 
 peculiar circumstances. 
 
 It is my rule of life to believe others honest until I find they are not, and I 
 have had confidence in you until now, notwithstanding the prejudicial state- 
 ments which I have read, coming from sources claiming authority. I have 
 hoped they were based upon error instead of fact ; but I am compelled to say 
 that this test of mine with you forces me to the conviction that you cannot be 
 an honorable gentleman. Microscopic examinations of the seals plainly show 
 them to have been tampered with — indeed, so does careful use of the eye 
 alone. The written names and questions which I securely fastened between 
 the frames have been broken from their fastenings, and several peculiarities 
 about the messages plainly demonstrate that they must have been written by 
 a person ignorant of the facts necessary to proper replies. 
 
 My purpose in this experiment was not so much a personal or selfish one as 
 for the good of our cause ; and I not only hoped but expected to secure evi- 
 dence which I could place before the public as to the genuineness of the phe- 
 nomena under absolute test conditions, to attract the attention of skeptics and 
 compel conviction of the truth. But 1 see that if I make anything public in 
 this case I must declare the whole sad truth, and as yet I am undecided as to 
 the wisdom of so doing. "To err is human, to forgive divine." I freely 
 forgive you so far as I am concerned personally, and shall always regret that 
 I could not retain my former regard for you as a gentleman and my confidence 
 in you as a medium. I should think you would feel as though you were 
 living over a volcano liable to break out at any time and bring ruin and deso- 
 lation to yourself and your family. I can scarcely convince myself that any 
 sane man would dare to pursue such a course as my experience with you indi- 
 cates that you are following, for certainly this cannot be your first case. But, 
 my dear sir, 1 hope it may be your last. Better abandon all mediumship at 
 once than to suffer it to be loaded down with this incubus of deception, which 
 must rest like a nightmare upon your conscience, and cause you days of 
 weariness and anxiety, and nights of self-reproach and moral abasement at the 
 bar of your own soul. 
 
 I write in all kindness and charity, and if I have said anything which you 
 would not have said to me, had our relations been reversed, I am sorry for it. 
 I could not say less, and 1 hope there will be no need for me to say more. 
 
 Yours, very truly, F. P. AINSWORTH. 
 
 NOTICE TO FAKIRS. 
 
 The following correspondence sufficiently explains itself. 
 
 Boston, Mass., Oct. 19, 1889. 
 
 J. C. BUNDY, Esq., Publisher T{eligio-Thilosophical Journal : 
 
 Be kind enough to give your lowest rate on my advertisement in this week's 
 'Banner of Light (19th), to run one to three months, payable monthly in 
 advance. Yours, etc. D. J. STANSBURY. 
 
 Office of Religio-Philosophical Journal, ) 
 Chicago, Oct. 22, 1889. ) 
 
 DR. D. J. STANSBURY: 
 
 That a spiritualistic fakir such as you are, a man who trades upon the gul- 
 libility of the public, who has made merchandise of a dead wife by pre- 
 tending to have her materialized, and causing her to be personated by a con- 
 federate — that such a man should suppose all other men venal is not strange. 
 That you should imagine that you could buy advertising space in the Journal 
 is not remarkable after your experience with the press on either side of the 
 continent. Let me tell you, however, you will never be worth money enough 
 
iO MRS. M. E. WILLIAMS. 
 
 to buy a line of space in the Journal, for, in my opinion, you have sunk too 
 low ever to reform in this life ; at least, it will always be unsafe to rely on 
 your representations. 
 
 Heretofore 1 have taken the trouble to inform by private letter applicants of 
 your class that they could not buy space in Vat Journal. In order to relieve 
 mvself of this task in the future, I shall publish this correspondence as a suf- 
 ficient notice. JNO. C. BUNDY. 
 
 
 THE "BOSTON HERALD" ON MRS. M. E. WILLIAMS' FUNERAL 
 
 SERVICE. 
 
 The city is at last free, if only for a time, from this class of humbugs. But 
 they are as busy as ever elsewhere, and at Onset Bay camp grounds, no less 
 than eighteen of them have congregated. Although every one of them has 
 been, at one time or another, exposed in the newspapers, they are apparently 
 highly esteemed, and seem to be making money out of their numerous dupes. 
 It was only the other day that a funeral service was turned into a hollow 
 mockery by the blasphemous conduct of one of these materializing frauds — 
 Mrs. M. E. Williams, of New York. With a great deal of unction and 
 apparent approval the ^Banner of Light of August 4 thus reports the strange 
 ceremony : " The services of Mrs. Cutter's funeral were conducted in the 
 usual form of a seance for materialization, Mrs. M. E. Williams, of New 
 York, so well known as a medium for the. above phase of manifestation, being 
 present. An address was made by Dr. Holland (who conducts Mrs. Williams' 
 seances), after which the curtain of the cabinet parted, and Mrs. Cutter, 
 clothed in spirit form, stood for a moment in full view, with light sufficient 
 for ail in the room to fully recognize her. Moving forward to where her family 
 were sitting, she extended her hands, as in the act of a mother's benediction, 
 and exclaimed ; ' My boys ! my boys ! ' Evidently overcome with emotion, 
 she stepped back a little to where rested the casket- containing her tenement of 
 clay. Laying her hand thereon, she exclaimed ; ' Think not of the dead, but 
 the living ' ; after which she returned to the cabinet for renewed strength. 
 It was hoped she would be able to return to us again, but the unfavorable 
 conditions prevented." * 
 
 Mrs. Williams is evidently a believer in the value of advertising, as hun- 
 dreds of posters adorn the trees of the camp ground, setting forth her gifts as 
 a medium, and illustrated by a striking representation of a man clasping in 
 his arms a female spirit, who, in materializing, still found time to conform to 
 the fashions of this world, and attach to the rear of her spirit person a bustle 
 of tremendous proportions. It is certainly a remarkable piece of advertising, 
 but these Onset Bay people seem to swallow the delusion, bustle and all, with 
 evident relish. 
 
 It is almost past belief that the management of Onset Bay camp grounds, 
 who so rigidly exclude gamblers and other objectionable persons, should tole- 
 rate in their midst such a gang of arrant humbugs, and aid and abet them in 
 their nefarious work of fleecing unsuspecting country people who visit the 
 grounds, and who have confidence in them because they find them openly 
 giving seances under the apparent sanction and endorsement of the respect- 
 able and honest spiritualists. 
 
 * This beats the record. We have been told that it took a long time for a "form'' to "get 
 strength" enough to come out of the cabinet: yet Mrs- W. had the brass to impersonate the 
 " spirit form " before the body was hardly cold. 
 
MRS. M. E. WILLIAMS. 71 
 
 [From the New York World.] 
 
 ONE WAY TO DO IT. 
 
 MRS. MARY E. WILLIAMS, OF THE ADELPHI HALL CROWD OF SPOOK- 
 RAISERS LIVING IN A BROWNSTONE HOUSE WORTH TWENTY-FIVE 
 THOUSAND DOLLARS, BUT OBTAINED FROM TOBACCONIST ANDER- 
 SON'S WIDOW FOR ONE DOLLAR.— "NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS," 
 SAYS THE NEW PRIESTESS. — HOW THE JOB WAS DONE. 
 
 Transferred. — Brownstone house No. 232 West Forty-sixth Street. Mrs. 
 Kate Anderson to Mrs. Mary E. Williams. Consideration, $1.00. 
 
 Mrs. Williams is the well-known medium who presides over spiritualistic 
 conclaves on Sunday afternoons at Adelphi Hall. Mrs. Anderson is the 
 wealthy widow of John Anderson, the well-known tobacconist. The story 
 involved in the above transfer for a nominal consideration of property valued 
 at twenty-five thousand dollars, furnishes a curious parallel to the case of 
 Luther R. Marsh and Mme. Diss Debar. 
 
 In the career of the two priestesses there have been many incidents ot strik- 
 ing similarity. Mme. Diss Debar caused Lawyer Marsh to deed to her a fine 
 residence up town. Voices from the spirit world communicated with him 
 through the notorious woman, and told him to execute the deed. He com- 
 plied, but when the fact became public the friends of the deceived lawyer 
 came to his rescue, and compelled the woman to convey back the property to 
 the rightful owner. Mrs. Williams, the " materializing psyche," has caused 
 a tremendous sensation in the spiritualistic world by acquiring a fine brown- 
 stone mansion from Mrs. Anderson. 
 
 It was several years ago that the Widow Anderson first began attending 
 the seances of Mrs. Williams. She was introduced there by John L. 
 O'Sullivan, of No. 229 West Twenty-third Street, and usually attended the 
 meetings in the company of her friend, Mrs. Swift. During those dark 
 seances the medium, Mrs. Williams, would disappear into a cabinet, and then 
 the visitor was enabled to hold converse with the spirit of her dead husband, 
 John Anderson, who had contributed so freely, years ago, to the cause of 
 Garibaldi and Italian liberty. The spirit of the old Italian general was also 
 materialized, and talked delightfully with Mrs. Anderson. 
 
 Among other familiar spirits brought out to convince the widow, were those 
 of her deceased sister Hattie, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, ex-Mayor Fernando 
 Wood, and Carrie Miller, of Brooklyn. But the " materializing psychie " had 
 three more familiar spirits which she controlled upon all occasions when she 
 wanted to get right down to business. These were " Little Bright Eyes," 
 Priscilla," and " Papa Holland." 
 
 How many times these experienced spirits communicated with the Widow 
 Anderson, hinting that the " materializing psychie" ought to have a habita- 
 tion of her own, has never been recorded ; but it is generally conceded that 
 the spooks called up at Mrs. Williams' seances were remarkably unanimous 
 in urging that the " medium " should have a home. 
 
 If the wealthy widow wavered in her determination to satisfy the longing 
 of the "materializing psyche" for the possession of a four story and base- 
 ment brownstone front, her doubt was at last overcome by the gentle persua- 
 
72 MRS. M. E. WILLIAMS. 
 
 sion of " Little Bright Eyes." Mrs. Anderson thus describes one of the scenes 
 where this spirit appeared : 
 
 "At last the curtains were folded aside and a transcendently beautiful 
 spirit appeared, clothed in purest white drapery, which floated around her 
 delicate form." But the rich widow was of the kind who hold hard on to 
 their purse-strings, and she did not yield to the importunities of the spirits 
 until the messages and the materializations were so delightfully practical as 
 to be convincing. 
 
 [From New York World.] 
 
 A SYMPHONY IN LETTERS. 
 
 WRITTEN BY MR. BOSCHNECK TO MEDIUM MINNIE WILLIAMS.— THE 
 THEME IS LOVE, AND LOTS OF IT.— REV. MR. MCCARTHY ADDS A 
 DECIDEDLY SPICY COMPOSITION AND GETS THE FAIR SPOOK-RAISER 
 DOWN ON HIM IN CONSEQUENCE— THAT SUIT FOR $500 STIRS UP A 
 LIVELY ROW IN SPIRITUALISTIC CIRCLES. 
 
 A glorious lesson to the dupes of Spiritualism was told exclusively in yes- 
 terday's World. It will not be heeded — it never is. The dupes love their 
 slavery so dearly that the angel Gabriel could not disillusion them. But The 
 World did its simple duty and is content. 
 
 In the second letter, which is very long, Mr. McCarthy writes : 
 
 Strange that this letter of yours, written less than one year ago, should thus 
 continue in a tone of anguish to me : "I wish I could leave America for 
 awhile ! There is no rest! " Even then when you were preaching to me of 
 that cause whjch you represented as " so high and holy," what had you done 
 to make it pure and holy? You make the seance-room the boudoir of the 
 courtesan. What had Mrs. Boschneck done to you that you should give her 
 reason to curse your spiritual mediumship, which you used with such terrible 
 effect to rob her of her husband and the father of her children? 
 
 Be warned ! Repent in time ! You can return this $500, but you can never 
 repair the wrong you have done to your chaste married sister. 
 
 Thursday, A. M., Aug. i9, '86, 
 
 MY DARLING MINNIE : I presume you have come back from your short 
 vacation, and I am pleased to greet you upon your happy return. I am so 
 sorry to see you put to so much annoyance through the careles absence of Mr. 
 M., and I wish I could remove all trouble and worry off your mind. I hope 
 you will make arrangements to take a few days off next week to take a little 
 fresh air and rest ; it would do you so much good. In case Mr. M. has not 
 returned by Friday eve, and you should want my assistance to mail papers, 
 &c, I should be only too glad to aid you. I expect to see the time when I 
 shall be able to take the whole concern off your shoulders, and make the 
 B. L. (Beacon Light) a source of comfort to you, both morally and finan- 
 cially. 
 
 Sustained by your generous love, I shall certainly succeed. Will I hear 
 from you ? 
 
 Your everlasting lover, FRED. 
 
 P. S.— Please remember me to our sweet baby, Gertie, and to gentle " Bright 
 Eyes." F. B. 
 
 FORTE. 
 
 Friday, Aug. 20, 1886, 5 P. M. 
 
 MY ONLY LOVE : Your note reached me just in time to enable me to 
 write these few lines before closing. I have little time to tell you how I feel to 
 
MRS. M. E. WILLIAMS. 73 
 
 be separated so long from you, but you will be amply repaid by the caresses I 
 have in store for you, and the many things an overflowing heart will disclose. 
 Will you have anything in store forme? I can almost feel a fond kiss. 
 Many thanks for the encouraging news from B. E. In regard to a more pleas- 
 ant future, never say die. Let me press you upon my heart, where I should 
 like to have you forever. 
 
 Your loving FRED. 
 
 Will be with you by 7.30 P. M. tomorrow. F. 
 
 FORTISSIMO. 
 
 New York, Sept. 21, 1886. 
 
 MY DEAREST MINNIE: I am pencilling a few lines on my way down to 
 business, at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour, and shall mail them to you 
 as soon as I arrive at the store. Were the train running at a thousand miles' 
 speed it would still be insufficient, comparing it with the giant's steps we have 
 made, last evening, in spiritual progress and philosophy. How we will ever 
 be able to repay you for all the knowledge we draw from your " laboratory" 
 is- a mystery to me, unless you consider our ardent love and admiration as a 
 sufficient reward. My love and admiration are yours forever, and may I be 
 crushed with infamy should I ever forget or ignore all that 1 owe to you. I 
 am glad, also, to congratulate you upon the progress of your cabinet friends, 
 who promise to surpass your anticipations provided the visitors' conditions 
 furnish the proper materials. 
 
 Inclosed please find a slip of yesterday's Tribune. It is discouraging to see 
 such results, but then, why do they not come to our school ? 
 
 I must now abandon the divine and resume the material toil. I press you 
 to my heart and cover your lips with a thousand tender kisses. 
 
 FRED. 
 
 P. S. If I should hear from you, separation will not seem long. F. 
 
 - [From Boston Herald.] 
 
 FROM SPIRIT LAND. 
 
 THE HERALD GETS SOME SPECIAL DISPATCHES. — MRS. MAUDE JONES 
 GILLETTE HANDLES THE SLATES. — NOTHING NEW IN HER METHOD 
 OF WRITING MESSAGES.— ADROIT MANIPULATION AND SENSELESS 
 ANSWERS. —SPIRITS WON'T REPLY UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS. 
 
 California "slate-writers" seem to have a peculiar affinity for Boston. 
 During the past year the Herald exposed the operations of W. R. Colby, Bap- 
 tist minister, mail-robber, and medium, and " Dr." D. J. Stansbury, the dis- 
 penser of spirit medicines, both of whom manipulated slates in their efforts to 
 beguile the public, and had learned their " occult " art in the city of the Golden 
 Gate. 
 
 A Herald man who has had some experience with California slate-writers " 
 arranged for a sitting with Mrs. Maude Jones Gillette, and stipulated that a 
 friend be allowed to accompany him and be present at the seance. Each vis- 
 itor provided himself with a pair of common slates measuring 11x8 inches, 
 and at two o'clock one afternoon rang the bell at No. 27 Worcester Street. 
 They were ushered into a long hall, with a door opening to the left into the 
 room where the alleged marvels are performed. 
 
 When Mrs. Gillette had disposed her guests at points in the room satisfac- 
 tory to herself, she stepped into the room back of the folding doors, and 
 returned with a pile of slates under her arm, and placed them in a chair beside 
 
74 MAUDE JONES GILLETTE. 
 
 her. These slates doubtless had "stock" spirit writings and pictures upon 
 them, suited to fit the usual inquiries that are made in these seances. 
 
 The table at which the medium sat is a very high one, and has a dark 
 cloth reaching half way to the floor. Mr. X. counted eight small slates on the 
 table when the seekers after truth entered, and these were transferred to the 
 chair at Mrs. Gillette's side before the sitting began. The sitter could not see 
 them. 
 
 When the Herald representative's turn came to sit, he changed places with 
 Mr. X., and, taking five folded slips from his pocket, laid them on the table. 
 The slips bore questions plainly written in ink, and were addressed to spuri- 
 ous " spirits." 
 
 "You will have to copy those questions on my magnetized paper," said 
 Mrs. Gillette, pointing to a number of nearly square pieces of paper, uniform 
 in size, which were lying on the side of the table. 
 
 The investigator copied them and folded them three times. 
 
 Mrs. Gillette then seated herself at the table, with her back to the window,, 
 and, picking up one of the reporter's pellets, placed it between two slates. 
 
 " That is not the right one," she added, after a moment, aud picked up all 
 the sitter's questions in her right hand, for the purpose, as she claimed, of 
 " magnetizing " them. 
 
 The medium replaced them in a pile on the table, and then carried her hand 
 to her lap, out of sight of the sitter. It was clear that she substituted a pellet 
 of her own, of the same size as those the visitor gave her. This done, she 
 was ready to begin the slate-writing. 
 
 Just to see if the medium was at all "touchy " regarding the pile of pel- 
 lets she had " magnetized " and placed on the table, the Herald representative 
 began to turn them over with his left hand. The motion was made as slyly 
 as possible, but Mrs. Gillette perceived the danger with wonderful quickness, 
 and seized the bunch again for further "magnetizing." She was careful, 
 however, to put them down next time farther out of the sitter's reach, on her 
 left. 
 
 She sponged two of the slates on both sides with great ostentation, and 
 then put them back in the chair at her side, at the same time executing a 
 sleight of hand that brought another slate into her lap — out of sight of the 
 sitter. She looked down into her lap, as if getting " spirit impressions," but 
 could have been reading or writing, or both, for anything the visitor could see 
 back of the high and heavily-draped table. 
 
 At this somewhat critical and delicate juncture Mr. Gillette began to talk, 
 with a view of diverting the rather close scrutiny of the investigators. He 
 told glibly of the people who had had sittings with this latest of wonderful 
 " slate-writers," notably members of the new psychical society, such as Rev. 
 Mr. Savage, Rabbi Schindler, Prof. Dolbear, Rev. Mr. Allen, Mrs. B. O. 
 Flower, and others. He claimed that the phenomena exhibited by Mrs. Gill- 
 ette had satisfied them all of her supernatural powers. Mrs. Gillette herself 
 joined in the conversation, at the same time keeping her rocking chair in 
 motion, because, as she said, it prevented the jerking she so much disliked 
 when under control of the spirits. 
 
 All this confusing of the attention seemed to subserve a very beneficial pur- 
 pose in producing the phenomena of " slate-writing."' 
 
MAUDE JONES GILLETTE. 75 
 
 Here Mrs. Gillette brought a slate upon the table, made a feint at sponging 
 and drying it, holding it with one side toward herself. The cloth used in dry- 
 ing the slate is an important factor in gaining successful results. It is usu- 
 ally kept thrown over the back of the chair, where it serves to conceal the 
 slates piled on the chair. Sometimes, to divert suspicion, the cloth is flung 
 over her shoulder. 
 
 The slate, when dried, was turned down upon another slate, and the medium 
 placed a pellet, apparently from the table, between them. She put a rubber 
 band around the pair, and, laying them on the table, requested the visitor to 
 put his hand upon them. She touched the slates to tell when the writing was 
 concluded, and, after a brief interval, separated the slates. 
 
 Upon one was found a long "stock" or "property" communication, 
 adapted to anybody, executed in fine, handsome penmanship, and containing 
 forty-four words. Added to this, in the same handwriting, "but scarcely legi- 
 ble, were sixteen words in answer to the Herald man's question. These last 
 sixteen words were written in the medium's lap, and under the difficulties that 
 have been described. The first question was : 
 
 " DEAR A E : Are you with Sallie over there? and do you watch over 
 
 and guide your father in his great loneliness? " 
 
 This was the answer received : 
 
 "I am here. You must give up more to the impressions we give you. 
 Don't mistrust yourself so much. Other people are no better informed than 
 you upon this subject, and many not so well. Bright Eyes is here, and loves 
 you dearly. You must never be lonely, for we are ever about you. 1 love 
 
 dearly. 
 
 " Your loving A E." 
 
 " A e " can be seen any day on Tremont Street. 
 
 The "stock" communication ends with "loves you dearly," and the 
 remainder was written under circumstances that made the word after " I love" 
 illegible. 
 
 Another bit of spiritual correspondence ran as follows. This was the ques- 
 tion : 
 
 " DEAR NIECE S : If here, will you give me a good test, that I may know 
 it is you?" 
 
 The reply was this : 
 
 " We bring you beautiful flowers to make your life bright and happy. You 
 know we love you and will ever be with you when you need or ask for us. I 
 can't think of any special thing to prove it is I. S N." 
 
 With this communication, on the top of the slate, was a female figure, with 
 
 hands extended, as if scattering flowers. On the pellet S n's surname 
 
 was given, but written so illegibly the medium could not decipher it. She 
 
 therefore wisely stopped at the Christian name, " S n." " S n " is no 
 
 niece, and can be seen in Jamaica Plain any day. 
 
 This was another of the "stock" communications, with a few words in 
 answer to the query added. The answer has nothing to do with the question 
 until the last sentence is reached. Curiously enough, here is just where the 
 good writing ends, and the wavering penmanship, in the same hand, begins. 
 
 The Herald man next grew reminiscent, and addressed a question to an "old 
 acquaintance," who, by the way, can be seen almost any day near the Old 
 
76 
 
 MAUDE JONES GILLETTE. 
 
 South, and isn't old at all. The query sent into the realms of spookdom was 
 as follows : 
 
 "DEAR OLD FRIEND, W G: Will the business scheme I have in 
 
 hand turn out to my advantage? " 
 
 This encouraging answer came back : 
 
 " Yes ; we believe you will be successful. 
 
 M. G." 
 
 The error in the initials signed to the communication — " M. G." instead of 
 41 W. G."— Mrs. Gillette should not be blamed for, because the "W,"the 
 scribe is forced to admit, looked very much like an "M " in the question as 
 written on the pellet. 
 
 The next answer proved to be another of the " stock " variety. Only the 
 last sentence of the answer deals with the question, and then only in a vague 
 way. The variation in the penmanship between the " general " and the 
 '" special " parts is as marked as ever. This was the question : 
 
 " DEAR S J : Are you with A on the other side? " 
 
 And this the reply: i 
 
 " So many we could not tell you all in many sittings. You know we were 
 
 a large family. S J . 
 
 "Good-by." 
 
 The " good-by" means that your hour is up. It is rather curious that the 
 spirits should be able to accommodate their work so perfectly to the financial 
 rules of the medium ; but they do. " S J " can be seen in Dorches- 
 ter at any time. 
 
 It now only remained for Mrs. Gillette to write some messages on a pair of 
 slates the Herald man had brought with him. When the medium came to 
 operate upon these slates she cleaned them ag'ain and again, rubbing them 
 with her fingers, to " magnetize " them. She stood them on end with her left 
 hand, her right hand disappeared from view, and four words were written 
 without the slate going under the table. As the difficulties were greater than 
 in any other test, so the four words written were more scrawly than any of 
 the other writing. The penmanship, however, was clearly the same. The 
 last question was : 
 
 " UNCLE JOSHUA : — Is Aunt Hannah with you ? and will you give a mes- 
 sage to your favorite nephew? " 
 
 Joshua's reply was short : 
 
 " We are both together. 
 
 " UNCLE J ." 
 
 The inquirer after spiritualistic truth never had an Uncle Joshua or an 
 Aunt Hannah, and the names and the relationship were invented for the occa- 
 sion. 
 
 In manipulating one of these pairs of slates Mrs. Gillette lifted the top slate 
 so that the under surface could be seen by her and not by the sitter. This was 
 done on the pretence of placing a pellet taken from the table between the 
 slates. 
 
 It will be observed that all except the " stock " messages were short, and 
 evidently written behind the table, in exactly the same style of writing as the 
 
MAUDE JONES GILLETTE. 77 
 
 added sentences to the other messages. The female figures on some of the 
 " stock " messages were drawn in colors, chiefly in gold. 
 
 Mrs. Gillette's methods vary but little from those of the other California 
 u slate-writers," " Rev." Colby and " Dr." Stansbury. If she is to answer 
 a question or give a name, the folded pellets must be read before the response 
 is given. After this comes the skilful manipulation of the slates, as above 
 described. 
 
 Mrs. Gillette claims her writing is produced without pencil or sound, but 
 
 Mr. distinctly heard the sound of pencils, and saw the medium substitute 
 
 a pellet on one occasion. When his sitting was over he looked over the table 
 and saw six slates in Mrs. Gillette's chair, and two were unused on the table. 
 He took away three slates, and the Herald man five, so that Mrs. Gillette had 
 at least fifteen slates for use during the sitting. In no instance did the 
 answers show a particle of intelligence beyond what was gained by reading 
 the pellets. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that all the members of the New Psychical Society 
 have continued mystified. Its former president, Rev. Mr. Savage, was always 
 a disbeliever, and by way of test he has recently sent an observing woman 
 for a test seance. This lady stood up and looked over the table when the 
 slates were being manipulated, and caught sight of one of the prepared slates 
 with a " stock " message all written out. This satisfied her of the fraudu- 
 lent nature of the alleged phenomena, and her discovery has been made known 
 to several distinguished members of the New Psychical Society. It is ex- 
 pected that at the next meeting of the society a number of them will announce 
 that they are no longer mystified by the operations of the latest " California 
 slate-writer." 
 
 There are several ways in which a sitter can be sure not to get any slate- 
 writing. Let him stand or sit on the same side of the table with the medium, 
 so that her hands and manipulations of the slate can be seen at all stages of 
 the performance. Another way is for the seeker after " spiritual " truth to 
 take his own slates, put his question, plainly addressed to the spirits, 
 between them, bind the mystic pair together with his own hands, and when 
 he has placed them on the table simply insist that they be kept always in 
 sight. If he is a patient man he will have an opportunity to test the limit of 
 his special virtue before he secures an answer to his question through the 
 phenomenon of "independent slate-writing." 
 
 [From Religio-Philosophical Journal.] 
 
 ETTA ROBERTS. 
 
 NEWTON'S LAST STAR EXPOSED. 
 
 When Eliza Ann Wells was being starred as a crucial test materializing 
 medium by Henry J. Newton, a woman going by the name of Etta Roberts 
 sometimes figured. She was one of those who assisted Wells when exposed 
 by Mr. W. R. Tice at the house of Mr. Newton. After the decline of Wells, 
 through her repeated exposures and final disastrous failure in the attempt at 
 bluffing the editor of The Journal, in which Newton was her champion, she 
 left New York. Then it became important for Mr. Newton to have another 
 
 1.0FC. 
 
78 ETTA ROBERTS. 
 
 materializing star, and Etta Roberts was selected. Mr. Newton has been 
 exploiting her for two years, as he did Mrs. Wells before her. He has talked 
 buncombe for the benefit of reporters of daily papers, and seemingly been as 
 devoted to his last favorite as to her predecessor. A new cabinet had been 
 constructed and largely advertised as a fraud-proof affair, and the " crucial " 
 business was on the eve of inauguration when suddenly, and without warning, 
 Mr. Newton again found himseif in a painfully ridiculous position. 
 
 On last Friday night Roberts held a seance in her apartments. It was not 
 called a " crucial " affair, but scientist Newton was on hand, with some twenty 
 other observers. The show began at 8.15 o'clock, and Roberts masqueraded 
 in different characters for about an hour. Then she came out as Florence, the 
 lately deceased daughter of Mr. Newton, and after kissing and embracing him 
 took him through the folding doors into the back room, where they remained 
 about five minutes. Returning to the front room she was supported on his 
 arm. While in the dark back room she had managed to get a confederate, in 
 the person of a child, under her skirts, and by coming in slowly got him into 
 the cabinet. But in coming through the folding doors she had to squeeze past 
 the persons at the end of the circle, and one of them discovered the addition to 
 the procession. After this, two "spirits " would appear. Sometimes the boy 
 confederate would come out under Roberts' dress, and while she was ostensibly 
 pulling lace off the floor he would pop out and up. The seance dragged on for 
 nearly three hours; plenty of "spirits," plenty of phosphorus stuff and lace. 
 The trouble was, Roberts could not get the boy into the back room again, as 
 the door was closely guarded by the one who had detected the introduction of 
 the child. Finally Roberts called up a confederate from the circle — there is 
 nearly always a confederate mixed in with the sitters in these shows. A little 
 more light was asked for, and Dr. M. L. Holbrook turned on a full blaze, then 
 turned it down, but not so low but that sitters could distinctly see. The con- 
 federate who had been called from the circle conducted the boy confederate out 
 of the room in full sight of all, but instead of bringing him back, left him in 
 the other room behind the bed. It had to be done this way, for the conspira- 
 tors were in a straight, and if audacity would not save an exposure, nothing 
 could. Dr. Holbrook promptly went into the back room, the boy ran to him 
 and was led into the seance room. As soon as in the seance room the boy 
 rushed to Roberts— his supposed mother — who hid him behind her and sat 
 down in the cabinet, immovable, threatening to kill any one who touched her. 
 In the confusion the male confederate who had sat in the circle disappeared 
 and was not identified. 
 
 " It was pitiable in the extreme," writes one who was present. " Poor 
 Newton still insists she can give genuine manifestations and under test con- 
 ditions and he will prove it, but he admitted last night it was a deception." 
 Here is the same old trick which Wells worked on Newton, and which she 
 admitted to Mr. C. D. Lakey. Is it not about time to stop pitying Mr. 
 Newton, at least until his sanity has been judicially passed upon and he is 
 legally declared non compos mentis? If he is of sound mind then he is not en- 
 titled to pity but to the execrations of all decent people. To a rational mind 
 it is inconceivable that Newton, who knows Roberts well, could have been de- 
 luded into believing the creature who embraced him and led him into the dark 
 bedroom was his darling daughter whose familiar voice was so lately stilled by 
 
ADA FUYE. 79 
 
 death— not unless he is insane. Wilful obstinacy has made men insane before 
 now. in the interests of his family, and those of the public, is it not time 
 Mr. Newton's mental condition were made the subject of judicial inquiry? 
 
 [From the Boston Herald.] 
 
 NAMES WRITTEN IN THE AIR. 
 HOW A CALIFORNIA MEDIUM HAS DUPED BOSTONIANS. 
 
 Mrs. Ada Foye, heralded as a distinguished spiritualist from the Pacific 
 coast, came to Boston about three or four months ago, and under the auspices 
 of the Spiritualistic Phenomena Society has been giving tests and seances at 
 Lyceum Hall, No. 103 1 Washington Street, before large and extremely profit- 
 able audiences. Here is an excerpt from one of her advertisements : 
 
 " In the evening Mrs. Foye will give one of her wonderful seances, proving 
 by unmistakable evidence the continuity of life beyond the grave, by the rap- 
 ping, writing, hearing and seeing of our spirit friends, through her wonderful 
 mediumship. This spiritual teacher tells us there is no death, but life everlast- 
 ing, — conscious life ; that our loved ones can and do come back ; that they man- 
 ifest their presence to you by giving their names, ages, diseases, date, etc. 
 Come and verify it. Come early. Excellent music." 
 
 Thursday evening a well-known business man of this city attended one of 
 her seances and secured ample proof of the shallowness of her pretensions to 
 reveal the " continuity of life beyond the grave." Mrs. Foye made an address 
 and requested those present to write the names of friends in spiritland on slips 
 of paper and drop them into a hat that was passed around for the purpose. 
 They were collected, and the medium announced that she would simply give 
 what messages she obtained from such spirits as happened to be present. A 
 number of the slips were so loosely folded that the name could be read at a 
 glance. They were scattered out in a heap on a table on the platform, the lat- 
 ter meanwhile being vacated by everybody except Mrs. Foye. The table was 
 then moved forward towards the light and the tests began. 
 
 Mrs. Foye presently relapsed into a semi-trancelike condition, passing her 
 hand across her brow seveial times. At last she spoke : " Now I see a name 
 in the air. There is a bright light, and they are writing a name. Wait, I 
 will tell you in a minute. Yes, its Fannie — F a n n i e (spelling it out} — 
 Fannie F— r. Is that for you? " pointing to Mr. C— s, the investigator, who 
 was on his feet. " Did you know the party when living? " 
 
 "Yes," answered the skeptic, "Will you give me the age at which she 
 died?" 
 
 Medium Foye in reply murmured, " 66, 65, (then two raps), 64 (two addi- 
 tional raps) — between 64 and 65. Is that correct? " 
 
 Investigator C — s bowed and asked: " Of what did she die? Consump- 
 tion?" Medium: "No." Investigator :" Diphtheria? " Medium :" No." 
 Investigator: "Dropsy?" Medium: "No." Investigator: "Combination 
 of diseases ? " Medium : " Yes. Is that correct ? " The investigator did not 
 reply but put another question: "Do you see anything else?" Medium: 
 "Oh, now I see the light. Yes, she had liver trouble, rheumatism and 
 dropsy. Is that correct?" The investigator did not answer, for the simpb 
 reason that the person whom the medium and himself were discussing was 
 
80 ADA FOYE. 
 
 still a very lively and vivacious inhabitant of this terrestrial sphere. His next 
 query was : " Has the spirit any message for me? " " I will see," remarked 
 Mrs. Foye, " wait a moment." She then made several rapid movements with 
 a pencil and read from a slip of paper; "We in spirit life approve of your 
 course. Some condemn, but we approve. Always live up to your highest 
 light and God will reward you. You will yet have all the evidence you need 
 on this subject. Continue your investigations and your reward will be 
 great." 
 
 The gentleman resumed his seat, and Medium Foye dilated on her success 
 with the investigator who was unknown to her. This was the modus operandi 
 in every case. The gentleman who was investigating had three tests of 
 Medium Foye's supernatural (?) power, and the three names represented three 
 living persons. 
 
 Note.— Mrs. Foye is a medium of the tramp variety, who professes to get names of deceased 
 friends of persons in her audiences by reading the folded papers stealthily. On one occasion, a visitor 
 folded his paper loosely, and it was passed into the audience by Mrs. Foye, while she read the name 
 "in the air." The paper happened to be handed to the very man who wrote it, and he found it had 
 been refolded and pinched up by Mrs. Foye, showing conclusively that she had been handling it 
 fraudulently. 
 
" I left the place with mingled feelings of disgust, pity and 
 indignation. 
 
 "Disgust at the vulgarity of the whole performance. Pity, 
 because several persons seemed to believe that all was genuine, 
 one old gentleman wiping his eyes as he took his seat, after 
 having been called to the cabinet to talk with his wife ; and 
 indignation that any woman can sink so low as to be willing to 
 make her living and that of the wretch, her assistant, by thus 
 duping people through the tenderest affections. 
 
 "I do not believe in arbitrary punishment for sin, but if I did 
 T should say that such a person as I see every reason to believe 
 that the medium is, should be tarred and feathered and held up 
 to public scorn and shame. She is worse than a pickpocket, 
 worse than a woman who lives by open licentiousness. She is 
 so bad that we can only think of her with loathing. 
 
 Hugh O. Pentecost." 
 
INDEX 
 
 Page 
 
 Preface ...".'• 2 
 
 Mrs. Hannah V. Ross 3 
 
 Dr. N. W. Gilbert's Affidavit 5 
 
 Mrs. Ross' Second Exposure in Boston ....... 6 
 
 Jennie B. Hagan's Letter 8 
 
 Mrs. Ross' Exposure at Portland ....... 9 
 
 Mrs. Amanda M. Cowan - .12 
 
 John William Fletcher's Resolutions 13 
 
 Trapping the Ghosts .14 
 
 The Cowans' Trap-Door . . 15 
 
 Confession of a Spirit 17 
 
 The Boston Brand of Materialization 22 
 
 Mrs. Heman B. Fay 24 
 
 Mrs. Fay. A Brief History 26 
 
 Mrs. Flinn's (wife of Capt. Flinn) Deposition 27 
 
 About a Boston Libel Suit 27 
 
 Suppressed Letter 29 
 
 John C. Bundy's Letter 29 
 
 Mrs. Eugene Beste 30 
 
 Mrs. Beste's Farce Exposed 31 
 
 Mrs. C. B. Bliss 33 
 
 Mrs. Bliss' Exposure at Pittsburg 34 
 
 Claimants for "Spirit Blackfoot " 36 
 
 Mrs. Bliss' Threatening Letter 37 
 
 The Eddy Family *. . . . . 37 
 
 Character of a Camp Manager 38 
 
 Albro's Magnetized Paper . 41 
 
 Mrs. S.'s Affidavit 42 
 
 Mrs. Lita Barney Sayles' Letter on the Berry Sisters .- -44 
 
 Henry Archer's Confession 46 
 
 Mrs. Carrie M. Sawyer - 51 
 
 Parson Raines, alias W. R. Colby 54 
 
 "Dr." D. J. Stansbury 59 
 
 Mrs. Bliss appears as " John " ....... 64 
 
 W. Emmette Coleman on several Onset Imposters Known as the 
 
 " California Gang " 65 
 
 The "Golden Gate" Suppressed Editorial 68 
 
 E. P. Ainsworth's Letter to "Dr." Stansbury . : 69 
 
 John C. Bundy to "Dr." Stansbury 69 
 
 Mrs. M. E. Williams' Mock Funeral Service ..... 70 
 
 Mrs. Williams Secures a Mansion . 71 
 
 Mrs. Williams' Symphony of Letters 72 
 
 Mrs. Maude Jones Gillette Handles the Slates 73 
 
 Mrs. Etta Roberts, Newton's Last Star, Exposed .... 77 
 
 Mrs. Ada Foye, Names Written in the Air 79 
 
 Hugh O. Pentecost on Materializers of "Full Forms" ... 81 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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